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Culture, Brain, and Development

	Brain Matter

	Hampshire's ERP (Event-Related Potential) lab is one of very few housed at an undergraduate college.

The Culture, Brain, and Development (CBD) program encourages students to develop intellectually adventurous concentrations that engage the intersections of the social/cultural, cognitive, and biological sciences.

Funded by the Foundation for Psychocultural Research (FPR), CBD provides an arena in which perspectives from a range of disciplines are brought to bear on questions such as: “How does culture shape human development in individuals and across evolutionary time?” “How do physical, cognitive, social, and cultural environments influence gene expression and in turn brain and behavior?” and, “How do cultural beliefs, values, and understandings frame how we perceive the world both at a cognitive and biological level?”

CBD offers interdisciplinary courses; sponsors seminars, lectures, and conferences; and provides individual grants for original student and faculty research.

Affiliated Faculty

» Jane W. Couperus, director of CBD, associate professor of developmental cognitive neuroscience
» Cynthia Gill, associate professor of physiology
» Rebecca Miller, associate professor of music
» Laura Sizer, associate professor of philosophy

Student Project Titles

» The Influence of Race and Urban Clothing on Implicit Stereotyping
» Ethnographic Study of Tibetan Language Learners
» Anxiety, Risk Factors, and Intervention for Youth with Conduct Problems
» Narrating Neuropathology: A Study of Women and Bipolar Disorder
» Neuroendocrine Correlates of Altruism and Aggression
» Street Child Access to Health Care in Metro Manila, Philippines
» How are Biology, Psychology and Culture Implicated in the Development of Emotional Life?
» Comparison Between Chinese and Korean Psychiatrists’ Mental Health Practices
» Autism and Ghanian Culture
» Reading, the Brain, and Reading the Brain: A Developmental study in working memory using Event Related Potentials

Sample First-Year Course

Adolescence

Adolescence is often thought of as a time of great change and upheaval as children navigate the transition into adulthood. Raging hormones, changing social expectations and relationships, and developing autonomy all contribute to this tumultuous time. This course will examine the biological, cognitive, and social changes that occur during adolescence to develop a better understanding of this unique period of development. Using psychological as well as neuroscience and social science literatures the course will examine adolescence through multiple perspectives to develop a well-rounded picture of this developmental period. Students will be asked to read primary literature in psychology and neuroscience as well as from other relevant fi elds such as anthropology and sociology.

Sample Courses at Hampshire

» Adolescence
» Birth of Mind
» Cognition and Society
» Cognitive Development
» Developmental Psychopathology
» Consumption and Happiness
» Human Biological Variation
» Interrogating Fear: Bioterrors, the Environment, and the Construction of Threats
» Law, Identity, and Bioscience
» Minding Culture: The Case of Mental Illness
» Neuroendocrinology of Behavior
» The Plastic Brain: Environmental and Cultural Influences
» Prenatal Development Across Cultures

» Producing Youth Culture
» Real Kids
» Sex on the Brain: Gender, Sex, and Biology
» Stress Across Cultures

Through the Consortium
» Child Development (UMass) » Cognition and Instruction Design (SC) » Feminism and Knowledge (MHC) » Hormones and Behavior (AC) » Language and Cognitive Development (UMass) » Science and Gender (AC) » Theory of Mind (SC)

Facilities and Resources

Event-Related Potential (ERP) Lab
Hampshire is one of the few undergraduate institutions where students have the ability to do their own research examining brain activity. In the Event-Related Potential (ERP) Lab, student researchers can use EEGs (electroencephalograms) to observe brain activity while participants perform various computer tasks. This allows us to learn about the timecourse and general location of brain activity related to specific tasks. Students learn to use these techniques through classes, and then work on faculty research and/or design their own research projects.

Neuroendocrinology and Behavior (NEB) Lab
The Neuroendocrinology and Behavior (NEB) Lab is a space and collaborative group of students and faculty doing research to test questions about the role of the nervous and endocrine systems in behavior. Major areas of focus in the lab are social behaviors (parental behavior, pair-bonding, empathy, etc.) and stress reactivity (physiological responses to acute or chronic stressors including brain regulatory and epigenetic mechanisms).

The lab is equipped with two environmental chambers, a microtome, and a microplate reader for tissue histology and hormone immunoassays. We also have tools for controlled behavioral and physiological testing. Early life social environment has profound influence on brain organization and behavioral repertoire. Exposure to stressors can similarly generate lasting modifications to brain function and behavior. The NEB lab is a place to examine the mechanisms for these changes in a community of scholars.