Dr. Watson's work integrates genetics, neurobiology, and animal behavior in non-human primates to provide novel approaches to psychiatric disease. She works with a large, free-ranging population of rhesus macaques to study how genetic and physiological variation influences social behavior in a natural environment. The monkeys on this island display a broad range of social behaviors, including group competition, social hierarchy formation, and alliance formation and dissolution. All of these behaviors are also present in humans, and there is there is a high level of behavioral heterogeneity among both human and non-human primates. Many psychiatric disorders are not discrete disorders, but are instead characterized by extreme behaviors that lie on the 'tails' of continuous distributions. Dr. Watson's goal is to identify the genetic and neural substrates contributing to variations in social behavior, thus providing a basis for understanding the extremes that create psychiatric disease.
keywords
primate behavior, primate evolution, psychiatric disease, social behavior, social cognition, decision making, mind-body interactions, primate gut microbiome
Teaching
courses taught
CSCI 3702 - Cognitive Science
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2020
Introduces cognitive science, drawing from psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and linguistics. Studies the linguistic relativity hypothesis, consciousness, categorization, linguistic rules, the mind-body problem, nature versus nurture, conceptual structure and metaphor, logic/problem solving and judgment. Emphasizes the nature, implications and limitations of the computational model of mind. Recommended prerequisites: two of the following CSCI 1300 or CSCI 2275 or LING 2000 or PHIL 2440 or PSYC 2145. Same as LING 3005 and PHIL 3310 and PSYC 3005 and SLHS 3003 and CSPB 3702.
LING 3005 - Cognitive Science
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2020
Introduces cognitive science, drawing from psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and linguistics. Studies the linguistic relativity hypothesis, consciousness, categorization, linguistic rules, the mind-body problem, nature versus nurture, conceptual structure and metaphor, logic/problem solving and judgment. Emphasizes the nature, implications and limitations of the computational model of mind. Recommended prerequisites: two of the following CSCI 1300 or LING 2000 or PHIL 2440 or PSYC 2145. Same as CSCI 3702 and PHIL 3310 and PSYC 3005 and SLHS 3003 and CSPB 3702.
PHIL 3310 - Cognitive Science
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2020
Introduces cognitive science, drawing from psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and linguistics. Studies the linguistic relativity hypothesis, consciousness, categorization, linguistic rules, the mind-body problem, nature versus nurture, conceptual structure and metaphor, logic/problem solving and judgment. Emphasizes the nature, implications and limitations of the computational model of mind. Recommended prerequisites: two of the following CSCI 1300 or LING 2000 or PHIL 2440 or PSYC 2145. Same as LING 3005 and CSCI 3702 and PSYC 3005 and SLHS 3003 and CSPB 3702.
PSYC 2012 - Biological Psychology
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020 / Fall 2021
Surveys biological bases of learning, motivation, emotion, sensory processes and perception, movement,comparative animal behavior, sexual and reproductive activity, instinctual behavior, neurobiology of language and thought, and neurophysiology and neuroanatomy in relation to behavior.
PSYC 2145 - Introductory Cognitive Psychology
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Summer 2020 / Summer 2021 / Spring 2022 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023
Introduces the study of human cognitive processes and covers perception, attention, memory, language, problem solving, reasoning, and decision making. Focuses on basic research and theory in cognitive psychology but also considers their implications for everyday applications such as effective learning and retention, multitasking, and eyewitness testimony.
PSYC 3005 - Cognitive Science
Primary Instructor
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Fall 2018 / Spring 2020
Provides an introductory survey of influential models, theoretical approaches, and methods of cognitive science. Emphasizes and explains the convergence by work in multiple fields - including psychology and neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, and philosophy - on the idea that mental activity is a form of computation. Students from diverse backgrounds are introduced to a wide range of methods and approaches, including behavioral and neuroimaging experimental approaches, computational modeling and philosophical work. Department enforced prerequisites: two of the following CSCI 1300 or LING 2000 or PSYC 2145. Same as CSCI 3702 and LING 3005 and PHIL 3310 and SLHS 3003.
PSYC 4541 - Special Topics in Psychology - Social Science
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2018 / Spring 2019 / Fall 2022 / Spring 2023 / Summer 2023
Examines individual or social dimensions of human behavior. Students will develop expertise in basic theories, as well as in measurement techniques and data interpretation regarding issues of societal significance. Students will consider applications of that knowledge, ranging from the development of new theory to solving problems. Particular section content is determined by instructor. PSYC 4541 and/or PSYC 4551 may be taken 3 times with different topics, for a total of 9 credits
SLHS 3003 - Cognitive Science
Primary Instructor
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Spring 2020
Introduces cognitive science, drawing from psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and linguistics. Studies the linguistic relativity hypothesis, consciousness, categorization, linguistic rules, the mind-body problem, nature versus nurture, conceptual structure and metaphor, logic/problem solving and judgment. Emphasizes the nature, implications and limitations of the computational model of mind. Recommended prerequisites: two of the following CSCI 1300 or LING 2000 or PHIL 2440 or PSYC 2145. Same as LING 3005 and PHIL 3310 and PSYC 3005 and CSCI 3702 and CSPB 3702.
