Home

I am currently a third-year graduate student in the Cognitive and Brain Sciences department at the University of Kansas. As a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, I conduct research in Dr. Evangelia Chrysikou's Lab. I previously conducted research at the University of Alabama with Dr. Matthew Jarrett and Dr. Kristina McDonald. I spent the summer of 2014 in the American Psychological Associations Summer Science Fellowship working with Dr. Sarah Fischer at George Mason University. 

My previous research was broadly focused on executive functioning deficits and emotion dysregulation in eating disordered behavior and non-suicidal self-injury. Specifically, one of my studies examined "hot" (i.e. Impulsivity - Iowa Gambling Task) and "cool" (i.e. Shifting - Wisconsin Card Sorting Task) executive functioning deficits in individuals with disordered eating symptoms. The second study examined the interaction between negative urgency (the tendency to act impulsively while experiencing negative affect) and distress tolerance (an individual's perceived capacity to withstand negative affective states) in predicting binge eating and non-suicidal self-injury. 

In my current research I am exploring emotion regulation (ER) flexibility through two projects:

    (1) A first-year project examining ER flexibility by using a vignette paradigm in which participants free-write about actions they would take if they were to experience three independent real-world hypothetical scenarios. These responses were coded for specific ER strategy usage following a coding scheme developed specifically for this study. These project explored three factors in ER flexibility: gender differences, the impact of mood (by using a mood induction procedure), and the impact of depression. 

    (2) A Masters Thesis examining gender differences in ER and ER flexibility by using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and measuring skin conductance responses while performing an ER task, as well as, an online component consisting of a vignette paradigm in which participants are asked to indicate strategies they would use to cope with ten independent real-world hypothetical scenarios. 

In my future research I hope to focus on (1) gender differences in ER processes, (2) how ER difficulties, specifically inflexibility, manifest themselves in depressed individuals, and (3) the effect of tDCS on emotion regulation beyond reappraisal. I plan to use innovative methodological approaches in these pursuits, including; ecological momentary assessment (electronic daily diary surveying), tDCS, neuroimaging, and physiological measures. From this research, I hope to contribute to our knowledge of the psychological and neural systems underlying emotion regulation and identify how these systems interact to promote stable, flexible, and adaptive behavior. 

Other specific research interests:

    - The gender stereotyping of emotion

    - How personality traits impact ER flexibility

    - Exploring whether gender differences in ER can help explain gender differences found in numerous psychopathologies (i.e. eating disorders, non-suicidal self-injury)

Broad research interests: emotion regulation, affective science, cognitive neuroscience, and psychopathology.