Scientists and Postdoctoral Fellows

Kim Dalton Kim M. Dalton, Ph.D.
Assistant Scientist
T-127 Waisman
608-263-8913

More about Kim

I'm involved in a program of research, under the direction of Dr. Richard Davidson, on underlying brain structure and function associated with autism and related developmental differences/disabilities such as fragile X, Williams syndrome and ADHD. My overall career goal is to investigate the central and peripheral physiological profiles associated with a number of developmental disabilities and to eventually relate these physiological/behavioral phenotypes to underlying genetic factors. More information about our research may be found at http://brainimaging.waisman.wisc.edu/AutismWeb.

James Davis, M.D.
M.D. Fellow
S-117C Waisman
608-263-1069

I'm a post doc who is using functional MRI to study the effect of meditation on addiction. This involves teaching smokers a simple form of meditation called "mindfulness meditation" to help them quit smoking. Functional MRI is used to look at neurologic activity associated with craving for cigarettes. My hope is that we will see changes in our participants neurological activity after they have learned meditation.

Kristin Javaras, D.Phil.
A-128 Waisman
608-890-1407

My research focuses on using statistical methods to gain insight into the nosology and etiology of mental illness (especially mood, anxiety, and eating disorders) from symptom, genetic, and, in the future, imaging data.

Antoine Lutz, Ph.D.
Associate Scientist
T-233 Waisman
608-262-8705

More about Antoine

I am interested in understanding the neural counterparts to subjective experience and, more generally, the mechanisms underlying mind-brain-body interactions. More specifically, I am studying the role of large-scale neuronal integration (neural synchrony mechanisms) during various mental states (voluntary attention, emotion generation).

Donal MacCoon, Ph.D.
Assistant Scientist
A-132 Waisman
608-263-1968

My primary research area is sustainable well-being (see sustainablewellbeing.org). I also study the role of attention in self-regulation. I have developed a model, Context Appropriate Balanced Attention, to describe this role and have applied and tested the model with anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, and most recently, to mindfulness practices.

John Ollinger, Ph.D.
Associate Scientist
T231 Waisman
608-265-6619

John's site
Methods group

Stacey Schaefer Stacey M. Schaefer , Ph.D.
S-111 Waisman
608-890-1388

More about Stacey

Research interests: Identifying the neural circuitry of emotion, in particular, emotion regulation. In addition, examining the relation between both morphometry of and functional activity in this circuitry with individual differences in state and trait affect, cognitive ability such as working memory capacity, the ability to identify and differentiate between emotions, and the tendency to use particular emotion regulatory strategies.

Heleen Slagter Heleen A. Slagter, Ph.D.
Assistant Scientist
T-119 Waisman
608-265-6602

More about Heleen

My research centers around questions related to the psychological and neural mechanisms underlying attention, consciousness, and emotion x cognition interactions. I also have a special interest in the effects of meditation (or mental training) on cognition and behavior. My research uses a variety of measures, including behavioral, psychophysiological (EEG/ERP, skin conductance, pupil width, etc.), and functional neuroimaging measures.