Catherine Kerr
Director of Translational Neuroscience, Contemplative Studies Initiative
Assistant Professor (Research), Department of Family MedicineDownload CV
Why does mindfulness meditation begin by focusing on the breath? Does mindfulness-based somatic awareness (cultivated through attention to breath, body sensations) change the brain? Does mindfulness enhance attentional control of sensory cortical dynamics? Do chronic pain and rumination disrupt these dynamics? I use Magnetoencephalography (MEG) and other tools to investigate brain mechanisms underlying body-based attention and healing in mindfulness and other mind-body practices such as Tai Chi.
Catherine_Kerr@brown.eduStudents:
Arison Than
My interest lies in understanding how specific training paradigms, especially mindfulness meditation, can lead to improved health and well-being. To that end, I hope to investigate the underlying neurophysiology which leads to such observable changes in cognition, behavior, and health.
Arison_Than@brown.edu
Roan LaPlante
I graduated from Brown in May 2012 with a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Computer Science. I am interested in the role of attention, specifically individual differences in attentional biases, in personality differences. I am also interested in neural computational modeling. I work closely with Dr. Kerr on data analysis.
Roan_LaPlante@brown.edu
Yao Liu
I am interested in understanding the experience of acupuncture treatment from both patient and physician perspectives to offer potential improvements to the typical patient-physician relationship. In addition, I want to use neural imaging techniques to study physiological bases for the placebo effect.
Sandeep Nayak
sandeep_nayak@brown.edu
