Investigating the neural mechanisms of cognition and emotion to drive groundbreaking clinical discoveries.
Investigating the neural mechanisms of cognition and emotion to drive groundbreaking clinical discoveries.
We conduct research at the intersections of clinical psychology, neuropsychology, and cognitive-affective neuroscience. Led by Professor Anthony C. Ruocco, our research advances foundational knowledge about cognition—particularly executive functions and emotion perception—and how these relate to the brain. We apply this knowledge to drive discoveries about mental health, focusing on impulsive-spectrum diagnoses such as borderline personality disorder and substance use disorders, as well as suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
Our goal is to achieve a mechanistic understanding of the factors that contribute to mental health conditions and associated cognitive disturbances, with an emphasis on the effects of cumulative lifetime stress. In collaboration with other research teams, we investigate the impacts of research-supported treatments—including psychotherapies and non-invasive brain stimulation—on mental health conditions and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, along with their corresponding effects on cognition and the brain.
At the University of Toronto, our laboratory trains exceptional undergraduate students in Psychology and Neuroscience, focusing on areas such as borderline personality disorder. We also support graduate students in Clinical Psychology and post-doctoral research fellows, contributing to the esteemed neuroscience community at University of Toronto and University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC).
