October 10, 2012
4:00 - 5:00 pm
Rowell Hall room 103

The regulation of behavior takes many forms, not all of which are volitional or have the full support of the self. Self-determination theory (SDT) distinguishes people’s motivation in terms of the degree to which it is self-regulated or autonomous, versus being regulated by rewards or pressures that are experienced as controlling.

People’s quality of engagement, persistence and well-being are strongly affected by how autonomous or controlled they feel while acting. Moreover, SDT details how motivation is affected by the styles and strategies of motivators from parents and teachers, to managers, coaches, and health-care professionals.

In this talk Ryan will provide an overview of SDT research on motivation and well-being, with special emphasis on recent research in dual process theory and applications to education, health-care, virtual environments, and physical activity.

November 8, 2012
4:00 - 5:15 pm
Frank Livak Room
Dudley H. Davis Center

The Center for Contextual Genetics at the University of Georgia is an interdisciplinary research center that includes psychiatric geneticists, clinical, developmental, and social psychologists, sociologists, and prevention scienctists. Together, this team has sought to understand how genetic and contextual influences combine to contribute to the health and well-being of African American children, adolescents, and young adults living in challenging, rural Southern contexts. In his presentation, Dr. Brody will provide illustrations of research from this team which suggest that, for genetic reasons, individuals differ in the extent they are affected by exposure to environmental influences.

Two strands of research will be described to support this notion. One strand will illustrate how youths, for genetic reasons, may be more sensitive to and benefit more from participation in prevention programs, and the second strand will illustrate how exposure to contextual adversity during childhood forecasts biological indicators of stress nearly a decade later, particularly for youths carrying genes that confer sensitivity to environmental influences.

Dr. Gene Brody is an internationally recognized expert on the risk and protective mechanisms that forecast drug use, sexual risk, and other problem behaviors among rural African American youth. He also has translated his findings into efficacious preventive interventions. He is the author of more than 300 publications, with his recent work examining gene by environment interactions in a randomized prevention trial. His research is unique in that it cuts across a number of disciplines and departments at UVM. Dr. Brody currently is the PI on multiple RO1 grants and a major center grant.

November 13, 2012
12:00 pm
John Dewey Hall room 100

The outcome of an adverse event can vary widely between individuals, and many of the factors determining vulnerability and resilience to the impact of an adverse event revolve around coping factors. Perceived ability to exert behavioral control over the adverse event is central to coping, and the neural mechanisms that mediate this process are the focus of this presentation, as studied in an animal model. Uncontrollable, but not physically identical controllable, stressors produce a constellation of neural and behavioral changes that have been termed ‘stressor controllability effects’.

Research will be reviewed which indicate that an experience of controllable stress not only blunts the impact of the adverse event being controlled, but also alters the response to future negative circumstances, even those that are uncontrollable. Converging evidence suggests that a subpopulation of neurons within the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFCv) selectively respond to the presence of control and utilize such information to regulate the brainstem response to ongoing and subsequent stressors. We are currently using loss- or gain-of-function optogenetic methodologies in order to isolate the mPFC connectivity, along with the temporal features of activity, that produce these protective effects. Collectively, this line of research may serve to identify core biological mechanisms underlying the formation of resilience and suggest novel therapeutic strategies for a broad array of psychiatric conditions.

Michael's postdoctoral research in the lab focused on understanding how stress affects behavior and emotion, in terms of the underlying circuit mechanisms, using newly developed optogenetic tools to manipulate neuronal activity with precise temporal and spatial resolution.