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Research Labs
Auditory Neuroethology Lab
Cynthia Moss, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
4120 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-0374
Website
Research in the Auditory Neuroethology Lab includes studies of auditory information processing, spatial perception, memory and sensorimotor integration. Using the echolocating bat as a model system, our work combines acoustical, psychophysical, theoretical and neurophysiological research, with the goal of developing integrative theories on brain-behavior relations.
The Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research (CAPER)
Carl Lejuez, Ph.D.
2103 Cole Activities Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-8899
Website
The Center for Addictions, Personality, and Emotion Research (CAPER) within the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland is a translational research center focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of addictive behaviors and their co-occurring psychological conditions including mood, anxiety and personality disorders. It is our explicit goal to apply these findings to the development of novel treatment approaches.
Child Stress and Emotions Lab (CSEL)
Lea R. Dougherty, Ph.D.
3140 Biology/Psychology Building
College Park, MD 20742
301-405-9880
Website
The Child Stress and Emotions Lab (CSEL) focuses on understanding
mental health problems in preschool-aged children and investigating
the developmental origins of neuroendocrine dysfunction in depression.
Comprehensive Assessment and Intervention Program (CAIP)
Andres De Los Reyes, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
3144 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
Website
Research at CAIP Lab broadly seeks to develop, test, and understand comprehensive measurement protocols of normative and abnormal behavior and the inconsistent pieces of evidence that often arise under such protocols.
Counseling Psychology Research Center

Karen O'Brien, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
BIOPSYC 2147D
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-5812
Email
The Counseling Psychology Research Center focuses on theoretical and empirical research in two areas. First, our work strives to advance theoretical knowledge regarding the variables that contribute to the vocational underachievement of women and people of color, nationally and internationally. In addition, we are investigating factors related to healthy behaviors in adoptive families. Currently, investigations assessing racial and cultural socialization as well as healthy communication in adoptive families are in progress.
Decision, Attention, and Memory Lab
Michael R. Dougherty, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
1105 Biology-Psychology Building
(301) 405-8276
Website
The DAM Lab was established in 2002, with the purpose of understanding how the basic processes of attention and memory influence the higher-level processes involved in behavioral decision making and human rationality. This initial work helped fuel the emergence of what is now known as cognitive decision theory, which is an offshoot of the traditional field of behavioral decision theory. Current research in the DAM Lab extends well beyond the original focus on judgment and decision making, and now includes research on cognitive and brain training, basic memory and cognitive ability, and social decision processes. Researchers use a variety of techniques, including computational modeling, eye tracking, and most recently neuroimaging.
Judgment and Decision Processes Lab
Thomas Wallsten, Ph.D.University of Maryland
0126 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)314-2562
Website
Our research is in the area of behavioral judgment and decision theory, which, in turn, falls within the interdisciplinary boundaries of decision science and cognitive science. The particular questions we currently are investigating are (1) how people utilize their memory or knowledge base to form degrees of confidence that statements or forecasts are true or false, (2) how they translate those feelings of confidence into overt numerical or linguistic expressions, (3) how they learn to more accurately communicate their judgments to others, and (4) how to develop system to improve forecasts by translating from one person’s lexicon of uncertainty to another’s or by combining judgments of multiple experts.
Insect Auditory Evolution Laboratory
David Yager, Ph.D
University of Maryland
4126 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-5556
This lab studies the evolution of auditory systems. We use the praying mantis because of its unique cyclopean auditory system that is linked to a strong, complex, stereotyped evasive response.
Laboratory for Automation Psychology and Decision Processes
Kent Norman, Ph.D.3111 Biology-Psychology Building
College park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-5938
Website
The Laboratory for Automation Psychology (LAP) was founded in 1983 by Kent Norman and Nancy Anderson as an affiliate of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory (HCIL) and the University of Maryland Institute for Advanced Computer Studies (UMIACS).
Laboratory of Comparative & Functional Neuroanatomy
Steven E. Brauth, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
4148 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-5939
Website
Our laboratory has focused on auditory-vocal learning in a small Australian parrot, the budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus) in an effort to understand the underlying neural mechanisms involved in auditory-vocal learning.
The Laboratory of Comparative Psychoacoustics
Beth Brittan-Powell, Ph.D. – Manager/Research Assistant Professor
Robert J. Dooling, Ph.D. - Director
University of Maryland
4123 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-5940
Website
Research in the Laboratory of Comparative Psychoacoustics is aimed at understanding how animals communicate with one another using sound and whether there are parallels with how humans communicate with one another using speech and language.
Laboratory of Crustacean Neurobiology & Behavior
Jens Herberholz, Ph.D.University of Maryland
4143 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-5942
Website
We are interested in identifying and examining neural circuitry that underlies offensive and defensive aggression as well as decision-making and behavioral choice.
Maryland ADHD Program
Andrea Chronis-Tuscano, Ph.D.
University of Maryland
2109 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-4606
Website
The Maryland Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Program is a clinical research program with a strong commitment to the following goals:
- Conducting clinical research that advances our knowledge about the assessment and treatment of ADHD
- Providing comprehensive, empirically-based assessment and treatment of ADHD and associated behavior problems
- Training the next generation of child clinical psychologists in evidence-based assessment and treatment practices
- Educating parents, schools, and the community about empirically-based assessment and treatment for ADHD
Maryland Child and Family Development Laboratory
Jude Cassidy, Ph.D.
0147 Biology-Psychology Building
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
(301) 405-0009
Website
Researchers at the Maryland Child and Family Development Laboratory study social-emotional development in infants and adolescents. Our research with infants focuses on how children come to understand their social world and how this understanding relates to later functioning. Our research with adolescents focuses on understanding the link between adolescent-parent relationships and adolescent social information-processing, adolescent relationships with peers, adolescent risk behaviors, and adolescent social-emotional functioning.
Maryland Psychotherapy Clinic and Research Lab
Clara Hill, Ph.D.
University of Maryland, College Park
2140D Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-5820
Website
The Maryland Psychotherapy Clinic and Research Lab offers low fee counseling and psychotherapy services for adults. The clinic fills a need for mental health services in Prince George's, Montgomery County, and Washington DC.
Maryland Psychotherapy Relationship Research Program (MPRRP)
Dr. Charles J. Gelso
University of Maryland
2150 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301) 405-5909
The aim of the MPRRP is to investigate empirically and theoretically the role of the patient-therapist relationship in psychotherapy. Studies focus on what constitutes the therapeutic relationship, what factors contribute to it, and what effects the relationship has on the process and outcome of psychotherapies of varying theoretical orientations. Research studies examine what has been termed the tripartite model of the psychotherapy relationship. In doing so, these studies address the therapeutic working alliance, the personal or real relationship, and the transference-countertransference configuration as they manifest themselves in all therapeutic relationships.
Maryland Vision Science Lab (MVSL)
Thomas A. Carlson , Ph.D.
University of Maryland
0124 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-0042
Website
The principal goal of the MVSL is to answer the classic question "why do we see what we do?" We are specifically interested in learning how objects are represented in the brain, how we form perceptual representations of objects, and how we dynamically track objects though space and time. Our studies use a variety of methodological approaches including psychophysics, neuropsychology, and functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to address these questions.
Neurocognitive Development Lab
Tracy Riggins, Ph.D.University of Maryland
2109 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301)405-5922
Website
Our research investigates the development of cognitive abilities, such as memory, in infants and children. We are especially interested in how changes in these abilities are related to brain development. We use multiple tools to address these issues including studying children’s overt behavior and measures of brain function.
Project Interaction: A Multidisciplinary Research Initiative (MURI)
University of Maryland
0144 Biology-Psychology Building
College Park, Maryland 20742
(301) 405-5881
Website
Project InterACTION is a multidisciplinary research initiative that seeks to advance a dynamic and multilevel understanding of cultural processes in negotiation and collaborations in the Middle East. Our team includes scholars from anthropology, behavioral economics, communication, computer science, psychology, and political science from universities worldwide.
Schizophrenia Research Training Program (SRTP)
Website
The SRTP is a predoctoral training program designed to develop future schizophrenia researchers capable of translating basic behavioral, cognitive, developmental, and neuroscience principles into research on the psychopathology of schizophrenia.
Language and Music Cognition Lab (LMCL)
Robert Slevc, Ph.D.
Website
Our research investigates the processing of language and of music, both individually and in terms of how they are (and are not) related. We are particularly interested in how language and music depend on other perceptual and cognitive abilities, and ask these questions with behavioral, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging methods.


