San Diego State UniversityDepartment of Psychology

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Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience

A core group of faculty within the Psychology Dept. are trained in the areas of behavioral and cognitive neuroscience and offer graduate training to students admitted to our Master's program.  These faculty use a variety of behavioral, neuroanatomical, neurochemical, imaging, neuropsychological and electrophysiological techniques.  Several members of  Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience have a research focus on the effects of alcohol on brain and behavior.  Specifically, we have a Center for Behavioral Teratology, which examines the effects of prenatal drug exposure on brain and behavioral development, and a Behavioral Neurobiology Section which focuses on the mechanisms of alcohol and thiamine deficiency-related neuropathology and the role of thalamic and cerebellar lesions to cognitive and mnemonic deficits.  We also have faculty conducting studies on the life-span aging of the senses and Alzheimer’s disease.

Members of the program have research funds provided by NIH, the VA, and the State of California.  The program provides excellent preparation for a Ph.D. in Biopsychology or the Neurosciences.  Furthermore, the program prepares students who do not wish to pursue a Ph.D. for placement in the growing biotechnology field.

PARTICIPATING FACULTY

Susan BRASSER (2006), B.A. Coe College; M.A., Ph.D., State University of New York at Binghamton. Physiological mechanisms of action of alcohol on the nervous system that regulate behavioral ingestion of the drug.

Paul GILBERT (2005), B.S., M.S., Ph.D., University of Utah. Effects of aging, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and brain damage on learning and memory using model systems and human participants.

Sarah N. MATTSON (1994), B.S., M.A., State University of New York at Albany, Ph.D., SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. Neuropsychology, behavioral teratology, normal and abnormal brain functioning, fetal alcohol syndrome.

Ralph-Axel MÜLLER ( 2001), M.A., Ph.D., University of Frankfurt, Germany. Cognitive neuroscience; functional neuroimaging of language, cognition, auditory processing, motor control and learning; development of neurofunctional organization in healthy children and in children with developmental disorders (especially autism); neural plasticity in children and adults following brain damage.

Claire MURPHY (1984), B.S., Loyola University; M.S., Ph.D. University of Massachusetts.Age-associated sensory-perceptual changes, cognitive function, aging, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, children’s perceptions, investigated with psychophysical, neuropsychological, psychophysiological, and neuroimaging techniques.

Edward P. RILEY (1988), B.A., Rutgers University; M.Sc., Ph.D., Tulane University. Effects of prenatal drug exposure, alcohol studies, fetal alcohol effects.

Jennifer D. THOMAS (1995), B.S., Iowa State University; M.A., Ph.D., University of Iowa. Behavioral Teratology, developmental neuroanatomy and psychobiology, neurobiology of learning and memory, animal learning and cognition.