Stephanie Gam
Impulsive Reactions to Emotions, Cognition, and Biological Markers
This study employs a number of important methodological features: experimental manipulation of stress, measurement of arousal using psychophysiological parameters, neurocognitive assessment of response inhibition, and behavioral indicators of whether response inhibition deficits translate to real world behavior. Much of the data collection has been completed over the past few semesters, and over the summer the main goal was to organize, clean, and analyze this data. We are hoping this research will fill major gaps in the literature by assessing the extent to which deficits in cognitive control resulting from heightened arousal is a mechanism driving the poor behavioral constraint associated with emotion-relevant impulsivity.
Message To Sponsor
It has been an honor to work at the Cal Mania lab as part of URAP over the past few years. My ultimate goal is to develop my own research program with a doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology, so getting tangible experience through Dr. Johnson and my mentor, Jennifer Pearlstein, allowed me to understand what goes on in real-life human research in the field.
Major: Psychology and Social Welfare
Mentor: Prof. Sheri Johnson, Psychology