Research in Dr. Dunsmoor’s lab centers on how emotion and cognition interact to determine how we learn about and remember important events. This research integrates a number of psychological and neuroscience disciplines, including Pavlovian conditioning, categorization, decision making, and episodic memory and incorporates fMRI, psychophysiology, and immersive virtual reality tools. Some research questions include (1) on what basis do we generalize from emotional experiences; (2) how do emotional experiences shape our memory; and (3) how do we overcome (or regulate) the unwanted psychological and physiological effects of negative experiences?

Dr. Dunsmoor’s lab seeks to bridge research from healthy adults to patients characterized by the inability to regulate fear and anxiety using translational cognitive neuroscience approaches. This research is funded in part by an R00 Pathway to Independence Award from NIMH.

Murphy GL, Dunsmoor JE. Do Salient Features Overshadow Learning of Other Features in Category
Learning? J Exp Psychol Anim Learn Cogn. 2017 May 4. doi: 10.1037/xan0000139. [Epub ahead of print]

Dunsmoor JE, Kroes MC, Braren SH, Phelps EA. Threat intensity widens fear generalization gradients.
Behav Neurosci. 2017 Apr;131(2):168-175. doi: 10.1037/bne0000186. Epub 2017 Feb 20.

Dunsmoor JE, Murty VP, Davachi L, & Phelps EA (2015).Emotional learning selectively and retroactively strengthens episodic memories for related events. Nature, 520, 345-348.

Dunsmoor JE, Niv Y, Daw N, & Phelps EA (2015). Rethinking extinction. Neuron, 88, 47-63.

Dunsmoor JE & Paz R (2015). Fear generalization and anxiety: Behavioral and neural mechanisms.Dunsmoor JE & Paz R (2015). Fear generalization and anxiety: Behavioral and neural mechanisms. Biological Psychiatry, 78, 336-34.

NIMH Pathway to Independence Award R00MH106719