Computational Social Neuroscience Group
The Computational Social Neuroscience Group (CSNG) led by James Thompson studies social and affective processing in humans, with particular emphasis on cognitive, neural, and computational processes. The CSNG uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), event-related potentials (ERPs), and repetitive transcranial magnetic resonance imaging (rTMS) to measure and perturb neural processes. They use network analyses, reinforcement learning, agent-based modeling, and dynamical systems approaches to develop statistical and computational models of social and affective processes.
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Applied Biosensing Laboratory
The Applied Biosensing Lab led by Siddhartha Sikdar and Parag Chitnis conducts translational research using imaging to investigate pathophysiology and function. One overarching focus of their research is the investigation of brain-body interactions through imaging. In particular, they are studying the interactions between the central and peripheral nervous system and the musculoskeletal system in a number of clinical conditions of major public health significance, such as chronic pain, stroke, spinal cord injury, and amputation. The interdisciplinary group conducts pre-clinical research for developing new technology as well as translational research on human subjects. The group uses state-of-the-art ultrasound and laser instrumentation for developing new ultrasound, optical, and hybrid imaging techniques. Their research has potential applications in noninvasive diagnosis, screening, and treatment monitoring for a number of diseases, as well as for understanding underlying mechanisms of disease. (Formerly known as the Biomedical Imaging Laboratory)
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Youth Emotion Lab
The Youth Emotion Lab led by Tara Chaplin is conducting three NIH-funded studies related to adolescent emotion regulation and the development and prevention of psychopathology and substance use.
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The Impulse Lab
The Impulse Lab led by Sarah Fischer conducts research studies on how personality traits influence these behaviors through deficits in emotion regulation, impulse control, and reward seeking.
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Spatial Temporal Action Representation Lab
The STAR Lab led by Martin Wiener focuses on how the brain perceives time and space and aims to empirically study how the brain constructs these dimensions. The STAR Lab is not just interested in time and space alone, but what they are used for. For time, a major use of interest is the perception of rhythm and music. For space, they are interested in how this dimension is used for navigation and processing value.
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Neural Engineering Laboratory
The Neural Engineering Laboratory led by Nathalia Peixoto is comprised of faculty and students from the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and the Department of Bioengineering at George Mason University. The research programs of the Neural Engineering Laboratory involve the development and use of in vitro and in vivo neural interface technologies. Specific projects are focused on dynamical modeling and pattern steering of living neuronal networks, the development and characterization of novel materials for neural interface technologies, exploration of new paradigms assistive device control, and function-based neuropharmacological assay development and demonstration.
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Laboratory for the Study and Simulation of Human Movement
The Laboratory for the Study and Simulation of Human Movement led by Zoran Duric and Lynn Gerber is devoted to research on developing new instrumentation and combining existing instrumentation in new ways to measure human movement. The laboratory enables faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at George Mason University, as well as other universities and agencies, to participate in the exploration of human movement study, with the purpose of developing minimally intrusive, wireless data capture methodology to measure human motion and designing computer displays and graphic-user interfaces from which to model and simulate human motion.
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Biobehavioral Health
The Biobehavioral Health Laboratory led by Holly Matto conducts clinical intervention research examining the effects of integrating creative arts into traditional behavioral health treatment for a variety of clinical populations. The laboratory is currently developing real-time interventions that help patients monitor their biobehavioral state and strategically deliver personalized patient-specific care.
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Computational Mathematical Modeling
The Computational Mathematical Modeling Group led by Padmanabhan Seshaiyer is interested in big data and health informatics. Their primary focus is developing algorithms which optimize data analysis and predictive modeling using electronic health records.
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Data Mining and Analytics
The Data Mining and Analytics Group led by Huzefa Rangwala contributes to the areas of (i) multi-task and transfer learning, (ii) hierarchical classification, and (iii) recommender systems with applications in three broad areas: (i) biomedical informatics, (ii) educational data mining, and (iii) social network analysis. The group focuses on development of novel algorithms and engineering of effective solutions for real world applications. Learn more →
Social Cognition and Interaction: Functional Imaging (SCI:FI) Laboratory
The SCI:FI Laboratory led by Frank Krueger investigates the psychological functions (i.e., why they exist and work) and the proximate neurobiological mechanisms (i.e., how they work) of social cognition (e.g., beliefs, schemata) in social interactions (e.g., trust, cooperation, altruistic punishment). By combining paradigms from social psychology and experimental economics with methods from social and computational neuroscience, the lab pursues the following three lines of research: (1) understanding of the neuropsychological underpinnings of social beliefs (e.g., moral, religious, and free will beliefs); (2) understanding the neural correlates of interpersonal trust in social dyads; and (3) identifying the neural signatures of altruistic punishment of social norm violations. Learn more →