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Cognition, Affect, and Psychophysiology (CAP) | St. Francis College

Cognition, Affect, and Psychophysiology (CAP)

The CAP Lab is dedicated to the involvement of student researchers across all areas of the research process. Students may be involved in data collection, data processing, presenting research findings, or the design of a new research study (for thesis students).

Contact CAP Lab

Mission Statement

The Cognition, Affect, and Psychophysiology (CAP) Lab examines the way emotions impact our thoughts and behaviors. Research is conducted using psychophysiological measures of peripheral (heart rate, skin conductance) and neural (electroencephalography or EEG) responses to emotional information.

Using these measures, the lab currently has three areas of research:

  1. Social Anxiety: exploring how individuals with social anxiety interpret socially-relevant emotional information and the cognitive strategies they use to cope with uncertainty.
    If you are interested in participating in this research study, please click here to inquire about eligibility and scheduling.
  2. Positive Emotions: examining the impact of positive emotions on decision-making and behavior.
    If you are interested in participating in this research study, please click here to inquire about eligibility and scheduling.
  3. Emotional Awareness: investigating a person’s insights into their own emotions and ways of developing that awareness.
    If you are interested in participating in this research study, please click here to inquire about eligibility and scheduling.

The CAP Lab is dedicated to the involvement of student researchers across all areas of the research process. Students may be involved in data collection, data processing, presenting research findings, or the design of a new research study (for thesis students).

Presentation

Dr. Laura Egan graduated from The State University of New York at Binghamton with a B.A. in Psychology and Philosophy before completing her Ph.D. in Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. In addition to her research in the CAP Lab, she teaches both core courses (statistics and experimental) as well as other topics (psychobiology and development) for the psychology major.

Current Research Assistants

Fabia DeMartino is a second year Master’s student in the General Psychology program at St. Francis College. She is interested in how a person’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are influenced by other people and the environment. Her Master’s thesis investigates how socially anxious individuals cope during anticipatory processing of stress.
Lucy Liotta is a second year Master’s student in the BA/MA Applied Psychology program at St. Francis College. She is currently working on her Master’s thesis, which is examining the effect of positive emotions on behavior. In the future, she hopes to pursue a PhD in Clinical Psychology and specialize in treating mood disorders in adolescents.
Dareen Generoso is a second year Applied Behavioral Psychology Master’s student. Concepts probed in her thesis include the phenomenological underpinnings of autonomous sensory meridian response and mindfulness meditation with interoception. Working towards a comprehensive knowledge of emotion and awareness will successfully carry her throughout a mental health counseling career.
Ashleigh Osemwegie is a first-year Master’s student in the General Psychology MA program at St. Francis College. Her research interests include areas in cognitive neuroscience and integrative neuroscience. She considering a future career in either integrative neuroscience or clinical psychology.
Lexis Ortiz is a junior majoring in Psychology and minoring in Criminal Justice at St. Francis College. Her career goal is to open her own clinical practice specializing in Sports Psychology. Her research interests are how anxiety physically affects the human body.

Presentations

Egan, L. J., *DeMartino, F., *Ortiz, L., *Osemwegie, A., & *Generoso, D. (2020, March). Psychophysiological responses to anticipatory stress in social anxiety. Poster session presented at the 125th annual convention of the Eastern Psychological Association, Boston, MA.

Egan, L. J. (2019, September). Ambiguous threat and stress-related heart rate variability in social anxiety. Poster session presented at the 59th annual convention of the Society for Psychophysiological Research, Boston, MA.

Egan, L. J., *Duran, S., & *Atanda, N. (2019, March). The impact of ambiguous threat on behavioral inhibition in social anxiety. Poster session presented at the 124th annual convention of the Eastern Psychological Association, New York, NY.

*Denotes student research assistant

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