Cognitive & Affective Neurosciences (CAN) Lab

Welcome to the Catholic university CAN Lab!

Undergraduates interested in research experience?

Email Dr. Adleman a resume, unofficial copy of your transcript, and a brief description of why you're interested in our lab. CUA students can volunteer or register for Research Apprenticeship credit (PSY 493) during the academic semester or over the summer. A commitment of 4-5 hours per week is expected (total minimum: 60 hours).

Lab News

2021

Parmis Khosravi successfully defended her dissertation "Mood-Congruent Implicit Memory Dependent on Encoding, Retrieval, or Both Phases?" She is currently working as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institutes for Mental Health. Congratulations Parmis!


Children & Schools has published "Social-Emotional Attention in School-Age Children: A Call for School-Based Intervention during COVID-19 and Distance Learning", by Teal Raffaele, Parmis Khosravi, Alyssa Parker, Sheina Godovich, Dr. Rich, and Dr. Adleman.


A new publication by Alyssa Parker and Dr. Adleman, "Current mood influences biases for positive and negative stimuli," has recently been published in Current Psychology.


2020

A new publication by Parmis Khosravi, Alyssa Parker, Angela Shuback, and Dr. Adleman, "Attention control ability, mood state, and emotional regulation ability partially affect executive control of attention on task-irrelevant emotional stimuli," has recently been published in Acta Psychologica.


In April, Parmis Khosravi and Alyssa Parker shared lab research at the Society of Biological Psychiatry E-Poster Gallery.


2019

Dr. Adleman won the Catholic University of America Provost's Award for Teaching Excellence in Early Career. Congratulations Dr. Adleman!


Dr. Adleman and the CAN Lab graduate students, Parmis Khosravi, Alyssa Parker, and Teal Raffaele, shared their research at the Association of Psychological Sciences (APS) 31st annual convention in Washington DC.


Dr. Adleman presented a poster at the Society of Biological Psychiatry in May.


Alyssa Parker successfully defended her master's thesis, "The Effects of Emotion-Related Individual Differences on Attentional Biases for Positive and Negative Stimuli." Congratulations Alyssa!


In April, Alyssa Parker, Parmis Khosravi, and Teal Raffaele presented on lab research projects at the CUA research day, while Dr. Adleman presented at the Maryland Neuroimaging Retreat.


2018

Kelly Ferreira successfully defended her dissertation, "Comparing the Interactive Effects of State and Trait Emotion Regulation on Memory," completing her PhD in Human Development Psychology. She is currently working as a Research Assistant at the UConn Health Center University Center for Developmental Disabilities. Congratulations Kelly!


Katherine McMorran successfully defended her dissertation, "Changes in Attention and Depressive Symptoms Following a Brief, Internet-Delivered Mindful Breath Intervention in an Undergraduate Sample." She is the first CAN lab team to graduate with a PhD, and she will be starting as a Clinical Psychology Postdoctoral Fellow, Dual Diagnosis Track at the VA Boston Healthcare System. Congratulations Katherine!


Teal Raffaele has joined our lab as a member of the Clinical Psychology PhD program. Welcome Teal!


A new publication by Kelly Ferreira and Dr. Adleman, "Memory, emotion regulation, and social interference skills in college students," has recently been published in Current Psychology. Read it here.


2017

Kelly Ferreira presented a poster on her MA research project entitled, "The impact of trait emotion regulation and memory on social inference skills," at the SRCD Biennial Meeting in Austin, TX April. Congratulations, Kelly!


CAN lab members made an excellent showing at CUA Research Day in April. Jonathan Penepent, Annie Rubino, Kelly Ferreira, MaryGrace Cruser, and Angela Shuback all presented posters on their work in the lab. And, Parmis Khosravi gave an excellent talk on her work. Nice job to all!


Parmis Khosravi has been accepted into the Applied Experimental PhD program. Congratulations, Parmis!


2016

A new publication by Dr. Adleman and colleagues, "Age-related differences in the neural correlates of trial-to-trial variations of reaction time," has recently been published in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. Read it here.


CAN lab alum, Rosa Heryak (B.A., 2016), has accepted a position as Research Coordinator for the Serenity Study at Kent State University. Congratulations, Rosa!


CAN lab MA student, Parmis Khosravi, has received the DCPA 2016 Student Grant Research Award! The scholarship is awarded to one psychology or neuroscience graduate student in the DC region. The funds will support Parmis and Angela Shuback's master's project entitled, "The effects of current mood on attention and conflict processing during a cognitive task using stimuli with task-irrelevant emotional valence." Congratulations, Parmis!