Multidisciplinary research at the crossroads of psychology, neuroscience, and biophysics.
Because the map is not the territory
Building bridges
Although practices are changing, the bulk of research still takes place in silos with limited overlap between disciplines. Applying translational and crosscutting approaches to gain insight into complex brain/body systems and functions is how discoveries are made. Looking into the abyss to bridge gaps—where they exist—is one way of advancing our understanding of who we are, human behaviour, and inform the design of inclusive and context relevant interventions/solutions.
Redrawing boundaries
Edging beyond established frontiers to investigate underexplored areas of translational neuroscience where psychology, neurophysiology, biophysics, and the computational sciences convene.
Crossing borders (areas of interest)
Pain/pleasure axis + transient hypofrontality ⋆ cataloguing and comparing neurophysiology and biophysics of select altered states of consciousness (e.g., sleep, controlled stress, meditation, anaesthesia, hyperarousal, psychedelics, near death, etc.) ⋆ stress, trauma, resilience and emotional and interoceptive processing ⋆ neurophysiological and biomedical interventions for stress regulation and improved mental health in crisis, extreme, confined, and isolated settings.
Detail of nerve cells from canine olfactory bulb, published in Sulla fina anatomia degli organi centrali del sistema nervoso (1885) by Camillo Golgi. Source.
Charted expanses (concluded studies)
The study, Travel Far Enough, Meet Yourself: Subjective Interoception, Emotion Regulation, and the Psychedelic Experience—Implications for Crisis Management in Middle Adulthood, investigated if psychedelic experiences in midlife are associated with an ability to better manage episodes of crisis/stress and prompt general improvements in mental health and well-being. Middle adulthood (~ ages 35 to 60/65) is full of complex, overlapping, and compounded chronic and/or concurrent stressors that can decrease interoceptive tone (Infurna et al., 2020), dampen cognitive coping mechanisms like resilience (Kabat-Zinn, 2013; Lutz et al., 2016), and increase negative emotional affect to cause maladaptive thoughts and behaviours (Aldwin, 2021; Daly & Robinson, 2021; George et al., 2021; Ong et al., 2009; Wickrama et al., 2021). This rise in negative trends in high-income countries—from death by suicide amongst White, middle-aged men in the United States (Hu et al., 2008; Infurna et al., 2020) to ‘diseases of despair’ like drug and alcohol addiction (Berkovitch et al., 2021; George et al., 2021), depression, anxiety, or chronic liver disease (Berkovitch et al., 2021; Blanchflower, 2020; Hendricks et al., 2015; Moreton et al., 2020)—challenge conventional ideas that well-being is at its apex in middle adulthood (Arnett, 2018; Galambos et al., 2020).
A broad methodological approach was used to fill gaps in knowledge regarding the cause and management of crisis/stress in middle adulthood. Secondary investigations investigated if a higher prevalence of maladaptive traits is associated with an increase in crisis episodes in middle adulthood and if positively perceived psychedelic experience(s) in midlife are associated with a decrease in the incidence and/or intensity of crisis states and related emotive/interoceptive loads.
Results? In short: Almost all respondents stated they were currently in crisis or had experienced one, with most crisis episodes taking place between the ages of 41 to 50 with multiple existential and physical drivers as causes. Many participants experienced changes to their interoceptive and emotive capacities. Psychedelic experiences had marginal impact on crisis management for a small number of participants.
Nerve cell detail (1900) by Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Source.
Explorations (research in progress and on the horizon)
Research collaborator on projects affiliated with labs at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School: Investigating the neurophysiology and biophysics of stress, emotion regulation, and awe/wonder in various ICE environments; PTSD and stress in emergency responder (firefighter) populations; diet, psychophysiology and gut microbiome in genetic isolate populations; operational performance and psychoneuroimmunology in partial gravity; and associations between arousal, interoception, emotion regulation in extreme, confined, and isolated environments that affect mental health and behavioral outcomes.
“The brain is a world consisting of a number of unexplored continents and great stretches of unknown territory.”
-Santiago Ramón y Cajal