Courtney Stevens

2009 Science Collaborative Research Program (SCRP) Project

How does the brain enable us to think, speak, and feel? With the advent of noninvasive neuroimaging techniques, we are now able to study the living human brain in action-reading words, focusing attention, and experiencing emotions. The central question guiding my research is how experience, broadly construed, influences these processes. In the course of this research, I conduct studies with adults, children, and individuals with developmental disabilities. Students participating in summer research will gain experience using one of the following neuroimaging techniques:

Event-related brain potentials (ERPs): Electrodes are placed at the surface of the scalp and record the activity of large groups of neurons while an individual performs some task. This traces the time course of activity in the brain.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): Participants perform a task while lying in a giant, cylindrical magnet. This models patterns and locations of blood flow during different tasks.
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI): Computer algorithms reconstruct white matter fiber tracts in the brain. This models structural connectivity of different brain areas.

I am looking for students who are motivated, independent, problem-solvers. No exper-ience with neuroimaging techniques is expected. I'm especially interested in supporting students considering graduate school in psychology, neuroscience, or medicine who wish to gain hands-on research experience. Research will require living or commuting to the University of Oregon campus in Eugene, where imaging facilities are available for data collection.