Administrative Updates & Announcements
Psychology Undergraduate Advising is pleased to welcome a new staff member for Spring Semester
2015! Max Prieto, a senior psychology major, will be joining our team as a Student Office Assistant.
Welcome, Max!
Awards & Accomplishments
Professor Alex Rothman received an NIH Award of Merit for exceptional advances in integrating
cognitive, affective, and social processes into cancer control research at an event in November 2014 for
his role as Co-Chair of the National Cancer Institute's Cognitive, Affective, and Social Processes in
Health Research Working Group.
Upcoming Events
Rajendra D. Badgaiyan, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Neuromodulation Scholar,
University of Minnesota
"A novel approach to study human cognitive processing:
Detection of neurochemical changes in real time"
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
N219 Elliott Hall
Dr. Badgaiyan recently joined the faculty at the
University of Minnesota and is directing the CMRR's program in PET
imaging. We hope that you can attend!
Abstract:
By localizing brain areas activated during task
performance neuroimaging techniques (fMRI and PET) have made significant
contribution to our understanding of the brain mechanisms that control
human cognition and behavior. These techniques, however, do not provide
reliable information regarding neurochemical changes associated with the
brain processing. Lack of this information has significantly limited
our understanding of human cognitive control. It has also limited our
knowledge of the pathophysiology of psychiatric and neurological
conditions. We have recently developed a dynamic molecular imaging
technique to detect, map and measure task-induced changes in dopamine
neurotransmission in the live human brain. In these experiments we
exploit the competition between endogenously released neurotransmitter
and specific receptor ligand for receptor occupancy. The technique
expands the scope of neuroimaging research and allows investigation of
an unexplored aspect of human cognition and behavior.
