People of the Adaptive Behavior Lab

Peter Balsam is Professor of Psychology and Samuel R. Milbank Chair at Barnard College. The majority of his research analyzes the mechanisms of learning with an emphasis on how time is learned and used to guide behavior. His current work using mice, rats, and humans demonstrates that these animals perceive and automatically encode temporal information about their experiences. The ongoing work asks how time is perceived, encoded and retrieved and also how temporal information is used to make decisions about whether, when, and how to respond. The lab also studies the neurobiology underlying temporal information processing and how it is changed by drugs of abuse and psychiatric disorders. Professor Balsam is the past president of the Eastern Psychological Association.

Kathleen Taylor studies the neural mechanisms that govern interval timing in various animal paradigms. After having received her B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from George Mason University, her doctoral work in Psychology and Neuroscience at Princeton University focused on the neural mechanisms of drug addiction and aversive aspects of drug withdrawal. Dr. Taylor has explored the role of pharmacological agents in altering the speed of an internal clock. Her current research focuses on how animals learn to withhold responding for a given interval of time and the influence that drugs and changes in motivation have on this ability. Her research elucidates the relationship between changes in temporal perception and the impulsivity known to be caused by drug abuse.

Stephen Fairhurst specializes in quantitative analysis. He received his B.A. and M.S. from the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied statistics. Much of his recent work has focused on temporal cognition, particularly in animal paradigms. His work in the Temporal Cognition Unit of the Biopsychology Department at NYSPI has focused on learning theory and the relationship between Pavlovian contingencies and temporal information.

Hugo Sánchez Castillo is a visiting professor at Columbia University and Professor of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He is interested in the pharmacological and physiological mechanisms of timing behavior. Currently, he is interested in the role of nicotinic receptors on timing and particularly how and which one of these receptors modulate time perception. He is also exploring how the function of these receptors interacts with other kind of neurotransmitters, such as dopamine (DA). Finally he is interested in how these interactions reveal information for understanding pathological conditions such as Parkinson's Disease and Schizophrenia. Hugo Sánchez Castillo is fellow of the National Council of Science and Technology (CONACyT) and UNAM Mexico.

Ryan Ward is a postdoctoral research fellow interested in the neuropharmacology of interval timing and how to best assess and quantitatively characterize the cognitive performances involved in accurate interval timing. Ryan is interested in the relationship between dopamine and cognitive performance, with a particular interest in how the D2 dopamine receptor, when overexpressed, affects cognitive processes such as attention and memory, and how changes in these processes affect timing.

is a second year graduate student interested in how information about time is learned, remembered, and used to gain more insight into learning and behavioral mechanisms. Her approach to this is threefold. First, she is interested in understanding neural mechanisms involved in temporal information processing. Second, she is interested in cognitive models of how temporal information is stored and used in guiding behavior. Last, she is interested in how different emotional cues affect temporal learning. Additionally, she is increasingly intrigued by the importance of temporal information processing in psychiatric disorders such as Schizophrenia.

Matthew Kirkpatrick is a graduate student in the Psychology department at Columbia University. His work focuses on acute and residual physiological, cognitive, and subjective effects of methamphetamine administration in humans.

Vanessa Richards graduated from Oberlin College in May of 2008 with a B.A. in Neuroscience. She is interested in the neural mechanisms underlying different behaviors and how changes in the neurobiology alter cognition and behavior. Her work in the lab, learning, timing and motivation in mice enabling her to explore both aspects of her interests.

Alex Aaronson is a senior at Barnard College. As a neuroscience major, she is interested in understanding problems that can arise in neural mechanisms, and how we can learn to solve them. She has been involved in research using TMS as a treatment for depression and schizophrenia in Dr. Lisanby's Brain Stimulation & Therapeutic Modulation lab. Her current interests include the effects of psychiatric disease and neural stimulation on the perception of time.

Nastajjia Krementz is currently a second year student at Barnard College, studying Neuroscience and Behavior. She is interested in the different segments of the brain related to learning about timing, as well as different neural circuits involved in timing. She is working with Dr. Kathleen Taylor on a variety of experiments that involve the learning of timing in rats.

Bronwyn Moreno is in her second year at Columbia College and is majoring in Economics and Psychology. In her work at the lab as a Research Assistant and in her studies at Columbia University, she is interested in studying the effects of different drugs on behavior. Following her undergraduate education she hopes to attend law school and pursue a career in business law.

Maya Opendak is a junior at Columbia College, majoring in Psychology. Maya is interested in the clinical implications of temporal impairments in Schizophrenia and other neurological disorders. She is currently involved in studies looking at memory mechanisms involved in timing as well as the affects of emotion on time perception. She is also interested in the lab’s work with Schizophrenia. After graduation she would like to continue research in abnormal and clinical psychology.

Jessica Romano is a senior at Barnard College majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior. With an interest in the manifestations of abused substances and their relation to internal timing mechanisms, she is excited to be writing her thesis regarding the effects of amphetamines on the formation of habits.

Sonia Sethi is a senior at Barnard College where she is majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior. She is interested in the linkage between the behavioral and physiological aspects of timing and memory. Following her undergraduate degree she hopes to pursue a career in medicine and public health.