Understanding neural mechanisms that confer risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is critical for earlier intervention, yet longitudinal work has been sparse. The amygdala is part of a core network consistently implicated in PTSD symptomology. Most neural models of PTSD have focused on the amygdala’s interactions with the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, […]
Author Archives: Christine L. Larson
The Larson Lab is raking in the awards this week!
Congratulations to Richard Ward, Kate Webb, and Carissa Weis, who all qualified for the finals of UWM’s 3 Minute Thesis competition! And more congratulations to Kate, who was awarded a UWM Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship, and to Carissa, who won a UWM Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship. Great work team!
Congratulations to Kate!
Kate Webb was one of 600 students selected to attend the 70th Lindau Nobel meeting in summer 2020. Congratulations, Kate!
Extended amygdala and uncertainty
Relative to the centromedial amygdala (CM), the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) may exhibit more sustained activation toward threat, sensitivity to unpredictability, and activation during anxious anticipation. These factors are often intertwined. For example, greater BNST (vs. CM) activation during a block of aversive stimuli may reflect either more sustained activation to the […]
High-resolution connectivity of the extended amygdala
The extended amygdala has been implicated as a critical region in the neurocircuitry underlying anxiety. The circuitry of the extended amygdala, including the central (CeA) and basolateral (BLA) nuclei of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), has been well-defined in non-human animals; however, much less is known about the roles […]
Reward distracters and working memory filtering
Reward‐related stimuli capture attention, even when they are task irrelevant. A consequence of attentional prioritization of reward‐related stimuli is that they may also have preferential access to working memory like other forms of emotional information. However, whether reward‐related distracters leak into working memory remains unknown. Here, using a well‐validated change detection task of visual working […]
Congratulations to Jacklynn Fitzgerald on her tenure track position!
Postdoctoral fellow, Jacklynn Fitzgerald, will be beginning a tenure track position in the Psychology Department at Marquette University in August 2019. Congratulations, Jacklynn!
A pilot randomized trial of a dual n-back emotional working memory training program for veterans with elevated PTSD symptoms.
Anxiety is characterized by excessive attention to threatening information, leading to impaired working memory (WM) performance and elevated anxious thoughts. Preliminary research indicates that individuals with PTSD show particular difficulty with WM in emotional contexts (Schweizer et al., 2011). Although several studies show that computerized training can improve WM capacity for anxious individuals (Owens et […]
The website for the Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project is live!
Check out the new website for the Milwaukee Trauma Outcomes Project (MTOP). MTOP is a group of Milwaukee area investigators committed to understanding the effects of trauma and improving treatment and prevention for those impacted by trauma.
Congratulations to Ashley, Carisssa, and Richard!
Congratulations to Ashley Huggins who was awarded a 2019-20 UWM Distinguished Dissertation Fellowship and to Carissa Weis and Richard Ward who both received 2019-20 UWM Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowships!
