The Department of Psychiatry is pleased to welcome Karen Quigley, PhD from Northeastern University to Pittsburgh for a Special Guest Lecture on March 20, 2020.

Dr. Quigley’s work focuses on individual differences in emotional reactivity, how humans utilize information from the body in creating emotional experience, and how emotional experiences impact behavior, cognitions, and health. Current research projects examine individual differences in interoceptive sensitivity, or the extent to which someone can detect changes in their internal sensations, how affect (i.e., the valence and arousal-based features of emotional experience) influences decision making, and how individuals differ in integrating information about their internal bodily state, existing knowledge (based on past learning history) and the current, external context to create emotional experiences in everyday life. Studies in the Department of Veterans Affairs examine the role of emotional states in physical symptom reporting, document changes in health outcomes, quality of life, and health care utilization after the major life stressor of a military deployment, and assess technology-based interventions for enhancing sleep and mental health, and fostering community and family reintegration after veterans return to civilian life after a military deployment.