Introduction to the laboratory

In the Affective Neuroscience Laboratory we are interested in understanding the biological bases of emotional and social processes in humans. In particular we are interested in the way  in which mood states, and especially mood disorders such as depression, impact  on the way the brain attends to, processes, and responds to emotional and  social information. In order to investigate these issues we do research with both clinical (e.g., people suffering from depressive and anxiety disorders)  and non-clinical populations.

Experimental approaches employed in the laboratory include:

Startle reflex modulation
Event related brain potentials (ERPs)
Measures of autonomic cardiac control (e.g., Heart period, Pre-ejection period, Respiratory sinus arrhythmia)
Facial muscle activity (both facial EMG and FACS coding)
Skin conductance
Pharmacological and dietary manipulation of neurotransmitter levels
Emotional and attentional processing of affective pictures (including studies of subliminally presented stimuli)
Cognitive/affective decision making and reasoning tasks (e.g., the Wason Selection Task, Iowa Gambling Task)
Mood manipulation using music and imagery
Studies of individuals at risk for psychopathology (e.g., bipolar and unipolar depression, psychosis)
Studies of clinically depressed and anxious individuals

The laboratory is well equipped, with three testing rooms (one located at the Royal Melbourne Hospital),  a  large number of networked PC computers, and equipment for presenting  complex  multimedia stimuli to participants. We also have three racks of Grass amplifiers that can record a wide range of physiological measurements such as EEG, EMG, SCR and ECG, and an ambulatory system for measuring ECG and impedance cardiography.

The laboratory's research is supported by grants from the Australian Research Council.