Office for the Study of Biology & Behavior

Center for Research and Evaluation in the Social Sciences



The Office for the Study of Biology & Behavior is committed to identifying and addressing critical links between biology, behavior, and well-being.


Interim Director:


Affiliated Faculty and Staff:

Brad Nakamura

Scott Sinnett

Jonas Vibell

Affiliated Labs, Offices, and Centers

The Brain & Behavior Laboratory is the cognitive neuroscience research group headed by Assistant Professor Jonas Vibell at the Department of Psychology at University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. The group is associated with both the Department of Psychology and the John A. Burns School of Medicine. We collaborate with a diverse but select group of universities, hospitals and industry partners across the world including University of Hong Kong and Oxford University.


The Center for Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CCBT) is a training, service, and research university-based clinic housed in the Department of Psychology at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa. The Child Section of the CCBT (C-CCBT) currently offers psychological assessment and treatment services for youth and their families. The C-CCBT has special expertise in the psychosocial treatment of childhood anxiety, depression, trauma, inattention/hyperactivity, oppositional behaviors. Under the supervision of directors and licensed psychologists Brad Nakamura and Daniel Wilkie, C-CCBT graduate students and staff provide all intervention services, including brief consultations, child therapy, parent education and training in both individual and group formats. Assessments and treatment arranged by the State of Hawaiʻi Departments of Education or Health are free for clients. The C-CCBT also partners with the State of Hawaii’s Departments of Education and Health for implementing a wide array of youth mental health quality improvement initiatives (e.g., the State of Hawaii's Help Your Keiki website).


The Perception and Attention Research laboratory is focused on how different types of expertise, brain injury, or illness can modulate information processing. In order to address these important questions related to human cognition I use a variety of applied and laboratory based approaches, I use a variety of applied and laboratory based approaches, as well as incorporating both healthy and brain injured participants.