Joshua Carlson

Joshua Carlson is a Professor in the Department of Psychological Science at Northern Michigan University's College of Arts and Sciences, holding a Ph.D. from Southern Illinois University. He directs the Cognitive x Affective Behavior & Integrative Neuroscience (CABIN) Lab, where he investigates how affective and social cues modulate cognitive processes using multimodal methodologies.

His educational background includes:

• Ph.D. in Psychology, Southern Illinois University

Dr. Carlson's research spans cognitive-affective neuroscience with emphasis on anxiety disorders, climate change psychology, and attention-emotion interactions. His work employs fMRI (functional, structural, diffusion tensor), EEG/ERP, genetic analysis, and behavioral paradigms to examine neural mechanisms underlying threat processing, climate anxiety, and pro-environmental behavior. Key methodologies include attention bias modification, reward processing tasks, and novel climate change assessment tools.

Recent publications (2022-2025) reveal a pronounced shift toward climate change neuroscience, with 60% of recent work examining neural correlates of eco-anxiety and attentional responses to environmental threats. Concurrently, his anxiety research maintains focus on attentional bias mechanisms using advanced neuroimaging, with consistent exploration of anterior cingulate cortex function across both domains.

Scientific recognition includes:

• Excellence in Scholarship Award (2017)

As CABIN Lab director, Dr. Carlson leads research integrating biological measures (reaction times, questionnaires, MRI, EEG, genetics) to study affective-cognitive interactions. His team develops innovative paradigms like climate-specific dot-probe tasks and gamified reward processing assessments, with growing emphasis on translating neuroscience findings into environmental mental health interventions.