All News

Dean of Faculty Patrick D. Reynolds announced the appointment of two of Hamilton's most outstanding teacher-scholars to endowed chairs. Professor of Biology David Gapp was appointed to the Silas D. Childs Chair, and Professor of Psychology Jonathan Vaughan was appointed to the James L. Ferguson Chair. Both appointments were effective July 1.

Douglas Weldon, the Stone Professor of Psychology, presented a poster at the International Brain Research Organization’s (IBRO) Eighth World Congress of Neuroscience on July 15, in Florence, Italy. “Effects of Anpirtoline Administration on Acoustic Startle Responses and Sensorimotor Gating in Rats” presented three experiments based on initial work by the poster’s co-author Caroline Briggs ’10 for her senior thesis in neuroscience.

Language is undoubtedly a fundamental aspect of many human interactions. For this reason, the study of language serves a vital purpose in neuroscience, medicine, and even everyday life. Sarah Kane ’12 and Amanda O’Brien ’13 are spending their summer researching language and the brain under Assistant Professor of Psychology Jeremy Skipper. The group is working to disprove the classical model of language processing and to discover more about how language is processed in the human brain.

The human brain reacts differently to emotional cues depending on which hemisphere is processing them. By exploring  hemisphere  reactions to varying  stimuli, these two student researchers hope to unmask some of the brain's mysteries.

Rats may be notorious for their unappealing image, but in a scientific laboratory they can be instrumental toward testing hypotheses and unlocking new discoveries. In psychology, studying the behavior of rats can shed light on otherwise baffling animal phenomena. This summer Sarah Cocuzzo ’13 and Megan Lander ’13 are studying rats with regard to the phenomenon of contrafreeloading. Their project will examine the tendency to work for a reward even when it is readily available without any effort.

A Hamilton research group will attempt to quantify isolate and study the concept of self-esteem in a resreach project this summer. Arielle Berti ’13, Ellen Doernberg ’13 and Ashley Sutton ’13 will work with Associate Professor of Psychology Jennifer Borton on a study of self-esteem and how it affects everyday life.

Rising juniors Alexandra Arenson ’13 and Charlotte Cosgrove ’13 will spend the summer with Professor Jeremy Skipper  studying speech and the parts of the brain that affect it.  Their project, “The Phantom Text Effect,” concerns the processes of speech comprehension in the brain among adult English speakers.

A paper co-authored by Associate Professor of Psychology Jennifer Borton was published in the March-April issue of The Journal of Social Psychology. “Does Suppressing the Thought of a Self-Relevant Stigma Affect Interpersonal Interaction?” was co-written with David Reiner ’05, Erica Vazquez ’08, Jessica Ruddiman ’09 and Stephanie Anglin ’10.

Two groups of local third-grade students recently enjoyed some hands-on science learning with the help of Hamilton’s science faculty. For about 20 years, Professor of Biology Dave Gapp has organized “Science Exploration Days” which bring classes of elementary school students to Hamilton for guided tours and short lessons in various areas of science.

Assistant Professor of Psychology Jeremy Skipper has been awarded a $907,350 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his research project "Neurobiology of Speech Perception in Real-World Contexts." The long-term objective of this research “is to understand the neural mechanisms of language comprehension in real-world settings, in which the brain can use context to aid in communication.”