Critical resources—food, money, materials goods, and even good health—are unevenly distributed in space and time. Species from ants to humans have developed strategies to manage the complex process of saving and sharing in good times, in order to be prepared for lean times. These strategies vary among species, across individuals, and over time, creating successful niches of opportunity as well as conflict, which are exemplified in Aesop’s fable The Ant and the Grasshopper (Gibbs, 2002). In this classic tale, the happy-go-lucky grasshopper laughs at the hard-working ant for gathering food throughout the fall, only to beg for a share come winter. In the original ancient Greek, the ant scolds the grasshopper and lets him starve, whereas in the modern American version, he helps the grasshopper, feeding him in exchange for entertainment.
Research in the Ecological Neuroscience Laboratory uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine these issues at the interface between emotion and decision making. There are currently two main lines of research:
1) How do affective processes like emotion, empathy, approach motivation, and caregiving influence people’s response to need..in other people and in our natural environment?
2) How do people make decisions about allocating resources like food, money, and material goods?
In both of these lines, we assume that our behavior is continuous with and evolved from that of other species. We also examine both the proximate (How do the central and peripheral nervous systems manifest the behavior?) and ultimate (Why does this behavior exist? How did it evolve?) bases of the behavior. To study these complex behaviors at multiple levels, we employ a variety of methods. Some examples include measuring:
- overt behavior (via computer responses or video coding)
- personality (via scales or questionnaires)
- emotion (via self-report and psychophysiology)
- brain activity (via PET and fMRI)
To learn more about our research, check out our publications under Research/Publication above or at my Google Scholar profile.
To contribute to research in the ENL, visit the Join the Lab tab above.
We are committed to a culture of inclusivity and respect. We welcome people from all backgrounds, nationalities, races, ethnicities, religions, sexual orientations, and lifestyles. The accuracy of our science depends on it!