Scan Lab – Research

Current Research Methodologies

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Current Research Methodologies
Neurophysiology
The SCAN Lab uses Brainvision electrodes to record brain activity while you sleep (PSG), while you are awake (EEG) and while you are actively participating in a behavioral task (ERP).


Eye Tracking
The SCAN Lab uses an Eye Tracker to examine where participants are looking on a computer screen, how long they look at certain stimuli, and how their pupils respond to stress or arousal.


Actigraphy
The SCAN Lab uses actigraphy, which is a research-specific watch, to tracks a participant’s activity levels and sleep bouts. Actigraphy can give us information about a participant’s typical sleep patterns.


Behavioral Tasks
The SCAN Lab uses behavioral tasks to test participants’ emotion regulation, emotional attention, memory, judgment, motivation, performance, cognition, and perception under a variety of conditions and following different interventions.
Concussion & Emotion Regulation Research
reset_logo_2Regulation of Emotion and Sleep Extension post-TBI Project
Following an mTBI (also known as a concussion), individuals often report issues of emotion regulation – they feel irritable, anxious, depressed, more easily frustrated, etc. In addition, they report issues with sleep, including trouble falling or staying asleep, having restless sleep, or feeling generally fatigued. Given that sleep can also affect our abilities to regulate emotion, this study seeks to examine the relationship between sleep, emotion regulation, and mTBI.
IMPairment of Affective Cognition post TBI
Following a mTBI (also known as a concussion), individuals often report issues of emotion regulation – they feel irritable, anxious, depressed, more easily frustrated, etc. However the mechanism by which mTBI can also emotion regulation is not well understood. This study seeks to examine the neurophysiological underpinnings of emotion dysregulation following a mTBI.
INvestigation of Slow Paced Inhalation for the Regulation of Emotion
Slow-paced breathing, or the deliberate slowing of inhalation and exhalation, has been shown to alter the body’s stress response. Slow-paced breathing activates the vagus nerve, and increases parasympathetic nervous system activation (which counters the fight, flee, or freeze response). The aims of this study are to examine whether slow-paced breathing could be an effective technique to acutely improve emotion regulation.
Social Psychology Research
better_projectsBEhavior, sTereoType, and pERformance Projects

These projects are broadly interested in motivation and performance. Motivation is our drive, our passion, our reason to exert effort and achieve something. Most of the things we do have an end goal, whether it is to get an “A” in the class, be a good person, take out the trash, etc. These projects are interested in what motivates us — what drives us to act one way versus another way in order to achieve a goal — and why and how certain aspects of a situation influence us while others do not.

In an other line of research, projects examine the effects of implicit biases and stereotypes, specifically in how biases impact our behaviors.

This research is part of the Behavioral, Stereotype, and Performance (BETTER) Lab at Merrimack College. Please email seitchika@merrimack.edu for more info or to participate in studies.


eye-trackingEye tracking during a shooter decision-making task

A series of studies tracks eye movements while completing a shooter task where individuals shoot an armed target.

This research is part of the Behavioral, Stereotype, and Performance (BETTER) Lab at Merrimack College. Please email seitchika@merrimack.edu for more info or to participate in studies.


amp_programAthlete Mental health Program

College athletes must juggle packed schedules, academic responsibilities, and sports-specific demands, which may make them more susceptible to certain mental health issues as compared with the general population. Athletes also have an increased risk of mental disorders upon retirement from sports if their identity is closely tied to being an athlete. This study aims to develop a comprehensive mental health program for athletes that fosters athlete well-being and mental health as well as promotes social support by having coaches, staff, and the athletes themselves understand early warning signs, destigmatize reporting, and develop and grow one’s identity outside of athletics.

This research is part of the Behavioral, Stereotype, and Performance (BETTER) Lab at Merrimack College in collaboration with Drs. Michael Corcoran and Christine Shaw. Please email amhs@merrimack.edu for more info or to participate in this study.

Neuroscience Research
Anxiety SLeep Extension and Emotion Perception Project

Anxiety and sleep have a bidirectional relationship – anxiety makes it harder to sleep, and sleep can help you manage your symptoms of anxiety. This research examines how sleep can impact the way those with and without anxiety perceive, respond to, and remember emotional information.

This research is part of the Learning, Memory and Sleep (LUMOS) Lab at Merrimack College.


Memory Instructions and Nocturnal Direction Project

Sleep improves memory, but can sleep also improve forgetting? Forgetting is a necessary and integral part of our brain’s healthy functioning. This line of research examines the role of sleep in helping the brain identify not only the important information to remember for the future, but also the unimportant things that can, and should, be forgotten.

This research is part of the Learning, Memory and Sleep (LUMOS) Lab at Merrimack College.

Join the Team

Any students interested in joining the lab, please email Professors Seitchik and Kurdziel. We are always looking for willing research assistants to assist in our research experiments!