Dr. Cavanagh was hired as an assistant professor and joined the department in August 2013.  Dr. Cavanagh specializes in using cognitive neuroscience methods to understand how the brain contributes to high-level 'executive' abilities like decision making and learning, and how emotion colors these processes. He directs the Cognitive Rhythms and Computation Lab, which facilitates discovery of these novel brain operations and application of these findings to neurological and psychiatric patient groups in order to understand how aberrant brain processes contribute to disease states.

Dr. Cavanagh was recently awarded the Early Career Award by the Society for Psychophysiological Research.  As a part of this award, he delivered a talk at SPR 2018 and will have a paper in an upcoming issue of Psychophysiology detailing his research perspective: "Electrophysiology as a theoretical and methodological hub in the neural sciences"

Courses Taught

• Psy 443/463: Psychobiology of Emotion
• Psy 240: Brain and Behavior
• Psy 444/644: Advanced EEG Analysis in Matlab
• Psy 450/650: Principles of Psychphysiology
• Psy 450/650: Seminar: Functions of the Prefrontal Cortex
Psy 650: Predictable Irrationality in Decision Making