DEFINE “I” YOURSELF
DIY LAB:
THE TRUE YOU LAB
***Dr. Castagna will be reviewing applications for a new clinical psychology graduate student for fall 2026 admission.
The Define ‘I’ Yourself
(DIY) Lab
Department of Psychology
The University of Alabama
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.
Research in youth.
1. Identifying neural (EEG) and behavioral differences between incarcerated and non-incarcerated youth with elevated psychopathy traits.
2. Elucidating neural (fMRI) and behavioral signatures of mother-modulated socioemotional learning in youth with and without elevated CU traits.
3. Quantifying the neural (fMRI) consequences of mother buffering versus explicit maternal emotional feedback (fear/anger) on children’s threat/reward systems.
5. Explore sadism as a distinct affective trait complementary to CU-based conceptualizations of psychopathy in youth.
4. Examining the neural mechanisms that gives rise to enhanced executive functioning found in some youth with elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits.
Research in adults.
1. Examine how psychopathy subtypes in adults differ in their relation to executive functioning, emotion regulation, and self-referential processing.
2. Determine the neural (EEG) and behavioral signatures of self-referential influences on inhibitory control.
