Training in Cognitive Psychophysiology

University Of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Champaign IL

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Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Support is requested for the continuation of a research training program in cognitive psychophysiology. The training program (dating from well before "cognitive neuroscience" emerged as a term largely synonymous with "cognitive psychophysiology") responds to the increasing penetration of psychophysiological techniques into many domains of the behavioral sciences. Psychophysiological techniques include both electrophysiological, hemodynamic, and optical neuroimaging methods, as well as measures of more peripheral bodily functions (especially eye movements and also heart rate, respiration, electrodermal activity, electromyography, all of which we have considerable experience in). Scientists trained in many subdisciplines of psychology, neuroscience, and other fields are adopting these measurement approaches. There is a pressing need to provide training in psychophysiology for biological and behavioral scientists who wish to utilize psychophysiological methods. The program faculty are prominent, active scientists of diverse backgrounds and interests, based in the Departments of Psychology and Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Neuroscience Program, and the Beckman Institute, emphasizing fMRI, ERP, and near-infrared methods and their integration with each other and with other methods. The training program brings these faculty members and their graduate students and postdocs together in an environment that provides thorough training in cognitive psychophysiology through coursework and an extended apprenticeship within the graduate program of the Department of Psychology and the campus Neuroscience and Medical Scholars Programs. The training program's mission is also addressed by attracting postdoctoral trainees for whom the program provides an opportunity for carefully supervised transition into research combining the tools of noninvasive human neuroscience with those of psychology in studying the implementation of the mind by the brain. The program emphasizes the importance of embedding empirical work in explicit theoretical models as well as developing sophistication in a wide range of data analysis methods, in the service of training independent cognitive psychophysiologists working in diverse applications. [unreadable] [unreadable]