***Dr. Castagna will be reviewing applications for a new clinical psychology graduate student for fall 2026 admission.

The Define ‘I’ Yourself (DIY) Lab is part of the Department of Psychology at The University of Alabama.

Research in youth.
Our research focuses on how children and adolescents develop a sense of self (self-beliefs), where we leverage computational modeling to unpack task-based behavior often in conjunction with EEG to better understand brain-behavior relationships.

We typically take a transdiagnostic approach (across disorders) to understand the self:
-Callous-Unemotional Traits (CU)
-Conduct Disorder
-ADHD
-Anxiety
-Depression

Research areas include: Self-Referential Processing, Emotion Regulation & Executive Functioning.

Currently, three areas are of particular interest:

Research in youth.

1. Identifying unique neural signatures (fMRI or EEG) of psychopathy subtypes. Profiles have been explored based on CU and anxiety (Michielsen et al., 2022), CU and conduct problem symptoms (Wall et al., 2016), CU, CP symptoms, and anxiety (Fanti et al., 2013), CU, abuse, and anxiety (Craig & Moretti, 2019; Kimonis et al., 2013), and CU, emotion dysregulation, emotional numbing, and hyperarousal (Miller& Marsee, 2019), and across psychopathy facts (grandiose/manipulative, CU, daring/impulsive, and conduct problems). Regardless of approach, these profiles are useful in revealing differential relations to internalizing and externalizing symptoms, as well as arrest record (Neumann, Salekin, Cammerce et al., 2024). Currently, however, there is a serious gap in knowledge in how these psychopathy subtypes differ at the neural level in youth.

2. Identifying the neural architecture of enhanced executive functioning found in individuals with elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits. While antisocial traits tend to be associated with poorer executive functioning, adult (e.g., Baskin-Sommers et al., 2015) and adolescent (e.g., Castagna et al., 2024) literatures have found that CU traits contribute to a distinct neurocognitive profile of antisocial behavior, characterized by enhanced executive functioning; a more deliberate, calculated approach to decision making. However, the underlying neural dynamics that give rise to this unique neurocognitive profile of antisocial behavior is currently unknown.

3. Identifying biomarkers of CU subtypes through neurocomputational models of self-referential processing. Substantial work spanning theoretical and treatment perspectives indicates that a dysfunctional self-concept, defined as the knowledge and evaluation of ourselves, is a critical and understudied component of psychopathy which may serve as one of these casual mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of antisocial traits. Computational modeling (drift diffusion) is often useful in decomposing task-based self-referential processing (Castagna et al., 2022, 2023) to uncover links to behavior  and neural dynamics (joint neuro-behavioral models) in normative samples; however, no studies to-date have extended this line of research to better understand the perturbed sense of self (or self-concept) often found in youth with elevated CU traits.

Research in adults.
We also have a line of adult research, where we are interested in the classification of psychopathy subtypes and how these psychopathy profiles differ in their relation to executive functioning, emotion regulation, and self-referential processing.

1. Self-Referential Traits of Psychopathy (SR-TOP). The words an adolescent uses to describe themselves serves as a window into their evolving sense of self-concept. Self-referential processing is conceptualized as the process by which a person becomes aware that specific contents of the stimuli are strongly related to one’s own self (Yoon et al., 2019). Self-referential processing is thought to be diagnostically nonspecific (Ingram, 1990) and positively associated with psychopathology severity (Woodruff-Borden et al., 2001). The Self-Referential Encoding Task (SRET) is widely used measure of self-referential processing and involves participants judging if negative and positive adjectives are self-descriptive (Derry & Kuiper, 1981). Our work has demonstrated that modeling (i.e., drift diffusion) SRET performance in youth uncovers unique relations with self-reported depression, across anxiety domains (i.e., social, physical, and harm avoidance) (Castagna et al., 2022), and neural dynamics (Castagna et al., 2023). While the SRET has demonstrated its utility, the stimuli includes a set of generally negative (e.g., stupid) and positive (e.g., capable) adjectives.

Currently, we are working on providing support for a novel task variant, the Self-Referential Traits of Psychopathy (SR-TOP). Psychopathy is associated with a self-concept that may normalize or even valorize traits like dominance, fearlessness, or callousness. The SR-TOP may allow for detection of idiosyncratic self-referential encoding patterns, potentially revealing cognitive-affective biases that are obscured in traditional valenced adjective sets. For instance, an individual high in primary psychopathy may endorse “dominant” or “fearless” as self-relevant and reject “empathetic” or “caring,” reflecting their interpersonal and affective style. Further, the SR-TOP may demonstrate the capacity to probe more implicit or automatic aspects of self-concept. This is particularly important as traditional self-report inventories rely on explicit introspection and are subject to social desirability. Individuals high in psychopathic traits are especially likely to manage impressions. Therefore, the SR-TOP, in combination with drift-diffusion modeling, may provide a more nuanced, process-oriented window into the structure of the psychopathic self.