Our lab research pertains to the psychological and neural underpinnings of emotion processing and emotion-cognition
interactions, and how these mechanisms are implicated in anxiety disorders. We study emotion processing at different stages,
categorized as “quick-and-dirty” analysis versus slower-yet-more elaborate evaluation of stimulus information. Our findings
suggest that emotion processes interact with diverse cognitive operations, in an automatic or even unconscious fashion, resulting
in various cognitive biases that are especially salient in anxious individuals. On the other hand, our research demonstrates that
emotional experiences can lead to remarkable cognitive improvement, highlighting the extraordinary capacity humans possess
to maximize ecological advantage. Nevertheless, impairment in this kind of learning may underlie anxiety symptoms
characterized by excessive sensory sensitivity and hypervigilance. Given the unique psychological and neural intimacy between
olfaction and emotion, olfactory (in addition to visual) stimuli are often applied in our experiments to facilitate emotional
responses. Multiple approaches and methodologies, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), event-related
potentials (ERPs), and autonomic physiology and sensory psychophysics, are incorporated in our investigations.
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