Psychology

Brain, body, and mindfulness: New understandings of the “self” Lecturer: Catherine Kerr, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Director of Translational Neuroscience Contemplative Studies Initiative, Brown University This talk will describe recent studies drawn from the neuroscience of embodiment in order to lay out a novel understanding of the “self”.

The PSYC Department will be hosting their 3rd annual student-faculty dinner. PSYC/NSCI majors, minors, and prospectives, join the PSYC faculty for good food, good fun, and good company…don’t miss out!

Maladaptive alterations that result from severe or chronic stress exposure are associated with increased risk for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Chronic stress promotes dysregulation of the innate immune system leading to enhanced inflammatory signaling often associated with depressive symptomology. Growing evidence suggests that innate immune cells such as microglia, promote neuroinflammation in response to stress by releasing danger associated molecular pattern (DAMP) molecules leading to increased inflammatory signaling.

Dr. Nate Kornell (Williams College) Lecture Title: Why do tests enhance learning? Description: Taking a test is an efficient way to learn. My talk will focus on the mechanisms underlying the benefits of testing. I will talk about the process of retrieving a memory, the pros and cons of making errors while learning, and the possibility that retrieval is beneficial because it recruits related information and integrates it into a memory.

Dr. Basso’s research focuses on the interaction between exercise and the brain. During her PhD, she discovered that the medial prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens regulate the motivation for voluntary wheel running in the rat. For Basso’s post-doctoral research, she is investigating the effects of acute and chronic exercise on learning, memory, cognition, mood, and exercise motivation in humans. Collectively, this work is revealing the details and mechanisms of the bi-directional relationship between exercise and the brain. Dr.

Lecture Title: “Hormones have their ups and downs: Bi-directional effects of estrogens on learning and memory.”

Body feelings: Investigating neural mechanisms underlying embodiment and contemplative practice Lecturer: Catherine Kerr, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Director of Translational Neuroscience Contemplative Studies Initiative, Brown University This presentation describes recent investigations into two body perception networks in the brain.

The PSYC Department will be hosting their 4th annual student-faculty dinner. PSYC and NSCI majors, minors, and prospectives are invited to join the PSYC faculty for good food, good fun, and good company…don’t miss out!

Dr. Holly Recchia
Assistant Professor, Department of Education, Concordia University

Lecture Title: Talking about Transgressions: The construction of moral agency in children’s conversations with their mothers