Researcher: Mark Celano and Nina Shiffrin, Clinical Psychology Graduate Students

Lab: Alan Kazdin

Description of position: Seeking research assistants to help with multiple projects related to the intersection of social and clinical psychology.  Research includes topics such as

•How simple techniques can be used to improve therapeutic relationships

•How mothers’ implicit attitudes relate to parenting behaviors

•The motivations for engaging in and perceptions of body modifications (e.g., tattoos, body piercings)

•The effects of stigmatization in interpersonal interactions

Duties:  Students will assist in participant recruitment, experimental design, data collection, and data coding and analysis.  Specific research duties may be tailored to individual RAs’ interests and skills, but all RAs should expect a combination of individual and group work as well as direct interaction with research participants.  Research assistants will work alongside a team of fellow research assistants and graduate students on a weekly basis.    

Requirements:  No direct psychology research experience necessary.  All research assistants are expected to be responsible, detail-oriented, interested in psychology, and willing to learn!  Applicants must be comfortable with recruiting and running research participants.    

Hours: Students must commit to 8-10hr/week.  Hours are flexible.

Compensation: Students may volunteer or enroll in a directed research course for credit.

Contact: Mark Celano (mark.celano@yale.edu) or Nina Shiffrin (nina.shiffrin@yale.edu). 

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Researcher: Julia Kim-Cohen, Ph.D. (Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology) 

Lab: Developmental Psychopathology Lab

Description of position: We are looking for motivated, enthusiastic undergraduate Research Assistants who are interested in developmental and clinical psychology. Two-three positions are available in a study of mothers with a history of major depression and their children’s risk for disruptive behavior problems and callous-unemotional traits (a risk factor for future psychopathy). We will be running procedures that involve a lab-based stress paradigm and measures of heart rate, blood pressure, and salivary hormones, as well as interviews of maternal mental health history and warmth, responsiveness, and empathy toward her child.

Duties: RAs will help with recruitment and running participants. RAs will be trained to collect saliva samples, how to administer and code interviews, and how to conduct research studies with school-aged participants. Sophomores and Juniors who are interested in planning a senior project in Psychology are especially encouraged to apply, but Freshman and Seniors are also welcome. Prior experience is not necessary, but an interest in both biological and social influences in development and mental health is preferred.

Hours: Students should commit to approximately 10 hours per week (for 1 credit) or 5 hours per week (for .5 credit), including a weekly lab meeting.  Hours are flexible and may include weekends.

Compensation: Course credit, hourly compensation, and volunteer opportunities are available.  

Location: 405 Temple Street, Yale Campus

Contact: Professor Julia Kim-Cohen (julia.kim-cohen@yale.edu), preferably by January 20th, 2012. 

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Researcher: Dr. Laurie Santos, Associate Professor

Lab: Comparative Cognition Laboratory, Department of Psychology

Description of position: The Comparative Cognition Laboratory (CapLab) explores the evolutionary origins of the human mind by comparing the cognitive abilities of human and non-human primates. The lab is currently working on projects exploring primate economic knowledge, moral cognition, social cognition, and causal knowledge.

Students who join the lab will participate in ongoing research projects investigating cognition in capuchin monkeys.  Students will aid in planning and carrying out studies with a team of other students.  Students will participate in conducting studies, as well as in coding and analysis of data and will also have the opportunity to work directly with the socially-housed captive capuchin monkeys at our facility.

Hours: Students must commit to at least 8 hours/week plus a weekly lab meeting.

Compensation: Students interested in the lab for the spring semester must enroll in either a directed research course or a PSYC 495 course.

Contact: Dr. Laurie Santos (laurie.santos@yale.edu) before January 15th for positions for the Spring 2012 semester.

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Investigator:  Dr. Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, Professor

Description of position:  Our lab conducts research on emotions, emotion regulation, and psychopathology with adults and adolescents.  Most of our studies are  laboratory based but some are conducted in local high schools. Students who join  the lab help to plan and carry out studies, acting as experimenters in lab  studies, conducting interviews with participants, recruiting participants,  and coding and analyzing data.

Hours:  Students must commit to at least 8 hours/week and enroll in a directed research course.   Students may also attend weekly lab  meetings.

Contact:  Sahra Wallace (sahra.wallace@yale.edu)

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Researcher: Christina Starmans, Graduate Student

Lab: Mind and Development Lab (PI: Professor Paul Bloom)

Description of position:  Research in the Mind and Development Lab investigates how children and adults reason about their social world, particularly as relates to our understanding of people as both bodies and minds, our moral judgments, and our understanding of fiction and acting.

This position will primarily involve assisting with ongoing studies looking at children’s understanding of bodies and minds. Humans understand other people to be both physical entities (bodies) and psychological agents (minds).  We are interested in the origins of this 'intuitive dualism', and its implications for our understanding of the social world.   Current studies are investigating whether we think of body or mind as the primary aspect of a person, whether we truly think of the psychological aspects of a person (the mind, self, or 'soul') as immaterial, and how we track the identity of an individual person over time and change. 

Research Assistants participate in all aspects of our research, including preparing study materials, scheduling children, parents, and undergraduate subjects and running them through studies, coding and analyzing data, and discussion of projects and findings at weekly lab meetings. Students will work with young children both at Yale and in local off-campus sites. Interested research assistants should have an interest in developmental psychology, and be energetic, detail oriented, and able to work independently.

Hours: Flexible, approximately 10 hrs/week including a 1.5 hour lab meeting; volunteer positions or directed research course credit are available.

Contact: Christina Starmans (christina.starmans@yale.edu)

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Researcher: Alex Shaw (grad student, developmental area)

Labs: Kristina Olson's lab

Description of Research: I work primarily with children (though I do some research in adults) using behavioral economics to investigate fairness and the reputational motives that underlie how and when we share resources with others. I also conduct research on children's understanding of intellectual property. For a broad description of my research program, please see my website: https://sites.google.com/site/alexshawyale/

Research Assistants participate in all aspects of our research, planning and conducting studies, as well as data entry, scheduling participants and through discussion of projects and findings at weekly lab meetings. Students will conduct studies with young children both at Yale and in local off campus sites. Interested research assistants should have an interest in developmental psychology, be able to work independently, and have some understanding of basic experimental design.

Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions, including specifics about any particular project and what your involvement might be with it.

Time Commitment and Compensation: Usually 10hrs/week for course credit or on a volunteer basis.  

Contact: alex.shaw@yale.edu  

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Researcher: Tim Vickery, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Associate)

Lab: Visual Cognitive Neuroscience (P.I. : Prof. Marvin Chun)

Description of Research: We are interested in how people learn to make good decisions, and the influence of reward and punishment on other aspects of cogntion. For example, humans change their future behavior depending on whether previous choices were either rewarded or punished. What are the rules that govern this process, and what are the neural mechanisms that implement those rules? What are the consequences of reward and punishment on perception, memory, and attention? To answer these and similar questions, we measure decision-making behavior in laboratory experiments, and measure brain activity using fMRI neuroimaging while decisions are made.

Duties: Conducting computer-based research studies in the lab and assisting with fMRI data collection. Primary responsibilities will be to recruit participants and collect data for behavior and fMRI experiments. Depending on initiative and interest, research assistants will also be trained to design and program new experiments, analyze data, and understand studies in the context of background readings.

Requirements: interest in cognitive neuroscience, an ability to interact with study participants, and strong organizational skills.

Coursework in psychology, statistics,  neuroscience, and/or computer science is preferable, but not required. Computer programming experience is particularly valuable, but not a requirement.

Hours: 6 or more hours per week; schedule is flexible

Compensation: Directed Research course credit or volunteer.

Contact: Timothy Vickery, timothy.vickery@yale.edu

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Researcher: Glenn Schafe, Associate Professor

Description of Research: Our lab studies the neurobiological substrates of learning and memory, with particular emphasis on Pavlovian fear conditioning. Specifically, we are interested in the cellular and/or biochemical events that contribute to fear memory consolidation. Recently, we have been focusing on how epigenetic mechanisms, such as histone acetylation and DNA methylation contribute to fear memory formation. In our lab we utilize a multidisciplinary approach to the study of memory formation in the amygdala and other relevant brain areas that includes behavioral, anatomical, electrophysiological, molecular and biochemical techniques.

Duties: Undergraduate research assistants will be trained in running behavioral experiments, surgical procedures, histology, and Western blotting.

Schedule: Whether enrolled for course credit or as a volunteer, students must commit to a minimum of 10 hours per week, plus a 1-2 hour weekly lab meeting.  Preference will be given to students who can commit to working in the lab for both the Fall and Spring semester.

Requirements: No previous research experience necessary, but relevant coursework in psychology, biology, and neuroscience is recommended.

Compensation: Volunteer or for course credit (Directed Research).

Contact: Glenn Schafe (glenn.schafe@yale.edu)

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Researcher: Kristina Olson, Assistant Professor

Lab: Social Cognitive Development Laboratory, Department of Psychology

Description of position: The Social Cognitive Development Laboratory (SCD Lab) investigates the development of social cognition in young children, focusing on the topics of pro-social behavior, social group attitudes, and ownership. We study questions such as when and why do children share or help others? How do children decide which groups or individuals to favor? And do children apply ownership to the domain of ideas?

Research assistant duties will include: Recruiting and scheduling subjects, running studies, analyzing data.  Expect to work with subjects who are kids between the ages of 3 and 12 years old as well as occasionally with adults.

Requirements: Research assistants must be responsible, organized, interested in developmental and/or social psychology and have some experience working with kids.  Knowledge of advanced software is not necessary, but interest in learning is necessary.

Schedule: 8 hours per week plus a weekly lab meeting on Wednesdays from 5:30 - 6:30, beginning January 18th.

Compensation: Course credit or volunteer.

Contact Info: kristina.olson@yale.edu

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Researchers: Susan Rivers, Ph.D. and Peter Salovey, Ph.D.

Lab: Health, Emotion, & Behavior Laboratory 

Description of Research: In the Health, Emotion, and Behavior Lab (Directed by Drs. Peter Salovey, Marc Brackett, and Susan Rivers), we are interested in learning how to most effectively communicate messages about healthy lifestyle behaviors to cancer survivors. We are looking at applying socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) to the field of health communication. We are interested in (1) determining how the tenets of SST apply to health messaging in general and (2) how SST can inform the creation of messages promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors among cancer survivors.  We also are interested in whether or not exercise promotion messages can be created to increase self-efficacy for exercise among breast cancer survivors.  This line of research involves online, lab-based, and community-based studies.

For more detailed information about our research, visit: http://heblab.research.yale.edu//heblab-yale/myweb.php?hls=10080

Description of Position: Through this directed reading/research opportunity with our lab, you can gain valuable research experience by acquiring both a practical understanding of scientific techniques through hands-on experience and an appreciation of the theoretical principles that inform our work.  

Duties may include:

oRunning participants in the lab (and/or community/clinical settings)

oProgramming surveys in Qualtrics

oPreparing mailings to study participants

oPreparing and/or reviewing IRB protocol submissions

oPreliminary data screening and analyses

oReviewing manuscript drafts

oConducting literature searches and reviews.

Qualifications Desired: No experience necessary, but coursework in psychology (e.g., introductory psychology, research methods and statistics), high attention to detail, excellent editing and writing skills, and an interest in research are recommended.

Compensation: Course credit through Directed Reading/Research (PSYC 490a or 492a)

For instructions on signing up for the course, visit: http://www.yale.edu/psychdus/Forms.html and fill out the Directed Reading/Research tutorial form.

Schedule: Students must commit to at least 8 hours/week. Attendance at a weekly lab meeting is recommended but not required.

Contact: (203) 432-3198 or lindsay.duncan@yale.edu

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Researcher: Oriana R. Aragon, Graduate Student

Lab: Relationships and Emotion, Prof. Margaret S. Clark

Description of positions:  General information.  We welcome undergraduates who wish to participate fully in the planning, running, analyzing, presenting and writing up research projects.   You may select one of the following areas in which we will be conducting research in the Spring 2011 semester.  Then we will include you in the team of people doing research on that topic.  Ideally you select a single project to help plan and run and, ideally, to analyze data (we’ll help.  This is supposed to be educational) and write up (again, we’ll work closely with you).  Becoming involved with an eye toward developing your own research ideas for a related senior thesis is welcomed.

Project 1: We are interested in how people form opinions of others. Particularly when two individuals meet for the first time, various forms of information are exchanged. What consequences might it have in the formation of new relationships, when an individual is focusing on the factual information of the interaction? For one, the cognitive load involved in considering different factual aspects of another, may leave limited resources to consider much else, such as how someone purely “feels” about the other. Likewise, a volume of important information is transferred during an interaction at an automatic level, without effort and without conscious deliberation. It appears from our recent investigation that some of this information may be at times, missed by one who is analytically making their way through the interaction. We are currently investigating this finding further by prompting our participants to logically make their way through forming an opinion of another.

Project 2: What if there was truth to the expression to “be on one’s good side”?  We propose that the physical side, left or right, of where we might prefer to place those who we like, perhaps those who display a smile or overall positivity, may be different than the side, where we might prefer to place those who we do not like, perhaps because they display negativity.  This was evident in a simple card sort task recently conducted in the lab, where participants were asked to sort small geometrically shaped cards that featured simple line-drawn happy faces, neutral faces and sad faces. Data showed that when given the free choice of where to place the different faces, that participants opted to place the happy face to one side, neutral face to the center, and sad face to the other side. We propose a further investigation into the observed effect of lateralization of valence with the following questions kept in mind while attempting to demonstrate the effect itself. Are the observed lateral asymmetries due to: A general effect of valence, good- bad? An effect of distance, close- far? An effect of emotion intensity? A mechanism of emotion regulation. (This research is conducted in cooperation with John Bargh and Margaret Clark)

Commitment/supervision/hours:  The work will be directly supervised by Oriana Aragon and Margaret Clark.  You will attend lab meetings if you have no conflicting class meeting.  If you do have a conflict other arrangements will be made.

You will meet with Oriana once a week. Compensation:  Credit or volunteer basis. Contact:  Oriana Aragon at Oriana.Aragon@yale.edu

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Researcher:   Frank Keil

Lab: Cognition and Development Lab (Manager: Phil Langthorne)

Description: Seeking undergraduate research assistants to continue ongoing projects and pursue new ventures. Responsibilities include research support at all levels; i.e., development of new materials, recruitment of participants, running of studies, and analysis of data. Other responsibilities as assigned. Please review the information on our website (www.yale.edu/cogdevlab) for description of research focus.

Hours: We ask RAs to commit to at least one semester and 8-10 hours per week. Additional participation in weekly lab meetings required (time TBA).

Compensation: Yale students may earn independent study course credit. Paid positions may become available for federal work-study students.

Interested Students: Contact the lab manager at cogdevlab@yale.edu and place “RA Application” in subject line. Students who contact us before January 9 will receive priority.

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Researcher: Karen Wynn, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science

Lab: Infant Cognition Center

My research investigates core structures of cognition; those inherent cognitive
mechanisms with which we interpret incoming information and which enable us to make sense
of and reason about the world. My students and I are studying various aspects of
cognition within the first months of life, prior to the influences of language, culture,
education, and extensive experience. The aim of our research is to gain a better
understanding of how the human mind is inherently structured to interpret and make sense
of the world -- what is the nature of the underlying mechanisms of thought. Our work is
currently focused around several central areas of research, including the early
underpinnings of moral cognition, infants' ingroup/outgroup preferences and biases, and 
theory of mind.  More information about our areas of investigation and recent research
findings can be found at http://pantheon.yale.edu/~kw77/Research.html.

Research Assistants participate fully in all aspects of our research. Students are
involved in testing infants, planning experiments, recruiting and scheduling subjects,
and the day-to-day running of th lab.  Students also attend weekly lab meetings where we
discuss the theoretical motivation for current experiments, results of recently completed
experiments, possible next directions, relevant research findings from other labs, and so
on. As an undergraduate in the lab, you will acquire both a practical and theoretical
understanding of experimental procedures through hands-on research experience. Students
also have the opportunity to interact with graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who
can offer advice and guidance for anyone interested in pursuing a future in psychology.
You can find information about the Infant Cognition Lab at http://www.yale.edu/infantlab

No previous research experience is necessary. Applicants must be willing and able to
commit 10 hours per week to the lab, and should be comfortable interacting with parents
and children in person and over the phone, as this is a primary responsibility.
Compensation may be for course credit or as a volunteer.

Contact: yalebaby.manager@yale.edu or ann.spokes@yale.edu

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Researcher: Brian Scholl, Professor of Psychology

Lab: Perception & Cognition Lab

Description: The Yale Perception & Cognition Lab currently has openings for Yale undergraduates, to help study the nature of visual perception and cognition.  For information, see:  http://www.yale.edu/perception/Brian/misc/jobs.html

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Researcher:  Alan E. Kazdin, Ph.D.

Description: For students interested in clinical research and practicum experience with children and families, several opportunities are available this term at the Yale Parenting Center and Child Conduct Clinic (http://www.yale.edu/yaleparentingcenter).  The clinic (on campus at 314 Prospect Avenue) is an outpatient treatment service for children who are referred for oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behavior.  Students will work at the clinic, learn child assessments, follow cases to see the treatment approaches used for children and parents, and participate in research activities (e.g., assessment, data collection).  Some direct contact will also be made with children (ages 2-14) who are referred for treatment.  This is an excellent experience for students interested in clinical psychology, children and families, and clinical work and research.

Course Credit:  Course credit is provided for the experience (although some students wish to volunteer without credit).  The course is Psychology 490b or 491b (for Spring).  To registrar, students must obtain approval from the Instructor (A. Kazdin) and complete a form for the Director of Undergraduate Studies.

Requirements:  Interest in children and clinical child psychology.  A limited number of positions are available. 

Class Schedule:  The time is flexible and scheduled individually for each student.  Each student should plan on approximately 8 hours per week at the Clinic.

Additional Information:  This is an excellent opportunity to work on clinical research in clinical psychology.  Students will work with a team of clinical staff, learn about childhood disorders, cognitive and behavioral treatment, and participate in a variety of activities, including informal seminars.  The experience is particularly valuable for students considering graduate school in clinical psychology.  There are no exams although there is a seminar series at the clinic as part of the course and a short paper.

If Interested.  For further details to enroll, please email Ms. Kelly Durbin at childconductclinic@yale.edu or call her at 432-9993

Visit our Websites:

Overview of our parenting on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfH4DN2W4WM

Our articles on parenting at Slate.com: www.slate.com/default.aspx?id=3944&qt=kazdin

Other web pages that follow work at the Yale Parenting Center
www.alankazdin.com
www.facebook.com/yaleparentingcenter
www.twitter.com/yaleparenting
www.yaleparentingcenter.com

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Researcher: June Gruber, Assistant Professor

Lab: Yale Positive Emotion and Psychopathology  (YPEP) Lab

Description: Can people be too happy?  Is there a wrong degree of happiness that can lead to negative outcomes? The YPEP tries to approach these counter-intuitive questions by examining positive emotion extremes in both healthy community and student samples as well as more severe psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder and depression. We have several studies currently underway in the lab examining positive emotion experience, expression, and regulation using self-report questionnaire measures, coding facial expressions using Paul Ekman’s Facial Action Coding System (FACS) system, and analyzing psychophysiological (heart rate, breathing, skin temperature, galvanic skin response) data. Neuromaging studies using fMRI are a new direction in the lab currently underway and opportunities for exceptional Fall RA’s to gain further exposure in the Spring are possible. To read more about our research, see www.yalepeplab.com

Duties Involved: There are a wide variety of opportunities, including: running experimental sessions using multi-media audio-visual equipment, recruiting participants, conducting clinical phone interviews, collect/analyze psychophysiology data, getting trained to FACS code behavioral displays of emotion, entering and analyzing data using SPSS, and future opportunities to get involved in fMRI research for exceptional RAs.

Schedule: Flexible, 8-10 hours per week, 2-semester commitment required. Attending weekly 1-hour lab meetings preferred but not required. No prior experience is required but coursework in emotion, abnormal or social psychology may be beneficial. Provides excellent opportunity for students interested in graduate work in psychology or psychiatry.

Compensation: Volunteer or Course credit.

Contact: If interested, please email june.gruber@yale.edu with the following information:

- GPA, Year, Major

- Previous psych courses taken

- Previous research and/or clinical experience (if any)

- One paragraph statement about what you hope to gain and what you would contribute to the project.

- Please specify which of the research duties listed above you are most interested in and why.

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Researcher: Tim Vickery

Lab: Visual Cognitive Neuroscience (P.I. : Prof. Marvin Chun)

Description of Research: The problem of recovering the meaning of our visual environment from the light that hits the eye is extraordinarily complex, and yet humans do it with ease. We study the fundamental processes of the visual system that recognize structure, such as which regions comprise objects or groups of objects. What are the rules that the brain uses to determine whether something is an object? Does recognizing an object have a "ripple" effect on the visual system, changing our perception of structure elsewhere in a scene? We address these questions by studying visual illusions and behavioral responses to different sorts of visual scenes. We uncover clues about visual representation by examine how manipulating visual inputs alters behavior in an experiment.

Duties: Conducting computer-based research studies in the lab. Primary responsibilities will be to recruit participants and collect data. Depending on availability and interest, research assistants will also be trained to design and program new experiments, analyze data, and understand studies in the context of background readings.

Requirements: interest in cognition and perception, an ability to interact with study participants, and strong organizational skills. Coursework in psychology, statistics,  neuroscience, and/or computer science is preferable, but not required. Computer programming experience is is valued but not a requirement.

Hours: 6 or more hours per week; schedule is flexible

Compensation: Directed Research course credit or volunteer.

Contact: Timothy Vickery, timothy.vickery@yale.edu

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Researcher: Thalia Goldstein, Post-Doctoral Fellow

Lab: Mind and Development Lab, (Professor Paul Bloom) Department of Psychology

Description of position: The Mind and Development Lab investigates children's social reasoning, notions of fairness, art and fiction, pretend play, and role play. The lab is currently working on projects involving morality, disgust, humor, social cognition, fictional understanding and understanding of characterizations.

Students who join Dr. Goldstein's group will participate in ongoing research projects investigating children's understanding of role play, pretense, and acting.  Students will aid in planning and conducting studies, as well as in coding and analysis of data. Students will work with young children both at Yale and in local off campus sites. Interested research assistants should be energetic, detail oriented, enthusiastic and willing to take on responsibility.

Compensation: Students can volunteer, or can receive credit for work in the lab.

Hours: Students must commit to at least 8hr/week plus a two hour lab meeting.

Contact: Dr. Thalia Goldstein (thalia.goldstein@yale.edu) before January 23 for positions for the Spring 2012 semester.

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Researcher: Ifat Levy, Assistant Professor

Lab: Decision-making, Yale School of Medicine

Description: Our lab studies decision-making processes in humans. In our experiments we use behavioral economics methods to characterize the behavior of our subjects and functional MRI to track the corresponding neural activation. We focus on situations in which the consequences of different choices are not known for sure and on food choices, trying to correlate differences in behavior and neural activation with parameters such as age, weight and personality traits.

Description of position: Students can take part in all aspects of the experiments, depending on their interests and qualifications. This includes writing scripts and constructing stimuli, scheduling and running subjects (behaviorally and in fMRI experiments), entering and analyzing data. Students will be encouraged, but not required, to take part in the weekly lab meeting. No previous experience is necessary. Applicants should be highly organized, responsible and comfortable working with study participants.

Hours: Flexible

Compensation: Course credit or volunteer

Contact: Dr. Ifat Levy: ifat.levy@yale.edu

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Researcher:  Lily Guillot, Graduate Student

Lab:  Mind and Development Lab [PI: Professor Paul Bloom]

Description:  Research in the Mind and Development Lab explores the social cognition of dualism, morality, pretense and acting, identification with fictional characters, and preferences for different kinds of stories. 

Research assistants will be involved primarily with projects relating to the developmental roots of the phenomenon that has been called the “paradox of horror” or the “paradox of tragedy.”  This is the puzzle of why people enjoy stories that elicit negative emotional reactions.  Studies in the lab are designed to investigate questions like: What makes someone choose to watch a horror movie in the first place?  Why do people watch tragedies for fun?  What does it mean to be “in the mood for a good cry”? How might non-narrative elements (e.g. social environment, age, background) impact story preferences?

Research duties will include study design, stimuli development, data collection and analysis, and interaction with participants (adults and young children).  Students will be expected to engage creatively with the subject matter during lab meetings and should be self-motivated, detail-oriented, and have an interest in psychology.

Hours:  Students should be able to commit to working 10 hrs/week, which includes attendance at a weekly lab meeting.  Volunteer positions or research course credit are available.

Contact:  lily.guillot@yale.edu

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Researcher: James Mazer

Description: Our lab investigates top-down control of visual processing and visual attention. We have several on-going projects suitable for undergraduate involvement investigating how the visual system reconfigures on the fly to facilitate target detection and improve behavioral performance during visual search. We're interested in understanding the neural mechanisms underlying our largely innate ability to attend to specific aspects of our environment when it's behaviorally advantageous to do so. This work has implications for understanding, and perhaps treating, important clinical conditions like autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

In the lab we use a variety of techniques including psychophysical testing, fMRI and neurophysiological recordings (single neuron and ERP). Anyone working in the lab would be encouraged to participate at all levels of the research: design and execution of experiments, data  analysis and discussion of data and relevant papers at our regular lab meetings. Applicants should have an interested in systems and/or cognitive neuroscience. Programming skills (Matlab in particular) would be a definite plus.

Contact james.mazer@yale.edu

Time Commitments: Flexible, but 8-10hr/week would be a good starting point.

Compensation: Paid position or course credit (pending DUS approval).

Location: Sterling Hall of Medicine (Med School -- 333 Cedar St) ~10min walk from Old Campus

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Researcher: Joan Monin, Assistant Professor, Yale School of Public Health

Lab: Social Gerontology and Health Laboratory

Location: 55 Church Street, Suite 801

Description of position:  We welcome students who are interested in emotions, relationship processes, and health in older adults.  We are starting a study this Spring 2011 examining how emotional processes influence the health of older adult spousal caregivers. This study will involve interview and experimental protocols, cardiovascular physiology monitoring (blood pressure and heart rate), and coding facial expression (using the Facial Action Coding System; FACS).

Duties:  Research assistants are needed to help recruit, schedule, and conduct interviews with older adult participants.  We also need help running an experiment using audio-visual and physiological monitoring equipment.  Students also have the opportunity to learn more about data analysis, coding facial expressions, and guidance investigating their own research questions related to this work.

Requirements: Research assistants must be responsible and organized.  Prior experience working with older adults with physical disabilities is appreciated but not required.

Schedule:  Flexible, 8-10 hours per week.

Compensation: Volunteer or Course Credit

Contact: Please email joan.monin@yale.edu if interested.

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Researcher: Mark Sheskin (grad student, developmental area)

Labs: Bloom, Santos, and Keil

Description of Research: I work with adults, kids, and capuchin monkeys. Most (but not all) of my research is focused on moral psychology. For descriptions of my current studies, please see the research page on my website: http://pantheon.yale.edu/~mis26/research.html

Please feel free to e-mail me at  with any questions, including specifics about any particular project and what your involvement might be with it.

Time Commitment and Compensation: Usually 10hrs/week for credit, sometimes paid or volunteer with variable hours

Contact: mark.sheskin@yale.edu

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Researcher: Matthew J. McGinley, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Fellow in Neurobiology)

Lab: McCormick Lab (McCormicklab.org)

Description of position for 2011-2012: We are looking for motivated, enthusiastic undergraduate students who are interested in performing supervised independent research on sensory perception and systems neuroscience. Two positions are available on a newly developed project on the network dynamics underlying state-dependent sensory responses in the auditory cortex of mice. The project integrates in vivo electrophysiology and two-photon microscopy with opto-genetic and other molecular-genetic strategies, and behavioral paradigms to study cortical sensory processing and behavior.

Duties: Students would conduct an independent but supervised project that contributes an important component to the overall research program of the researcher. One project is to develop an auditory discrimination task for mice. A specially designed training apparatus and a sound stimulus delivery system have already been built. The student would refine the apparatus, then train animals in a discrimination task involving a variety of simple and complex sound stimuli, and finally analyze the behavioral data. The second project is to evaluate several transgenic mouse lines and viral constructs for their utility in behavioral experiments. The student would be trained in animal perfusion, histology, immunohistochemistry, viral injection, sample preparation and/or confocal microscopy, and use these tools to evaluate several transgenic mouse lines. Both projects come with the possibility to be trained in in vivo or in vitro electrophysiology if the project progresses to that point. Sophomores and juniors who are interested in planning a senior project are especially encouraged to apply, but seniors are also welcome. Prior research experience is not necessary, but an interest in the neural basis of sensory perception, molecular strategies in behavioral research, and/or animal behavior are important.

Hours: Students should commit to approximately 10 hours per week (for 1 credit) or possibly more hours per week for additional credit, including an ~biweekly lab meeting. Hours are flexible.

Compensation: Course credit and volunteer opportunities are available.

Location: 333 Cedar Street, SHM, School of Medicine Campus

Contact: Dr. Matthew J. McGinley (matthew.mcginley@yale.edu).

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Researcher: Maryam M. Jernigan, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow

Lab: Carlos Grilo, PhD Program for Obesity Eating and Weight Research (POWER) School of Medicine

Description of position: Seeking research assistants to help with multiple projects related to the development of culturally responsive treatment for obesity in children/adolescents.   We are looking for motivated undergraduate Research Assistants who are interested in assisting in the development of behavioral prevention and treatment interventions for children and adolescents who struggle with eating and weight concerns. The lab is currently working on developing studies to examine the psychological (e.g., mood) and social factors (e.g., experiences of discrimination) that affect obesity in ethnically diverse children and adolescents.

Duties:  Students will assist in all aspects of research including: preparation of study materials, treatment manual development, data collection, quantitative and qualitative coding and analysis. Specific research duties may be tailored to individual RAs’ interests and skills. Research assistants will work alongside a team of fellow research assistants and postdoctoral associates on a weekly basis.    

Requirements: Coursework in psychology, statistics, and/or computer programming is preferable, but not required. S/he should be dependable, have outstanding organizational skills, and good written and oral communication skills.  Ethnic minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. 

Hours: Flexible, approximately 8 hrs/week including a weekly lab meeting

Compensation: Volunteer or course credit (directed research)

Contact: maryam.jernigan@yale.edu

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Researcher: Konika Banerjee, Graduate Student

Lab: Mind and Development Lab (PI: Prof. Paul Bloom)

Description of position:  Why is belief in God so ubiquitous across diverse human cultures and history?  Why do most world religions share certain recurrent features, such as an emphasis on supernatural

agents, afterlife beliefs, and origin stories?  In the Mind and Development Lab, we aim to answer these questions by applying a cognitive science approach to the study of religious belief.  We conduct research examining how early-emerging, universal cognitive biases may support and reinforce religious beliefs.  We also study how these cognitive biases operate in atheists who deny the existence of supernatural beings.  This semester, studies with both adults and children will broadly investigate how people reason about supernatural minds.

Research assistants will be in involved in all levels of the research process.  They will assist in designing and running research experiments and will also gain experience with data coding, analysis. and interpretation.  They will work closely with both child participants in the lab and also with adult populations, including Yale undergraduates.  Research assistants will be responsible for recruiting and scheduling participants.  They must be highly motivated, diligent, and able to work well independently.  Previous research experience is a plus but is not necessary.

Hours: 10 hours per week plus attendance at Prof. Paul Bloom’s weekly lab meeting (1.5 hours).  Research assistants may work in the lab for spring semester directed research course credit or they may volunteer.

Contact: konika.banerjee@yale.edu

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Researcher: Nicholas Santascoy, Clinical Psychology Graduate Student

Lab: Alan Kazdin, Linda Mayes

Description of position: Seeking volunteer research assistant for 5 hours a week assisting with multiple projects related to preventing infant abuse.  Research includes topics such as

•Infant cry and stress management

•Implicit measures of abuse risk

•Behavioral measures of abuse risk

•Stigma and abuse

Duties:  Students will assist in study design, locating and leveraging resources, participant recruitment, data collection, and data coding and analysis.  Specific research duties may be tailored to individual RAs’ interests and skills, but all RAs should expect a combination of individual and group work as well as direct interaction with research participants. 

Requirements:  No direct psychology research experience necessary.  All research assistants are expected to be responsible, detail-oriented, interested in psychology, and willing to learn!  Applicants must be comfortable with recruiting and running research participants.    

Hours: Students must commit to 5 hours a week. 

Compensation: Students may volunteer.

Contact: Nicholas Santascoy (nicholas.santascoy@yale.edu)