Eby Lab
Director: Dr. Lilian T. Eby

Our main focus is Project MERITS (which stands for Managing Effective Relationships in Treatment Services) is a 5-year grant funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). The project is examining the factors related to turnover among counselors and clinical supervisors working in substance abuse treatment centers throughout the United States. Other projects include research on occupational health, various aspects of mentoring relationships, and work and family.

http://projectmerits.wordpress.com/

    

Kuhnert Lab
Director: Dr. Karl W. Kuhnert

Our lab's research centers on leadership and organizational development. Employing a variety of theoretical perspectives and research methods, we have examined personality, gender, and many other variables in conjunction with leadership. One stream of research our lab is engaged in uses constructive/developmental theory to show how leaders make sense of themselves and others. This research has revealed discernible patterns in how people make sense of their world and also how these patterns affect the way that people lead others. In general, we seek to demonstrate how leaders' individual characteristics and development can impact their performance as well as the organization within which they work.

Thomas Lab
Director: Dr. Kecia M. Thomas

Our lab works both in collaboration and as independent initiators of research projects in diversity scholarship, under the direction of Dr. Kecia M. Thomas. Given the rapid change in our nation's demography, we realize that diversity is no longer an option but an organizational reality. As diversity researchers, our lab has the unique opportunity to study a wide range of important workplace issues. We also work in conjunction with the Center for Research and Engagement in Diversity in an effort to collaborate with and learn from diversity scholars across our campus. Currently, we are examining the potential preference for Native African citizens over African American citizens when applying for acceptance and funding at a fictitious undergraduate university. Other projects examine the impact of sexual orientation/identity, racial identity, religious beliefs, and inter-racial relationships on important workplace outcomes (e.g., performance appraisals, likelihood to hire, willingness to partner/mentor, etc.). Through the RED foundation, our lab is actively involved with measuring and improving the climate for inclusion and diversity in applied organizational settings. We have had great success with the Terry College of Business here at UGA, Cincinnati Children's Hospital in Ohio, and we are looking forward to beginning/continuing a number of new projects that include the Department of Agriculture as well as UGA's Franklin College of Arts. As we continue our focus on diversity and inclusion, we hope to continue scholarship in an effort to promote equity, inclusion, social justice and excellence within our workplaces and communities.

Personality Studies Laboratory
Director: Dr. Joshua D. Miller

Our lab focuses on the examination of both general and pathological models of personality and their use in assessing and conceptualizing personality disorders and maladaptive behaviors (e.g., substance use, aggression; Gaughan, Miller, Pryor, & Lynam, in press; Pryor, Miller, Hoffman, & Harding, in press). We have several ongoing projects in collaboration with faculty from other UGA psychology labs.

Specifically, we are currently collaborating with Jennifer McDowell, Ph.D. from the Cognitive-Experimental/Neuroscience Program on a project examining clinicians’ responses to therapy related stimuli using fMRI.

Additionally, we are working with Keith Campbell, Ph.D. from the Social Psychology Program on several projects related to conceptualizing and assessing various aspects of narcissism (e.g., Miller & Campbell, 2008; Miller, Campbell, & Pilkonis, 2007).

We also engage in ongoing collaboration with Amos Zeichner, Ph.D. from the Clinical Psychology Program investigating the relation between personality, psychopathy, and aggression (e.g., Reidy, Zeichner, Miller, & Martinez, 2007).

Our lab also collaborates with colleagues at a number of other universities such as Don Lynam (Purdue University), Tom Widiger (University of Kentucky), and Paul Pilkonis (Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center), to name just a few.

Beach Laboratory
Director: Dr. Steven Beach

Some of the research in our lab has been examining the role of particular genotypes in moderating environmental effects on behavioral outcomes. Recently we have shown that genotype moderates effects of parenting on child outcomes, and that genotype moderates the effects of intervention of both parent and child outcomes. We are also examining epigenetic processes and their relationship to behavioral outcomes.

Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology Laboratory
Director: Dr. James MacKillop

The focus of the Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology Laboratory (ECPL) is to improve the understanding of addictive behavior. The ECPL is directed by Dr. James MacKillop and is an active research and training laboratory. Doctoral students contribute to the research program and conduct their own research. The current PhD students are Michael Amlung, M.S., John Acker, and Cara Murphy. A number of Research Assistants both contribute to research studies and learn about psychological research. The ECPL studies addictive behavior using behavioral economics and other approaches that are informed by learning theory. The research projects use an array of different experimental approaches, including survey approaches, human laboratory paradigms, clinical studies, and, most recently, neuroimaging paradigms.

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Walker Laboratory
Director: Dr. Rheeda L Walker

Suicide is a complex but preventable public health challenge. In our research lab, we aim to refine predictive models for suicide risk by examining cultural, psychological, and biological factors that render adults vulnerable. At present, we are analyzing two datasets: One is associated with university students' beliefs about suicide precipitants; the other dataset focuses on neighborhood context as a predictor of individual level hopelessness.

Human Cognitive Processing Laboratory
Director: Dr. Richard L. Marsh

The Human Cognitive Processing Lab (HCPL) is collaborating with the Memory, Attention, and Individual Differences Lab (MAID) to investigate the role of individual differences in prospective memory. This research is examining both time-based and event-based prospective memory paradigms to determine if there is a single construct or cognitive process that is common to all prospective memory. Another goal of this research is to study whether individual differences in working memory capacity (and related measures) share similar processes with prospective memory. For example, does a latent prospective memory factor correlate with a latent working memory or general intelligence factor?

The HCPL has also started collaborating with researchers in the Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience Laboratory to examine the neural correlates of time-based prospective memory.



When people attempt to generate new ideas, they use their past experience. Usually, this information aids in new idea generation but it also has the tendency to result in unconscious plagiarism of friends' ideas and those of significant others. Our most recent work examines how the generation of new ideas is influenced by the group dynamics and the dyadic interaction between people which may influence the degree to which they come to believe older ideas are actually their own new ideas. This work was recently discussed in the Boston Globe, read more.

Projects & Collaborators:

Individual Differences in Prospective Memory: Richard Marsh, Nash Unsworth, Arlo Clark-Foos, Gene A. Brewer

Neural Correlates of Time-Based Prospective Memory: Richard Marsh, Brett Clementz, Arlo Clark-Foos

Unconscious Plagiarism: Richard Marsh, Arlo Clark-Foos, Gene A. Brewer, Justin B. Knight

Georgia Decision Laboratory
Director: Dr. Adam Goodie

The Georgia Decision Lab is collaborating with the University of Georgia's Department of Computer Science to examine individuals' strategic reasoning in competitive sequential-move games and then computationally simulate this behavior via interactive partially observable Markov decision processes (I-POMDPs).

Also, the Georgia Decision Lab is investigating personality characteristics that may relate to pathological gambling, such as sensation-seeking.



Finally, the Georgia Decision Lab and the Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory are collaborating on an MEG study investigating the neurological imp lications of gambling pathology on various aspects of decision behavior.

Projects & Collaborators:

Pathological gambling and personality: Adam Goodie and Erica Littler

Strategic reasoning in competitive games: Adam Goodie, Diana Young, Prashant Doshi (GDL and Dept. of Computer Science)

MEG-pathological gambling: Adam Goodie, Brett Clementz, Lisa Krusemark, Diana Young (CCNL and GDL)

Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory
Directors: Dr. Jennifer McDowell and Dr. Brett Clementz

In 2006, the Coverdell Center for Biomedical and Health Sciences opened new doors for brain imaging research at the University of Georgia. This research-dedicated, state-of-the-art facility is a "laboratory without walls", architecturally designed to eliminate departmental boundaries and to encourage community learning. The facility is the home of BIRC, UGA's Bio-Imaging Research Center, and is the proud host of a new 3-Tesla MRI system. Jennifer McDowell, a professor in the psychology and neuroscience departments, is involved in several studies using functional MRI. Her most recent research includes an investigation of the relationship between eye movement performance in undergraduate students and schizophrenia-related symptoms and a study investigating how practice affects the neural substrates supporting eye movement performance in schizophrenia. Dr. McDowell also collaborates with the Georgia Prevention institute in Augusta, Georgia. Their research on the effect of exercise on cognition in overweight children was nationally recognized last year in an article by USA today (http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2007-10-29-exercise-brains_N.htm).

Projects & Collaborators :

Behavioral and Neural Correlates of Poor Saccadic Control in Undergraduates
Michael T. Amlung, Qinyang Li, Benjamin P. Austin, Jazmin Camchong, Jennifer E. McDowell


Practice-induced changes in neural circuitries supporting saccade performance in schizophrenia: an fMRI study
Benjamin P. Austin, Kara A. Dyckman, Michael T. Amlung, Qingyang Li, Brett A. Clementz, Jennifer E. McDowell


Behavioral Changes Following Daily Practice of Saccade Tasks in Schizophrenia
Madison Moore, Benjamin P. Austin, Kara A. Dyckman, Qingyang Li, Michael T. Amlung, Freiderike Meyer, Brett A. Clementz, Jennifer E. McDowell

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data showing basic neural circuitry associated with a volitional saccade (anti-saccade) task. Data are shown on axial, sagittal and coronal slices with colors indicating increased signal associated with execution of a volitional saccade task. Data were acquired from 32 subjects on a 1.5T MRI system and are shown using neurological convention (right hemisphere on the left side)

Exercise-induced changes in circuitries supporting antisaccade performance in overweight children: an fMRI study
Benjamin P. Austin, Jennifer E. McDowell, Jerry Allison¹, Nathan E. Yanasak¹, Jazmin Camchong, Phillip D. Tomporowski, Catrina Creech, Joseph Tkacz², Patricia H. Miller, Catherine L. Davis²

¹Department of Radiology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA
²Georgia Prevention Institute, Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA