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Department of Psychology

Lab for Addiction, Trauma, and Emotion Research (LATER)

We are a very student-centered research lab that tends to focus primarily on topics of interest to current students. That said, our primary areas of interest in the Lab for Addiction, Trauma, and Emotion Research (LATER) involve the study of clinical topics such as mental health, responses to trauma, psychotherapy treatment outcomes, and substance use. Past research has included: the effects of drugs, mechanisms for and symptoms of substance use and psychological disorders, responses to treatments for mental illness, and interactions between mental health and substance use. General areas include:

  • Affect, psycholpathology, individual differences/personality
  • Drug effects & Addicgtive Behaviors
  • Attention and Neurocognition
  • Mental Health, Trauma and Psychological Treatments
  • Clinical training and Student learning

Faculty Lab Directors

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Recent Presentations & Publications from our Lab

Gilbertson, R., Hammersley, J., Birkholz, S., & Keefe, K.M.Ìý (2024) Standardization and Ratings of a Gaming Image Database for Visual Processing Research. Addicta.Ìý Published online July 15, 2024. doi:10.5152/ADDICTA.2024.240801. Ìý

Stone, B. M., Hammersley, J., Rabinovich, N. E., & Gilbert, D.G. Ìý(2024) Effects of Nicotine Patches on Early and Late Attentional Bias to Smoking Cues: We May Know Less than We Think. Experimental & Clinical Psychopharmacology. ÌýAdvance online publication.

Dunkel, C., Klubinski, W., van der Linden, D. & Hammersley, J. (Manuscript submitted to Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 2023). The effect of early childhood intervention on personal economic outcomes: The mediating role of life history strategy. Preprint Available at SSRN:

Keefe, K., Moore, S., Hammersley, J., & Kopatich, R. (2023). The Role of Binge Eating in Suicidality for Recent Sexual Assault Survivors in Treatment. Journal of College Student Mental Health. Doi:Ìý

Lucke, H.*, Mathes, E., Harbke, C., & Hammersley, J.Ìý (2021). Higher Emotion Dysregulation and Coping Motives in Alcohol and Marijuana Users. Substance Use & Misuse, 56:7, 950-961, DOI: ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

Keefe, K.M., Hammersley, J., Sizemore, S.*, Bainter, T., & Najdek, R.* (2020). Presenting Symptoms and Psychological Treatment Outcomes among First Generation and Non-First Generation College Students. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy. DOI: Ìý

Dunkel, C. S., Hammersley, J. J., Waters, M. L., van der Linden, D., Merrie, L. A., & Walen, A. L. (2020). The Effect of Early Childhood Intervention on Risk-taking, Mental Health, and Cognitive Ability: The Mediating Role of Life History Strategy. Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences, 15, 27-41.

Hammersley, J., Randazzo, B, & Keefe, K. (2023). Personality Traits Associated With ADHD Symptomatology In College Students. Book Chapter in A Guide to Clinical Psychology: Psychopathology. Hauppauge, NY: Nova Science Publishers. DOI:

McCarty, A., Gilbertson, R., Hammersley, J., Hale, D., Birkholz, S., & Keefe, K.M. Standardization of a Video Game Imagery Database. Presentation at 2024 ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association. Chicago IL.

Keefe, K. & Hammersley, J. Treatment differences in gender nonconforming college students after sexual assault. Poster presentation, 2023 ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association. Chicago IL.

Keefe, K., Hammersley, J., Sunami, N.*, Pryor, S.*, & Morgan, R. (2021) Suicide Exposure and Suicide Likelihood in Emergency Medical Professionals. Poster presentation at APS 2021 Virtual Convention.

Hammersley, J., Keefe, K., Ballesteros-Font, L.*, & Harbke, C. (2021) Examining Negative Psychotherapy Effects in College Students. Poster presentation at APS 2021 Virtual Convention.

Hammersley, J. & Coulter-Kern, M. (2021) Getting In: Applying to Graduate Programs. Symposium presentation at 2021 ´ºÓêÖ±²¥ Meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association.

Student Involvement

As a student centered lab, research involvement may include nearly all aspects of research such as managing SONA and organizing studies; reading and summarizing articles; collection, entry, and analysis of data; conference presentations; and journal manuscript writing. We encourage students to take an active role in managing and disseminating data from our projects.

Recent or Current Topics of Study

  • Clinical treatments and psychotherapy outcomes
  • Standardizing video gaming imagery for visual processing research
  • Patterns of substance use, trauma, and mental health symptoms in college students
  • Individual psychological and neurological differences in cigarette and caffeine use
  • Responses to trauma and victimization

Student Opportunities

  • Visual spatial attention research with SuperLab or other software (eg., Stroop)
  • Letters of recommendation for graduate school or employment
  • Coauthoring of presentations and articles
  • Experience with ongoing clinical research

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Current or Recent Student Lab Members

Mitchell White & Cole Turner presenting our project on negative emotion-related attention bias at Undergraduate Research Day, April 2024.

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Grad students Bhavika, Amie, and Eunice presenting a project on mood state & personality traits related to ADHD symptoms.

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Mitchell presenting research on suicidality & avoidant coping at the 2024 Undergrad Research Day (he won 1st place in podium talks!)

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Recent Student Research ´ºÓêÖ±²¥s

*White, M. (2024, April). Associations Between Avoidant Coping Styles and Interpersonal Indicators of Suicidality. Presentation at annual Thomas E. Helm Undergraduate Research Day, WIU, Macomb IL. [*won 1st place overall for URD podium talks!]

White, M., Swigert, M., Cole, D., & Chen, K. (2024, April). Attentional Habituation: Examining Motives for Caffeine Use, Mood State, and Anxiety Sensitivity in Negative Emotional Stroop Task Performance. Presentation at annual Thomas E. Helm Undergraduate Research Day, WIU, Macomb IL.

Seely, A., Opoku, E., Bhavika, B., Dale, C. (2024, March). The Association of Mood States & Personality Traits with Attentional Difficulties. Presentation at WIU Graduate Research Conference, Macomb IL.Ìý

Hale, D. (2023, April). Demographics of Video Game Players. Presentation at annual Thomas E. Helm Undergraduate Research Day, WIU, Macomb IL

Winkler, D. (2022, April). Assessing Video Game Play & Imagery. Presentation at annual Thomas E. Helm Undergraduate Research Day, WIU, Macomb IL.

Lockard, B. & Pryor, S. (2022, April). Critical Limitations of Joiner’s Interpersonal Theory of Suicide: A Study of Acquired Capability in EMPs. Presentation at WIU Graduate Research Conference, Macomb IL.Ìý

Waters, M. (2018, March). Assessment of Drug Use and Peer Influence.Ìý Podium Presentation at Thomas Helm Undergraduate Research Day, WIU, Macomb IL.

Ritter, K. (2017, April). Caffeine Use and Caffeine Motives. Presentation at ILLOWA Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference, Monmouth College.

Waters, M. (2017, April). Perceived vs. Actual Misuse of Substances. Presentation at ILLOWA Undergraduate Psychology Research Conference, Monmouth College.