News

Congratulations to Master's student Fatima Wasif, who is the recipient of a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship. Way to go!

This study, conducted with a community sample of children and youth, examined mental health concerns associated with exposure to relatively 'low' levels of interpersonal and/or accidental trauma. Our investigation demonstrates that although the prevalence of trauma is lower among children and youth in the general community compared with high-risk samples, the negative impact of these trauma experiences on their anxiety and mood remain significant.

Rebecca Trossman is publishng more of her Master's work in which she establishes in both undergraduate students and a community sample of adults that EF-challenges mediate an association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and health.

In a follow-up to Gabel & McAuley (2018), we now provide more compelling evidence that negative mood has the potential to help or hinder performance on some kinds of EF tasks pending one's level of emotional reactivity. Our work suggests that emotional reactivity is an important moderator of the interplay between affect and cognition - perhaps because it influences whether a bad mood increases cognitive load (e.g., for low-reactive individuals) or serves as an informational cue that promotes analytic thinking (e.g., for high-reactive individuals).

Student Rebecca Trossman has published the first of her Master's studies demonstrating that real-world challenges in the application of executive skills mediate an association between exposure to childhood adversities and the emergence of mental health concerns in young adults. Her work is an important step in elucidating underlying mechanisms that may explain why childhood adversity exposure (ACEs) exerts a deleterious impact on multiple facets of health in later life.

Congratulations to doctoral student Rebecca Trossman, who is the recipient of a prestigious SSHRC Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship - Doctoral (CGS-D). Well-done Rebecca!

Student Mahsa Sadeghi has published her work examining how motivational factors are important when considering engagement with and training gains on a computerized working memory intervention in ADHD youth. This work appears in the Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry .

Doctoral student Mahsa Sadeghi presented her doctoral work exploring goals, motivation, and executive functions in adolescents and emerging adults at the annual meeting of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology in New Orleans, LA. Her poster can be viewed here .

A hearty congratulations to doctoral student Martyn Gabel, who has matched at the Predoctoral Residency in Clinical Psychology at the University of British Columbia. Although we will miss Martyn and his many contributions to the CAN Lab, we are thrilled that he matched at his top site. Way to go Martyn!!! 

Undergraduate student Siann Gault presented work undertaken in collaboration with former Honour's student Hiba Naumann on the topic of online binge watching in undergraduates who elf-report having high levels of ADHD traits at the annual ADHD Research Day in Toronto, ON. Their poster can be viewed here .