Cognitive and Emotional Control Lab

Here in the Cognitive and Emotional Control Lab, we are primarily interested in factors that contribute to the formation and maintenance of psychotic symptoms. Our interests are diverse, but a strong commitment to improving the scientific understanding of psychotic disorders is a unifying thread of all our work. We utilize several approaches in our lab, including (but not limited to) collection of behavioral data, use of clinical assessment tools, and neuroimaging techniques, and have a strong emphasis on cognitive neuroscience.

Undergraduate students with a strong interest in psychotic disorders, clinical cognitive neuroscience, and behavioral task development are encouraged to apply to work with the lab by visiting the “Join Us” page.

Straub, K. T., & Kerns, J. G. (in press). Relationships between positive schizotypy and facets of openness to experience. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment.

Hua, J. P. Y., Karcher, N. R., Straub, K. T., & Kerns, J. G. (2022). Associations between long-term psychosis risk, probabilistic category learning, and attenuated psychotic symptoms with cortical surface morphometry. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 16, 91-106.

Straub, K. T., & Kerns, J. G. (2021). Positive schizotypy, maladaptive openness, and openness facets. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 12, 51-58.

Straub, K. T., Hua, J. P. Y., Karcher, N. R., & Kerns, J. G. (2020). Psychosis risk is associated with decreased white matter integrity in limbic network corticostriatal tracts. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, 301, 111089.

Karcher, N. R., Hua, J. P. Y., & Kerns, J. G. (2019). Striatum-related functional activation during reward- and punishment-based learning in psychosis risk. Neuropsychopharmacology, 44, 1967-1974.

Hua, J. P. Y., Karcher, N. R., Merrill, A. M., O’Brien, K. J., Straub, K. T., Trull, T. J., & Kerns, J. G. (2019). Psychosis risk is associated with decreased resting-state functional connectivity between the striatum and the default mode network. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 19, 998-1011.

Karcher, N. R., Hua, J. P. Y., & Kerns, J. G. (2019). Probabilistic category learning and striatal functional activation in psychosis risk. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 45, 396-404.

Karcher, N. R., Martin, E. A., & Kerns, J. G. (2015). Examining associations between psychosis risk, social anhedonia, and performance of striatum-related behavioral tasks. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 124, 507-518.

Cicero, D. C., Docherty, A. R., Martin, E.A., Becker, T.M., & Kerns, J. G. (2015). Aberrant salience, self-concept clarity, and interview-rated psychotic-like experiences. Journal of Personality Disorders, 29, 79-99.

Cicero, D. C., Kerns, J. G., & McCarthy, D. M. (2010). The aberrant salience inventory: A new measure of psychosis proneness. Psychological Assessment, 22, 688-701.