David Clewett

David Clewett, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he leads the Dynamic Arousal and Memory Lab. His research explores how emotional arousal, stress, and neuromodulatory systems like norepinephrine and dopamine shape the way we encode, organize, and retrieve memories. He joined UCLA in July 2020 after completing his Ph.D. in Neuroscience at the University of Southern California and a postdoctoral fellowship at NYU and Columbia University.

Education:

• Ph.D. in Neuroscience, University of Southern California (2016)
• B.S. in Biopsychology with minor in English, University of California, Santa Barbara

Research Focus:

Dr. Clewett’s lab investigates how physiological arousal influences attention and memory, using a multimodal approach that includes fMRI, pupillometry, eye-tracking, and pharmacological methods. His work spans four major themes:

1. The role of emotion and arousal in selective memory enhancement or suppression.
2. How contextual shifts and emotional states structure episodic memory into meaningful events.
3. Techniques to weaken or update traumatic or unwanted memories.
4. The dynamic effects of attention and arousal states on neural and memory representations.

Publications and Impact:

His work has been published in top-tier journals such as Nature Communications, Journal of Neuroscience, Hippocampus, and Trends in Cognitive Sciences. His research has contributed to understanding how neuromodulators like norepinephrine and dopamine interact with memory systems to prioritize salient information, and how these processes can be leveraged for therapeutic intervention in PTSD, depression, and aging-related memory decline.

Students and Lab Team:

Dr. Clewett mentors a diverse team of graduate students and research assistants. Current graduate students include Jacinda Taggett, Ringo Huang, Erin Morrow, Bailey Harris, and Brandon Katerman. Former lab members have gone on to Ph.D. programs at Harvard, UC Berkeley, and other top institutions.

Lab and Facilities:

The lab is located in Pritzker Hall at UCLA, and is equipped with tools for fMRI, pupillometry, eye-tracking, and behavioral testing. The lab also collaborates with researchers across UCLA and other institutions, including NYU, Columbia, and USC.