This month’s Featured Researcher, Youngbin Kwak, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Youngbin is interested in the brain mechanisms that can bias decision-making in humans. Her lab has an upcoming paper in the journal Cortex that appeared PubMed recently showing changes in brain waves that corresponded to when subjects expected a larger reward when executing a movement.

Here’s what else is new for ‘ ”University of Massachusetts” AND Amherst AND neuroscience’ in PubMed. These publications appeared online in March. They are just a fraction of the neuroscience research that occurs on campus. You can click on the PubMed ID to find the publication.

1: Schlinger BA, Remage-Healey L, Saldanha CJ. The form, function, and evolutionary significance of neural aromatization. Front Neuroendocrinol. 2022 Jan;64:100967. doi: 10.1016/j.yfrne.2021.100967. Epub 2021 Nov 19. PMID: 34808232.

2: Fitzroy AB, Kainec KA, Seo J, Spencer RMC. Encoding and consolidation of motor sequence learning in young and older adults. Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2021 Nov;185:107508. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2021.107508. Epub 2021 Aug 25. PMID: 34450244; PMCID: PMC8595672.

3: Hässler T, …, Tropp LR, …, Selvanathan HP, …, Kelmendi K, Pistella J. Need satisfaction in intergroup contact: A multinational study of pathways toward social change. J Pers Soc Psychol. 2022 Apr;122(4):634-658. doi: 10.1037/pspi0000365. Epub 2021 Jun 17. PMID: 34138605.

4: Bowman LC, McCormick SA, Kane-Grade F, Xie W, Bosquet Enlow M, Nelson CA. Infants’ neural responses to emotional faces are related to maternal anxiety. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2022 Feb;63(2):152-164. doi: 10.1111/jcpp.13429. Epub 2021 May 16. PMID: 33993507.

5: Tsang YK, Zou Y, Tse CY. Semantic transparency in Chinese compound word processing: Evidence from mismatch negativity. Neuroscience. 2022 Mar 11:S0306-4522(22)00119-1. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroscience.2022.03.007. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35288179.

6: Sakurai A, Katz PS. Bursting emerges from the complementary roles of neurons in a four-cell network. J Neurophysiol. 2022 Mar 23. doi: 10.1152/jn.00017.2022. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35320029.

7: Tamvacakis AN, Lillvis JL, Sakurai A, Katz PS. The Consistency of Gastropod Identified Neurons Distinguishes Intra-Individual Plasticity From Inter-Individual Variability in Neural Circuits. Front Behav Neurosci. 2022 Mar 3;16:855235. doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.855235. PMID: 35309684; PMCID: PMC8928192.

8: Chen XJ, van den Berg B, Kwak Y. Reward and expectancy effects on neural signals of motor preparation and execution. Cortex. 2022 Feb 24;150:29-46. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.01.018. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35334431.