Rejection Sensitivity as it relates to: Selective Attention, Interpersonal Relationships, Cognitive Control, Thought Suppression and Personality.

My current interests center on understanding the interplay of cognitive control, self-regulatory competencies and selective attention as they relate to the distinct, yet overlapping, symptoms of disorders involving high sensitivity to rejection – RS; Downey and Feldman, 1996 (e.g., Borderline and Avoidant Personality disorder; BPD/APD respectively). One line of research capitalizes on eye tracking and EEG as a means for understanding attention deployment and information processing following interpersonal rejection. Another line of research uses cognitive neuroscience models of emotion regulation and cognitive control to test the effectiveness of exogenous cues in activating control mechanisms in BPD and APD.