• About Us

      Our research approach is to examine social behavior using neuroscience methods, such as event-related brain potentials (ERPs), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and psychophysiological measures such as electrodermal activity (EDA), facial electromyography (EMG), and electrocardiography (ECG). We study a broad range of topics, including emotion, ambivalence, race bias, imitation and empathy, meditation and attention, and social rejection. One focus in the laboratory is on individual differences and personality, or how different people can respond to the same event in very different ways, and how these differences relate to mental and physical health.

      Current Studies

      Poster Presentations

      Conference Presentations

    • Current Studies

      Meditation and Attention

      In this experiment, we investigate the effects of meditation on cognitive performance.

      Attention and Cognitive Depletion

      This study investigates the effects of ambivalent emotion on cognitive performance.

      Synchrony and Cooperation

      This experiment examines the effects of physical imitation on social interactions between individuals.

      Attention and Cognitive Depletion

      In this study, we look at the effects of food ambivalence in restricted eaters on cognitive performance.

    • Poster Presentations

      Eliminate the negative, accentuate the positive: emotion regulation of ambivalence in a gambling task

      Emily J. Wu and Catherine J. Norris, PhD (presented at SANS 2016 in New York and SPR 2016 in Minneapolis)

       

      In this experiment, we seek to discover the effects of emotional regulation on ambivalence, which is the state of holding both positive and negative affect in mind simultaneously. Specifically, can emotional regulation reduce or eliminate ambivalence levels? We found that both positive and negative emotion regulation is effective, but not in the way one would expect!

      The effects of gait synchrony on interpersonal cooperation

      Catherine J. Norris, PhD, Ray Lefco, Greer Prettyman, Chris Thomson, & Frank H. Durgin, PhD (presented at SPSP 2016 in San Diego)

      "It's the Little Things in Life": evidence for spontaneous emotion regulation to mildly emotional pictures in older females

      Catherine J. Norris, PhD and Michelle R. Johnson(presented at SANS 2016 in New York and SPR 2016 in Minneapolis)

       

      The positivity offset is a pattern in which mildly pleasant stimuli have a stronger effect on emotional responses than mildly unpleasant stimuli. This research explored neural evidence of greater spontaneous emotion regulation in older participants which partially mediated the greater positivity offset seen in the older group. A greater positivity offset may prove beneficial to mental health in older populations.

      The role of implicit race bias in intergroup

      Higher neuroticism is associated with greater false memory for negative versus positive critical lures

      Catherine J. Norris, PhD, P. Leaf, and K. Fenn (presented at SPSP 2015 in Long Beach)

      Efficient coding provides a better account of systematic biases in locomotor space perception than does action ability

      Johnny Oh, A. Robinson, Chris Thomson, Ruth Talbot, Catherine J. Norris, PhD., and Frank H. Durgin, PhD (presented at Vision Sciences Society 2015 in St. Pete's Beach)

      Knowledge effects on slant estimation are mediated by Conscientiousness

      A. Robinson, Johnny Oh, Chris Thomson, Ruth Talbot, Catherine J. Norris, PhD., and Frank H. Durgin, PhD (presented at Vision Sciences Society 2015 in St. Pete's Beach)

    • Conference Presentations

      Brief meditation increases resource allocation and improves performance on the ANT

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    Last updated on August 8, 2022

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