Undergraduate: B.S., Psychology, University of California, San Diego Graduate Program: M.S. Psychology (2012) Ph.D. Psychology (Expected 2016) University of Georgia; Department of Psychology – Brain and Behavioral Sciences Current research interests: I am broadly interested in the neural processing involved when humans must weigh the emotionality of objects in the surrounding environment. Models of affective processing support a specialized network of structures within the brain that underlie appetitive and defensive behaviors, thus enabling efficient identification of, and subsequent response to, affective stimuli. I currently use dense-array EEG, fast sampling fMRI, and peripheral psychophysiological techniques to assess the temporal dynamics of this specialized “emotion” network, and how it modulates attention in both a top-down and bottom-up fashion. Investigating the timing and interaction of neural networks involved in emotionally driven attention is of primary importance to my graduate training, and my goal is to advance our understanding of how emotion and attention interact in human perception. In the future, this may clarify the underpinnings of both attentional and affective disorders (e.g. hemispatial neglect and depression). View my CV Peer-Reviewed Publications: Frank, D. W. & Sabatinelli, D. (in press). Stimulus-driven reorienting in the ventral frontoparietal attention network: the role of emotion. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. Frank, D. W., Yee, R. B., & Polich, J. (in press). P3a from white noise. International Journal of Psychophysiology. Frank, D. W., Gorman, M. R., & Evans, J. A. 2010. Time-dependent effects of dim light at night on re-entrainment and masking of hamster activity rhythms. Journal of Biological Rhythms. Sabatinelli, D. S., Keil, A. K., Frank, D. W., & Lang, P. J. (in press). Correspondence of early and late event-related potentials with cortical and subcortical functional MRI. Biological Psychology. Honors: Franklin Foundation Neuroimaging Fellowship (August 2012-present) Funding for conducting neuroimaging research provided by the John and Mary Franklin Foundation NSF Award Honorary Mention (April 2011) Honorary mention from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship Program. Chancellor's Undergraduate Research Scholarship (June 2008, $3,000) Award for student conducting summer research at UC San Diego.
