About SPR
Founded in 1960, the Society for Psychophysiological Research is an international scientific society with worldwide membership. The purpose of the Society is to foster research on the interrelationships between the physiological and psychological aspects of behavior. To promote this purpose, the Society publishes scientific literature, including the journal Psychophysiology, and holds annual meetings for presentation and discussion of original theory and research, instrumentation and methodology, and new directions and standards in the field.
Submit Your Abstract for 2012
Abstract submission is closed. The deadline for submission was April 9, 2012.
SPR and Wikipedia
Want to know more about the history and mission of SPR? We've created the first iteration of a Wikipedia entry describing the society: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_for_Psychophysiological_Research. All SPR members are encouraged to edit and contribute.
Boston Wrap-up
Get to Know an SPR Lab
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A Brief History of the SPR Blues Band
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SPR Members in the News
President Obama recently announced that David Amodio (assistant professor, Department of Psychology and Center for Neural Science, NYU, SPR member since 1999), is among the 85 scientists in receipt of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
Conferred annually on the nation’s outstanding scientists and engineers, PECASE awards are among the most prestigious given to researchers at the beginning of their careers. Amodio, who was recommended for the award by the National Science Foundation (NSF) which is funding his research, is currently examining questions of how prejudice and stereotyping—particularly implicit racial associations—operate at a neural level.
“Science and technology have long been at the core of America’s economic strength and global leadership,” President Obama said at the awards ceremony. “I am confident that these individuals, who have shown such tremendous promise so early in their careers, will go on to make breakthroughs and discoveries that will continue to move our nation forward in the years ahead.”
SPR Member Recipient of Early Career Investigator Award from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America
SPR member Greg Hajcak (Stony Brook University, SPR member since 2001) was the recipient of the first annual Donald F. Klein Early Career Investigator Award from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA). Named for Dr. Donald Klein, MD, a scientist who revolutionized thinking about anxiety disorders, the award honors promising young investigators in the field of anxiety research. Hajcak (a 2002 Tursky Award Winner) was presented with the award by Dr. Klein at the 30th Annual ADAA Conference in March 2010.
Three SPR Members Recipients of New APS Early Career Award
The Association for Psychological Science (APS) recently announced that three SPR members, David Amodio (NYU, SPR member since 1999), Jim Coan (University of Virginia, SPR member since 1996), and Elizabeth Kensinger (Boston College, SPR member since 2007) were among the five inaugural recipients of the Janet Taylor Spence Early Career Award. The new award, which recognizes "transformative contributions to psychological science by rising stars in the field," were conferred by Dr. Spence—the first elected president of APS—at the May 2010 conference.
Selection criteria for the award included "novel and creative research" with the potential to transform the ways people think about psychological science, as well as research with the potential to impact multiple fields of psychological science. In the case of each of the three scientists, this latter criterion seems particularly apt.
Amodio (a 2003 Tursky Award winner) works broadly in social neuroscience, and does so in a thoroughly interdisciplinary fashion, drawing on classical theories and methodologies from social psychology as well as cutting-edge techniques from cognitive-affective neuroscience in order to engage and inform both fields. Recent work has focused on the application of these to questions of prejudice and stereotyping (a forthcoming paper in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience applies asymmetries and ERPs to questions of intergroup processing).
Likewise, Coan, widely recognized for his work investigating the ways in which social relationships-particularly close relationships-impact the regulation of emotion, utilizes frontal asymmetries, fMRI, and behavioral methodologies. Most recently, Coan's work has focused on elucidating how the presence (or absence) of other people can assist individuals to regulate their response to threat and stress.
Finally, Kensinger's work draws on behavioral, fMRI, ERP, and eyetracking methodologies to investigate how emotion and memory interact throughout the lifespan. Recent work particularly focuses on age-related differences in the impact of emotion on memory, bringing everyone from octogenarians and Boston College hockey players into the lab to examine at what stages emotion may influence the formation of memories, as well as how it impacts what elements are ultimately encoded and retrieved.
In a press release, APS Past President and SPR Past President (1992-1993) Dr. John T. Cacioppo (University of Chicago, SPR member since 1974) noted that the award was established with an eye towards encouraging and recognizing researchers who travel freely across sub-disciplinary boundaries. These scientists, he notes, "embody the future of psychological science."
Psychophysiology
Please visit our page on the Blackwell Publishing website for information about the journal Psychophysiology, including contact information, the Editorial Board roster, tables of contents, instructions for contributors, and subscription and advertising information. SPR members may view the online version of Psychophysiology by logging into the Members Section.
To see What's New with SPR click here, and be sure to check out the 52nd Annual Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, September 19 - 23, 2012.
50th Anniversary Wrap-up
Click here to view award winners from the 50th Anniversary SPR Annual Meeting.