Lapate’s TMS + fMRI study published in Nature Communications

 

Dr. Lapate’s work examining lateral prefrontal (LPFC) function and emotional processing was published in Nature Communications. In this work, we asked whether LPFC causally promotes goal-directed behavior during emotional processing. To answer this question, we combined individualized TMS targeting with fMRI/MVPA obtained during a task that requires cognitive control as a function of affective signals, the Affective Go/NoGo (AGNG) task. We targeted LPFC w/ TMS (a putatively inhibitory protocol, cTBS) based on the individualized location of multivariate action-goal representations during the AGNG task, which was followed by fMRI scanning. We found that individualized cTBS to mid-LPFC (vs. a Control site) reduced action-goal information in mid-LPFC and impaired goal-oriented action (i.e. task performance), particularly during the processing of negative emotional cues. We also found that cTBS to mid-LPFC reduced the functional coupling between mid-LPFC and DMN nodes, including frontopolar cortex, which in turn correlated with the strength of LPFC action-goal signals.

Check out the work here:

 

LEAP Neuro lab presents at CNS

 

Joanne Stasiak and Jingyi Wang present their work at at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) in Toronto, Canada. Nadu Barbashova also attended and highlighted the coolest findings on CNS’ social media.

 

Welcome Christina Villanueva!

 

Christina joins us after a year working on our ASAP emotion-motor project in collaboration with Dr. Grafton. Christina brings with her phenomenal experience and expertise on running complex fMRI-psychophysiological sessions and helping to manage large longitudinal projects. We are thrilled to have you, Christina!

 

The LEAP Neuro lab awarded Institute for Biotechnology grant

 

Dr Lapate’s and the LEAP Neuro lab’s research was awarded a grant by the Army Research Office (ARO) and the UCSB-Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies cooperative agreement (2024-2028) for the project titled: ‘Dynamic Interactions of Emotional States, Temporal Coding and Memory’. This award will support new TMS +fMRI work from the lab on whether and how emotional states change temporal coding, and will also test a causal intervention that may enhance the temporal precision of episodic memory under stressful situations. This work is led by Dr. Jingyi Wang in collaboration with Mengsi Li. Congratulations, team!

 

Welcome Nadu Barbashova!

 

Nadezhda joins our lab after earning a masters in Linguistics at the University of Tübingen, where she conducted research on bilingual decision making in emotional contexts. Nadu also worked as a research intern at Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain sciences. In the LEAP Neuro lab, Nadu wants to examine the bidirectional influence of cognition and emotion, with a focus on the intersection of fear, metacognition, and cognitive control. Welcome, Nadu!

 

Lapate named Kavli Fellow

 

Lapate was named a Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow by the National Academy of Sciences, which recognizes outstanding young scientists (younger than 45), and is meant to “remove communication barriers between fields and encourage collaborations among the world's best and brightest young scientists.” As part of this, Dr. Lapate presented at the The Kavli Frontiers of Science symposium in Balikpapan, Indonesia. Congratulations, Dr. Lapate!

 

Joanne presents at OHBM

 

Joanne Stasiak presented her work titled “Prolonged Threat Anticipation Reveals Differential Temporal Profiles of Prefrontal Subregions” at the annual meeting of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping in Montreal, Canada. 

 

The LEAP Neuro lab awarded first NIH R01 grant!

 

Dr. Lapate received an grant by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) titled: “Lateral prefrontal organization in emotion: representational and causal mechanisms”, which will support research examining the functional specificity of distinct prefrontal regions in modulating emotional responding during goal-directed as well as during spontaneous affective processing. To that end, we will combine advanced multivariate analysis of fMRI data and causal methods (transcranial magnetic stimulation/TMS) to establish the functional and representational specificity of distinct prefrontal regions in emotion. Congratulations, Dr. Lapate & the LEAP Neuro lab!

 

The lab’s research featured in the UC Santa Barbara Magazine

 

Research from the LEAP Neuro lab was covered in a feature article by the UC Santa Barbara Magazine focused on biomedical research taking place at UC Santa Barbara. The feature article highlighted six scientists at UCSB “who are making inroads on conditions that affect millions of people around the world” –including Dr. Lapate.

Check out the article:

 

Congratulations to LEAP Neuro lab’s graduating seniors!

 

Congratulations to our amazing research assistants ​​Taylor Li (Distinction in major), Christina Villanueva (Morgan Award for Academic Excellence), Julia Pratt (URCA award winner, Distinction in major), Zishi (Connor) Ding (Distinction in major, URCA award winner, Duval scholarship), Lauren Eckhardt (Chairperson's Award, Distinction in Major, URCA award winner, Exceptional Academic Performance), Leela Barlow (Exceptional academic performance), Jason Ziperovich, Jessica Herbert (Morgan Award for Academic Excellence), Mia Jeffery (Exceptional academic performance) on their graduation from UCSB in the class of 2023!

 

Lapate presents at International Conference for Learning & Memory

 

Dr. Lapate gave a talk at the International Conference for Learning & Memory in Surf City, CA. Her talk, titled: “Memory for time and emotion: reciprocal interactions, neural mechanisms, and implications for wellbeing” featured a new and growing line of behavioral, EEG (led by Mengsi Li) and fMRI (led by Jingyi Wang and Mengsi Li) work in the lab examining the bidirectional interactions between emotion and temporal coding and memory.

 

Lapate receives Regent’s Junior Faculty Fellowship Award

 

Dr. Lapate received the Regent’s Junior Faculty Fellowship Award, which is granted by the UCSB Academic Personnel Office to support junior faculty during the development of their pre-tenure research and creative work. This award will support the lab’s research on the organization of the prefrontal cortex in emotion--with a focus on time-emotion integration for cognitive control & affect regulation.

 

Lapate presents at SoCal Learning & Memory Conference

 

Dr. Lapate was an invited speaker at the annual SoCal Learning & Memory Conference at UCLA. Her talk, “Temporal memory and adaptive emotion” was the first public talk on a new and growing line of research in the lab on the intersection of emotion and temporal processing. This line of work, co-led by Mengsi Li & Jingyi Wang, examines the bidirectional interactions between emotion and temporal coding and memory using a multimodal approach that includes behavioral, EEG, peripheral-physiological and fMRI measures. Stay tuned for more!

 

Joanne and Mengsi to give talks at SANS!

 

Mengsi’s Li’s work “The dynamics of affect and temporal memory across event boundaries” was promoted to an Oral Symposium presentation (Temporal Dynamics of Emotion symposium) at the annual meeting of the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS). Moreover, Joanne Stasiak’s work on emotion-action interactions “Emotion for Motion: The Open-Loop Pathway and Amygdala-Prefrontal Contributions” was selected as a flash talk/conference highlight. Congratulations, Mengsi and Joanne!