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Adult Development & Decision Lab

  • Search
  • Home
  • Lab Members
  • Research
  • Publications
  • Participate in our studies
  • Join our team
  • Media Coverage and Science Communication
A woman in a green top is presenting a slideshow on trust-related decision-making in aging. A walker is in the foreground.

Dr. Lighthall partnered with One Senior Place on September 8th to provide the center’s members with practical advice on how to stay safe online. She presented current research on trust-based decision making. This background provided context to help seniors more effectively and safely manage their online activities.

Lighthall educates seniors about trust-based decision making and social media safety

A person wearing glasses and a gray T-shirt stands in front of a brick wall, smiling.

Congratulations to AD&D Lab postdoc, Shensheng Wang, on his selection for the UCF Preeminent Postdoctoral Program (P3) Fellowship! With this funding support, Shensheng will continue his work on the lab’s grant-funded studies and develop new projects that build on his interests in humanness perception.

Postdoc Shensheng Wang awarded Preeminent Postdoctoral Fellowship

Logo of the Air Force Research Laboratory with the text "AFRL Lead Discover Develop Deliver" and a globe design on the right.

The AD&D Lab will begin a new funded project, thanks to a new award to Dr. Lighthall  from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The project entitled, “Measuring uncertainty mechanisms with fNIRS”, will support research and student training under the AFRL’s Minority Leaders Research Collaboration Program (ML-RCP). This study seeks […]

AFRL grant awarded to study neural mechanisms of decision making under uncertainty

Diagram showing brain regions with varied activation. Key: Green indicates increased activation, red decreased, yellow similar. Sections labeled A-D highlight different brain areas.

In their new publication in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, AD&D Lab Ph.D. student, Maggie Doheny and Dr. Lighthall describe new challenges and perspectives in cognitive neuroscience, with a focus on social cognitive neuroscience in the digital age. The paper reviews our current understanding of the social-cognitive neural network and summarizes […]

Doheny and Lighthall publish paper on social cognitive neuroscience in the digital …

Three people stand in front of a brick wall holding paper certificates and smiling.

  Congrats to our three AD&D Lab members who were selected for Judge’s Choice awards at the 2023 UCF Student Scholar Symposium! The studies presented include one 2nd year Ph.D. student project and two Honors Undergraduate Thesis projects. Awardees and poster info (left to right): Jordan Schotz (Ph.D. student), Nichole […]

AD&D Lab Members Win Judges’ Choice Awards

NIH logo with text: "National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities" on a geometric background.

The AD&D Lab will be contributing to a new R01 project led by Dr. Ladda Thiamwong (UCF Nursing), funded by the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). The project entitled, “Optimizing a technology-based body and mind intervention to prevent falls and reduce health disparities in low-income […]

Lab joins new NIH-funded project to reduce falls in older adults

Two people stand smiling in front of a presentation slide titled "The Effects of Past Betrayals on Trust Behavior.

Congratulations to AD&D Lab Honor’s Thesis student, Trenton Lam, for defending his Honors Thesis entitled, “The Effect of Past Betrayals on Trust Behavior”. His project found that while people who have not experienced betrayal trauma typically invest less in untrustworthy-looking partners in the Trust Game, victims of betrayal show similar […]

Trenton Lam defends Honors Thesis

Cover page of The Journals of Gerontology, Series B, featuring the Gerontological Society of America's logo.

New publication alert in the Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences. The paper, “Facial trustworthiness perceptions across the adult lifespan” led by Didem Pehlivanoglu, describes the impact of perceiver and facial characteristics on facial trustworthiness perception across adulthood. The project included collaboration across five universities and two countries: University of Florida […]

New JOG paper on perception of facial trustworthiness in aging

Yellow graphic with bold black text reading, "UCF Undergraduate Research.

Congratulations to undergraduate researchers, Haily Follese, Trenton Lam, and Sadie Hughey, who have been awarded student research grants from the Office of Undergraduate Research (OUR) and the Learning Institute for Elders (LIFE) at UCF! And congratulations to undergraduate lab manager, Zounaira Shahzad, on her LIFE at UCF Disability, Aging & […]

Four AD&D Lab research assistants awarded funding

A person stands beside a research poster on pest behavior at a conference. The poster includes charts and a conclusion section.

As the capstone to his Summer Undergrad Research Fellowship, Trenton Lam presented at the UCF Summer Research Poster Showcase. Trenton’s summer project examined how trust-related behavior with new social partners is shaped by past betrayals of trust using a multi-round version of the Trust Game. His results showed that those […]

Trenton Lam presents at Summer Research Poster Showcase

Orange background with overlapping black and gray squares next to the text "Computers in Human Behavior.

Congrats to recent AD&D Lab Ph.D. graduate, Xiaoqing Wan, Dr. Lighthall, and UCF Statistics and Data Science colleague, Dr. Rui Xie, on their paper: “Consistent and Robust Predictors of Internet Use among Older Adults over Time Identified by Machine Learning” — which is in press at the journal of Computers […]

New Computers in Human Behavior publication

3D crossword puzzle with words "SCAM," "FRAUD," "THEFT," and "DANGER" in blue and white blocks.

Local NPR station 90.7 WMFE featured a story about our Florida Consortium to Reduce Misinformation and Exploitation in Alzheimer’s Disease, funded by the Florida Department of Health. You can listen to the story and read the transcript here. The story highlights the consortium’s aim to develop a tool kit that […]

NPR story on new AD&D Lab project

The image features the text "UCF TODAY" with "UCF" in yellow and "TODAY" in white on a dark background.

Read UCF Today’s story on our lab’s lead role in the Florida Consortium to Reduce Misinformation and Exploitation in Alzheimer’s Disease, funded by the Florida Department of Health! The story highlights our lab’s mission to determine risk factors for vulnerability to deception and develop tools for early detection of scam […]

UCF Today highlights our Florida Consortium to Reduce Misinformation and Exploitation in …

A woman with long dark hair smiles while standing in front of a framed Eiffel Tower picture, wearing a light-colored sweater.

Congratulations to incoming AD&D Lab Ph.D. student, Maggie Doheny, on earning a UCF Summer Mentoring Fellowship award! With funding support from Graduate Studies, Maggie will complete a summer research project before beginning graduate school. Maggie’s summer project study will use computational modeling to compare trust-related learning in social and non-social […]

Incoming PhD student Maggie Doheny receives Summer Mentoring Fellowship

A graduate in a cap and gown stands outdoors with arms crossed, smiling, with trees and a body of water in the background.

Congrats to AD&D Lab member Xiaoqing Wan on earning her Ph.D.! This semester, Xiaoqing successfully defended her dissertation, “Predictors of technology use among older adults: Evidence from non-users to elite users.” Dr. Wan is now working as a Senior Data Scientist at SAANS Health. Best wishes, Xiaoqing!

Congrats to Dr. Wan on your graduation!

Logo of the National Institute on Aging with "NIH" in a gray box and "National Institute on Aging" text to the right.

Dr. Lighthall, along with MPIs Dr. Natalie Ebner (University of Florida) and Dr. Bob Wilson (University of Arizona), were awarded a Multi-PI R01 from the National Institute on Aging entitled, “Characterizing and Modulating Neurocognitive Processes in Learning to Trust and Distrust in Aging.” The goals of this project are to […]

NIA R01 awarded to study mechanisms of trust-related learning in aging

Cover of the "Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied," January 2019, Volume 25, Number 1, published by the American Psychological Association.

In their new publication in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, “Aging in an “infodemic”: The role of analytical reasoning, affect, and news consumption frequency on news veracity detection” by Pehlivanoglu, Lighthall, Lin, Chi, Perez, Polk, Cahill, & Ebner find that age-related vulnerabilities to deceptive news may only become apparent in […]

New JEP: Applied paper on fake news detection in late life

Two women pose back-to-back outdoors at night, wearing academic regalia and hats, holding imaginary guns with their hands. Palm trees and buildings are visible in the background.

The Fall 2021 was a special one for the AD&D Lab, as we celebrated our first PhD student graduation — congrats to Dr. Kylie Fernandez! We look forward to seeing great applied psychology work from you, and many more inspired poses like this one!

Congrats to Dr. Fernandez on your graduation!

Logo of Florida Health featuring a stylized sun and ocean design.

Lead PI Dr. Lighthall, along with Co-PIs Dr. Natalie Ebner (University of Florida) and Dr. Bonnie Levin (University of Miami), were awarded a Consortium Grant from the Florida Department of Health’s Ed and Ethel Moore Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program. This four-year grant project will examine cognitive and neural mechanisms of […]

Dr. Lighthall and UF/UM Co-PIs awarded Consortium Research Grant from the Florida …

A person with long brown hair, wearing a sleeveless teal top and a necklace, smiles against a dark blue background.

Congratulations to AD&D Lab Ph.D. student, Kylie Fernandez, for defending her dissertation entitled, “Dissociable Temporal and Performance Effects of Two Stress Pathways on Economic Decision Making”. Dr. Fernandez will be graduating this semester and moving on to a Research Psychologist position at StraCon Services Group. Best wishes, Kylie!

Kylie Fernandez defends dissertation!

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