Gregory Russell Samanez-Larkin
Jack H. Neely Associate Professor
Overview
Research in our lab examines how motivation, emotion, and cognition influence decision making and health behavior across the life span. Our research is at the intersection of a number of subfields within psychology, neuroscience, and economics including human development, affective science, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral economics, and consumer finance. We use a combination of behavioral and neuroimaging techniques ranging from detailed measurement of functional brain activity (fMRI) and neuroreceptors (PET) in the laboratory to experience sampling measures of experience and behavior in everyday life, wearable measures physical activity and sleep, and real-world measures of financial management. The goal of our translational research is to make discoveries using the tools of basic science that could inform the development of interventions, products, or services that would enhance health and well being across the life span.
In the classroom, I teach quantitative research methods and statistics, applications of neuroscience research for everyday life, and evidence-based course design in higher education.
Selected Grants
Effects of Aging on Episodic Memory-Dependent Decision Making awarded by National Institutes of Health (Co-Principal Investigator). 2018 to 2023
REU Site: Lifespan Approaches to Diverse Psychological Science awarded by National Science Foundation (Co-Principal Investigator). 2020 to 2023
Short Courses in Neuroeconomics and Social Neuroscience awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 2017 to 2022
Duke Summer Training in Academic Research (Duke's STAR) BIOGEN awarded by Biogen Foundation (Investigator). 2021
Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 2016 to 2021
Forming Science-Industry Partnerships to Link Everyday Behaviors to Well-Being awarded by Stanford University (Principal Investigator). 2017 to 2020
Dopaminergic Neuromodulation of Decision Making in Young and Middle-Aged Adults awarded by Vanderbilt University (Principal Investigator). 2017 to 2019
NEUROMODULATION OF MOTIVATED COGNITION AND DECISION MAKING ACROSS ADULTHOOD awarded by National Institutes of Health (Principal Investigator). 2012 to 2018
Samanez-Larkin, G. R. “Chapter 3 - Decision Neuroscience and Aging.” Aging and Decision Making: Empirical and Applied Perspectives, 2015, pp. 41–60. Scopus, doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-417148-0.00003-0. Full Text
Sofia Beas, B., et al. “Chapter 2 - Modeling Cost-Benefit Decision Making in Aged Rodents.” Aging and Decision Making: Empirical and Applied Perspectives, 2015, pp. 17–40. Scopus, doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-417148-0.00002-9. Full Text
Samanez-Larkin, G. R., et al. “Financial decision making across adulthood.” The Psychological Science of Money, 2014, pp. 121–35. Scopus, doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-0959-9_6. Full Text
Knutson, B., and G. R. Samanez-Larkin. “Brain, Decision, and Debt.” A Debtor World: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Debt, 2013. Scopus, doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199873722.003.0007. Full Text
Castrellon, Jaime J., et al. “Dopaminergic modulation of reward discounting in healthy rats: a systematic review and meta-analysis.” Psychopharmacology, Nov. 2020. Epmc, doi:10.1007/s00213-020-05723-5. Full Text
Botvinik-Nezer, Rotem, et al. “Variability in the analysis of a single neuroimaging dataset by many teams.” Nature, vol. 582, no. 7810, June 2020, pp. 84–88. Pubmed, doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2314-9. Full Text
Burr, Daisy A., and Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin. “Advances in Emotion-Regulation Choice from Experience Sampling.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 24, no. 5, May 2020, pp. 344–46. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.tics.2020.02.008. Full Text Open Access Copy
Burr, Daisy A., et al. “Emotion dynamics across adulthood in everyday life: Older adults are more emotionally stable and better at regulating desires.” Emotion (Washington, D.C.), Mar. 2020. Epmc, doi:10.1037/emo0000734. Full Text Open Access Copy
Löckenhoff, Corinna E., et al. “Age Effects in Sequence-Construction for a Continuous Cognitive Task: Similar Sequence-Trends but Fewer Switch-Points.” The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol. 75, no. 4, Mar. 2020, pp. 762–71. Epmc, doi:10.1093/geronb/gby090. Full Text
Löckenhoff, Corinna E., and Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin. “Age Differences in Intertemporal Choice: The Role of Task Type, Outcome Characteristics, and Covariates.” The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, vol. 75, no. 1, Jan. 2020, pp. 85–95. Epmc, doi:10.1093/geronb/gbz097. Full Text
Castrellon, Jaime J., et al. “Mesolimbic dopamine D2 receptors and neural representations of subjective value.” Scientific Reports, vol. 9, no. 1, Dec. 2019, p. 20229. Epmc, doi:10.1038/s41598-019-56858-1. Full Text
Juarez, Eric J., and Gregory R. Samanez-Larkin. “Exercise, Dopamine, and Cognition in Older Age.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 23, no. 12, Dec. 2019, pp. 986–88. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.tics.2019.10.006. Full Text
Juarez, Eric J., et al. “Reproducibility of the correlative triad among aging, dopamine receptor availability, and cognition.” Psychology and Aging, vol. 34, no. 7, Nov. 2019, pp. 921–32. Epmc, doi:10.1037/pag0000403. Full Text
Karrer, Teresa M., et al. “Reduced serotonin receptors and transporters in normal aging adults: a meta-analysis of PET and SPECT imaging studies.” Neurobiology of Aging, vol. 80, Aug. 2019, pp. 1–10. Epmc, doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2019.03.021. Full Text