Faculty Advisor
Contact Information
Email
Website
(615) 322-5527
313 Wilson Hall
Research Area
Education
- B.A. Lewis & Clark College, magna cum laude,
- M.A. Vanderbilt University
Societies
- Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy (ABCT),
- Association for Psychological Science (APS),
- American Psychological Association (APA) graduate affiliate,
- Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology (SSCP),
- Society for Clinical Psychology (APA, Division 12),
Thomas Armstrong
Graduate Student
Research Area: Clinical Science
I study the emotional modulation of attention in anxiety disorders. My research aims to delineate the affective and attentional processes that interact to produce attentional biases, with the ultimate goal of understanding how such biases contribute to the etiology and maintenance of anxiety disorders.
Representative Publications
Armstrong, T., Bilsky, S., Zhao, M., & Olatunji, B. O. (in press). Dwelling on potential threat cues: An eye movement marker for combat-related PTSD. Depression and Anxiety.
Olatunji, B. O., Armstrong, T., McHugo, M., & Zald, D. H. (in press). Heightened attentional capture by threat in veterans with PTSD. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
Armstrong, T., Hemminger, A., & Olatunji, B. O. (2013). Attentional bias in injection phobia: Overt components, time course, and relation to behavior. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 51, 266–273.
Armstrong, T., & Olatunji, B. O. (2012). Eye tracking of attention in the affective disorders: A meta-analytic review and synthesis. Clinical Psychology Review, 32, 704-723.
Armstrong, T., Sarawgi, S., & Olatunji, B.O. (2012). Attentional bias towards threat in contamination fear: Overt components and behavioral correlates. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 121, 232-237.
Armstrong, T., Tomarken, A.J., & Olatunji, B.O. (2012). The moderating effects of contamination sensitivity on state affect and information-processing: Examination of disgust specificity. Cognition & Emotion, 26, 136-143.
Armstrong, T., Zald, D. H., & Olatunji, B.O. (2011). Attentional control in OCD and GAD: Specificity and associations with core cognitive symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 756-762.
Armstrong, T., Olatunji, B. O., Sarawgi, S. & Simmons, C. (2010). Orienting and maintenance of gaze in contamination-based OCD: Biases for disgust and fear cues. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 48, 402-408.
Armstrong, T. & Olatunji, B. O. (2010). PTSD in the media: A critical analysis of the portrayal of controversial issues. Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 7, 55-60.
Armstrong, T. & Olatunji, B. O. (2009). What they see is what you get: Eye tracking of attention in the anxiety disorders. Psychological Science Agenda, 23.
Armstrong, T., David, B., Divack, M., Simmons, C., Benning, S. D. & Olatunji, B. O. (2009). Impact of Experienced Disgust on Information-Processing Biases in Contamination-Based OCD: An Analogue Study. International Journal for Cognitive Therapy, 2, 37-52.
Olatunji, B.O. & Armstrong, T. (2009). Contamination fear and effects of disgust on distress in a public restroom. Emotion, 9, 592-597.
Armstrong, T. & Detweiler-Bedell, B.(2008). Beauty as an emotion: The exhilarating prospect of mastering a challenging world. Review of General Psychology, 12, 305-329.
Honors
- 2012 Dissertation Research Award, APA Science Directorate
- 2012 Distinguished Student Research Award, APA Division 12
- 2011 Dissertation Award, Society for a Science of Clinical Pychology
- 2011 Pat Burns Graduate Student Research Award, Vanderbilt
- 2010 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, NIMH
- 2009 Elsie Ramos Memorial Student Research Award, ABCT