We are always looking for motivated undergraduate research assistants to volunteer or to join us for upper-division research credits or you may inquire about current workstudy options.
Or contact: Christina Karns, ckarns@uoregon.edu for more information.
A new grant has been awarded to our group with collaborator, Mark Alfano.
Research Assistant Openings
Are you caring, conscientious, and careful?
The Emotions and Neuroplasticity Project (http://projectpos.uoregon.edu) headed by Dr. Christina Karns has openings for Research Assistants for Summer 2015 and beyond.
You may receive course credit or volunteer. A commitment of at least two terms is required. Some aspects of the research and training can take place out of Eugene (e.g. student works from home over the summer).
Research Assistants will be trained in reading anonymous journal entries and rating them for emotional content as part of an analysis of existing functional neuroimaging data (fMRI).
We study the relationships between emotions, social reasoning, decision-making, and the brain. People respond differently to everyday situations that require decisions about whether to help or be helped by others. We ask whether engagement in different activities, such as journal writing, can change behavioral and brain responses to social scenarios and decisions about giving and helping. We aim to advance the understanding of how emotions relate to changes in key brain networks, and how we might bias the brain towards a mode of functioning that features heightened capacity for happiness and connection to other people in life.
If you are interested, please fill out this online application.
October 2014:
Christina Karns is teaching Psychoactive Drugs this term. What’s that got to do with emotions, neuroplasticity, and positive emotions? Psychoactive exogenous compounds manipulate mood, emotions, and perceptions. Scientific research in this area has told us a lot about the systems that support rewarding emotions and the role they play in addiction. What sort of endogenously generated experiences might act on these same brain systems?
October 2014:
Christina Karns is teaching Psychoactive Drugs this term. What’s that got to do with emotions, neuroplasticity, and positive emotions? Psychoactive exogenous compounds affect mood, emotions, and perceptions. Scientific research in this area has told us a lot about the systems that support rewarding emotions and the role they play in addiction. What sort of endogenously generated experiences might act on these same brain systems?
July 2014:
It was a great two weeks at the Summer Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience .
The topics were Attention & Brain Function: Course Director, Tirin Moore and Emotional Learning & Memory: Course Director, Kevin LaBar with Ron Mangun as overall course director. Thanks are due to all the fantastic faculty who presented!
June 2014:
Congratulations Jessie Daher, newly minted B.S. in Psychology here at UO! Jessie’s leadership skills, creativity, and critical thinking skills have been such an asset to the project. Thank you Jessie!
June 2014:
Christina Karns just returned from presenting at the Greater Good Science Center’s Gratitude Summit in Berkeley, CA. There was a roster of fantastic speakers on gratitude — and was an inspiring day.
April 2014:
Congratulations Macey Davis on her acceptance to the Honor’s program in Psychology here at UO! Macey will be focusing on how certain positive emotions interact with attention and impulsivity.
March 2014:
Congratulations Brianna Cline on her acceptance to the Masters program in Family Therapy here at UO! She will be a superb therapist and we’ve been very lucky to have her work with us this year.
February 2014:
Christina Karns will be presenting at an APS symposium on gratitude in May 2014.
Christina Karns will be presenting at the Society for Affective Neuroscience conference in Denver in April 2014.
May 2013:
Congratulations graduating senior Anthony Marincovich!
April 2013:
Doctoral student in Elliot Berkman’s lab, Lisa May, earned a Dissertation Research Award from the Greater Good Science Center!