Evangelia Chrysikou, PhD
Director, Applied Cognitive and Brain Sciences PhD program
Associate Dean for Research
Associate Professor
Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences
Research Interests:
- Cognitive neuroscience
- Neural bases of memory, language, and executive functions
- Neurocognitive processes associated with problem solving and flexible thought
- Functional neuroimaging and non-invasive brain stimulation in healthy and psychiatric populations (mood and anxiety disorders)
- Translational neuroscience
- Neuropsychology
Bio:
How do people use their knowledge about the world to achieve goals and solve problems? Research in my lab focuses on the intersection of three areas within cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience, namely memory, language, and action/perception. My lab investigates the flexibility in cognitive control during goal-oriented behavior, with an emphasis on human problem solving and everyday tool use. We use cognitive neuroscience methods (functional and structural MRI, noninvasive transcranial electric stimulation, and lesion studies) to study flexibility in cognitive and emotional regulation, as well as the implications of such flexibility for theories of semantic knowledge organization and cognitive control. I am further exploring the educational applications of cognitive flexibility training paradigms for the development of higher-order thinking in young adults, as well as the translational implications of cognitive flexibility for the characterization of deficient cognitive/executive profiles in depression and other neuropsychiatric disorders marked by prefrontal cortex hypofunction.