Every few weeks, the PGSA Blog will feature a different lab from one of the three programs at USC (Experimental, School, Clinical). These posts aim to recognize and spread the word about research being conducted at USC, facilitate networking and collaboration across students, and show prospective students a glimpse of graduate student life in our department.
This week, we're featuring the Applied Cognitive Neuropsychology Lab (Faculty Advisor Scott Decker). The overall aim of the ACN lab is to translate neuroscientific research into an applied educational context. Current graduate students in the lab are Julia Englund (3rd year School, Austin TX), Alycia Roberts (2nd year School, Rochester NY), and Jessi Scherr (1st year School, Jamestown, ND).
Graduate students keep very busy through co-training in neuropsychological assessment and test construction, learning and applying neurophysiological methods such as EEG, recruiting low incidence participants, supervising undergraduate volunteers, and preparing presentations and publications. In addition to these daily tasks, graduate students are currently working on several specialized projects:
1) Julia and Alycia have been performing cognitive assessments of children with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) to generate normative data for Riverside Publishing. The lab is currently recruiting children ages 7-17 to participate in this work (contact amroberts15@gmail.com for more information).
2) Julia received a SCASP research grant to develop an online screening battery called SCREEN (South Carolina Reading Early Evaluation Net), which will be the first brief battery of tests based on empirical predictors of reading achievement and available on students' home computers. Julia has been consulting with a computer science faculty programmer at USC to develop a sample test battery, which she will unveil at the SCASP Fall Conference this October (Columbia, SC). The lab will begin recruiting typically developing children (grades 1-5) for the SCREEN validation study this Winter.
3) Julia, Alycia, and Jessi are being trained in EEG procedures and data analysis, which they are applying to study neurophysiological correlates of working memory, executive function, and anxiety as in the context of standardized tests.
4) Lab members are giving back to the community by volunteering at Splash Bash, a family fun day for individuals with spinal cord injuries, brain injuries and other disabilities (sponsored by Health South Rehabilitation Hospital in Columbia).
To learn more about the ACN lab's work or current projects, visit their web site, "like" them on Facebook, or e-mail Alycia or Julia.
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