Gretchen Hanson Gotthard

Dean, Academic Life
Provost's Office
484-664-3130

[email protected]


Education

  • Ph.D. Kent State University (behavioral neuroscience)
  • B.S. University of North Dakota (psychology)
  • A.A. Northland Community College


Teaching Interests

I teach courses in psychology and neuroscience. Because my research focuses on learning and memory and applications to psychological disorders, I teach a variety of classes that speak to these topics.

Courses I teach in the Psychology Department include Introductory Psychology, Biological Psychology, Learning & Behavior, and Memory & Amnesia. My Neuroscience courses include Brain & Behavior with Lab, Neuroscience of Anxiety, and the CUE in Neuroscience.

Office Hours: By appointment - click here to schedule a time.


Research, Scholarship or Creative/Artistic Interests

Our work examines how memories are created (consolidated) and modified (reconsolidated) in three organismsslime mold (Physarum polycephalum), rats and humans. Our work with Physarum polycephaluma single-celled organism that has no brain (!)manipulates reconsolidation processes using simple habituation tasks and herbal compounds as amnesic agents (e.g., Valerian root).

Researchers in our rat lab use appetitively-motivated tasks where rats are trained to dig for buried sweet cereal rewards. We employ pharmacological agents (e.g., protein synthesis inhibitors and beta-adrenergic receptor antagonists) to disrupt (re)consolidation in our rat model.

Researchers in our human memory lab employ a variety of appetitive tasks that measure not only declarative (conscious) memory (i.e., episodic and semantic memory), but also nondeclarative (less-conscious) memory for the task (e.g., physiological responses).

The ultimate goal of our lab is to apply our work to aspects of treatment for memory-based forms of human psychopathology (e.g., depression and anxiety).

If you are interested in applying for a Research Assistant position in the Gotthard Lab, please print and fill out the Gotthard Lab Research Assistant Application. 

Professional Website

http://gretchengotthard.bergbuilds.domains/


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