The Child and Adolescent Neuropsychology Lab ("CAN Lab") is located in the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo. Research in the lab focuses on the development of executive control, a collection of inter-related skills that promote purposeful, goal-oriented behaviour. Intuition tells us that executive skills play an important role in our ability to navigate the changing demands of our everyday environments (as when, for example, we are required to juggle competing demands for our time, shift priorities, and keep track of important information). Although much work has been done examining how executive control develops, our understanding of executive skills in children and adolescents is still limited. How is executive control organized during development, how do specific executive skills improve as children age, and why might these skills be important in a developmental context? These are some of the questions that our studies aim to address in the context of typical and atypical development. The overarching goal of the CAN Lab is to find ways of intervening with children to produce more positive mental health outcomes via interventions that strengthen executive skills.
PhD student Martyn Gabel is attending the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science in San Francisco this week, where he is presenting work exploring how different moods states can help or hinder executive skills depending on how sensitive an individual is to emotional experience. A copy of Martyn's poster is available for download here .
Congratulations to Master's student Mahsa Sadeghi, who was just named a recipient of the Canadian Psychological Association's Clinical Neuropsychology Section Reserach Award for her proposed work on modifying Goal Management Training for a developing population.
Our CAN Lab Master's students will be completing their external clinical practica in neuropsychological assessment this summer. First-year student Rebecca Trossman will be joining the team at Baycrest Health Sciences in Toronto. Second-year student Mahsa Sadeghi will be heading over to the Child and Adolescent Inpatient Mental Health program at our own Grand River Hospital. Last year Mahsa completed a summer practicum in Specialized Mental Health Services at this same site. Congratulations both!
What is this about? The CAN Lab is studying how parent-child behaviours may impact family life.
What will you be asked to do? The study is in two parts and involves the completion of questionnaires at home and tasks in our lab. Children also participate.
What will you receive? All participants receive a gift card in appreciation of their time.
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