Neuropsychological research in the Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience of Psychopathology Lab, also known as the CANOPY and the Heller Lab, has demonstrated that not only are different regions of the brain specialized for different cognitive functions, they also differ in the role they play in emotional processing. Areas of the brain that are involved in information processing are thus, concurrently and in a complementary manner, engaged in a variety of emotional processes, which may influence or interact with cognition at various stages of the learning or memory process. The research in our lab focuses on examining how activity and function of different brain regions influence cognitive, emotional, and social functioning and the implications for psychopathology, especially mood and anxiety disorders. We combine experimental paradigms from cognitive psychology with behavioral measures such as performance on neuropsychological tasks and measures of central nervous system activity such as EEG/ERPs and fMRI.

Overall, our work showcases state-of-the-art approaches that have been identified as crucial in developing a novel classification of mental disorders (see Hyman, 2007, Nature Reviews Neuroscience). We have advanced a dimensional approach in the context of a cognitive neuroscience investigation of psychopathology. Our work has contributed significantly to the effort to identify an endophenotype for depression (Bruder et al., 2007, Biological Psychiatry). Our findings are relevant not only for understanding severe mental disorders. We have observed the same patterns in nonclinical populations (e.g. college students) with mild levels of depression and anxiety. Therefore, our results help to elucidate the role of cognition/emotion interactions in risk for and vulnerability to more serious disorders of psychopathology. Our recent work has examined individual differences in personality (e.g., schizotypy), motivation (e.g., approach/avoidance temperament), attachment, and executive function and their relationship to brain function and psychopathology. Studies underway include manipulations of incentive, emotional context, and individual differences in the service of discovering brain mechanisms involved in normal cognition and emotion and especially in how they contribute to psychopathology.

Dr. Wendy Heller is the director of the CANOPY lab.

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