The Quito Brain and Behavior Lab

Did you know that there is an international standard research lab in Ecuador, focused on scientific psychology and neuroscience, e.g. neuropsychology and psychophysiology? It’s called the Quito Brain and Behavior Lab and is based at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. In fact, I think it is the only psychology/neuroscience research lab in the country. There are quite a few other groups who put ‘neuro’ in their names, but they all simply using it as a marketing move, selling educational or psychotherapeutic services etc. We are the only ones who have been doing and publishing academic research.

The official logo of the Quito Brain and Behavior Lab. This was created by the first student to do a thesis in the lab, Marco Lopez of Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo.

The lab is run by me, Dr. Graham Pluck. I am British but have lived in Ecuador for several years. As an undergraduate psychology student at the University of Birmingham (UK) I was lucky enough to study with two great neuropsychologists- Jane Riddoch and Glyn Humphreys. Jane and Glyn were famous for their work on vision and action (they later moved to the University of Oxford and set up The Oxford Cognitive Neuropsychology Centre, and Glyn became the Watts Professor of Experimental Psychology). I did my undergraduate thesis with Jane on limb praxis, the data was eventually published in the journal Cognitive Neuropsychology (Riddoch et al., 2004). After graduating in Psychology I went to the Institute of Neurology, part of University College London, to do a doctorate on Parkinson’s disease with Dr. Richard Brown, also a very successful neuropsychologist. Perhaps not surprisingly, I’m passionate about neuropsychology research. My own research generally involves application of neuropsychological principles to understand real-life issues. For example, cognitive studies of homeless adults (e.g. Pluck et al., 2011; Pluck et al., 2012; Pluck et al., 2015a) or street children (e.g. Pluck et al., 2015b; Pluck et al., 2018). But I have also done some more clinical-neuroscientific work, such as an fMRI study of schizophrenia (Lee et al., 2015).

They say you can judge an academic by the size of their office, true academics don't pursue flash offices because they are about the research, not the image. I hope so, my office is tiny. 

The lab is co-directed by Dr Ana Trueba. She has a bachelor’s degree in Neuroscience from Trinity University and a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Southern Methodist University, both in Texas, the USA. In addition to being a Clinical Psychologist, and director of the University’s Master’s in Clinical Psychology Program, Ana is active in research, particularly on psychophysiology (e.g. Trueba et al., 2016a; Trueba et al., 2016b; Ritz et al., 2018). 

Ana in her office in the lab, demonstrating her unique filing system

We maintain international and national research links. I am an honorary research fellow at the University of Sheffield (UK) and Ana has ongoing research with colleagues in the USA, particularly Dr. Thomas Ritz at the Department of Psychology, Southern Methodist University. We also currently have national research collaborations with the University of Guayaquil and Universidad Nacional de Chimborazo, in Riobamba.

 

The Lab's Christmas pizza party

Apart from Ana and me here at the lab, we always have a few international visitors doing research here too. Recently a master’s student from the University of Amsterdam did a 3-month research placement here, and another comes from Osnabrück University in Germany in late August. Currently a speech therapy student from the University of Illinois in the USA is doing a research project with us.

Some of the students working with the lab

In addition to actual research, we also run a series of research seminars at the University. These are called the Brain Meetings. Roughly every two weeks during the teaching semesters we have guest scientists present their work on psychological and neuroscientific topics. The Brain Meetings are free to attend and open to all. If you want to keep informed of these meetings, then ‘join’ the lab on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/PluckLab/

Post Script, the Quito Brain and Behavior Lab has now become Pluck Lab, within the wider USFQ Institute of Neurosciences. You can find out more about the work of the lab/Institute on the blog (Spanish): https://neurocienciasusfq.blogspot.com/

References

     Lee, K. H., Pluck, G., Lekka, N., Horton, A., Wilkinson, I. D., & Woodruff, P. W. (2015). Self-harm in schizophrenia is associated with dorsolateral prefrontal and posterior cingulate activity. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 61, 18-23.

     Pluck, G., Lee, K. H., David, R., Macleod, D. C., Spence, S. A., & Parks, R. W. (2011). Neurobehavioural and cognitive function is linked to childhood trauma in homeless adults. British Journal of Clinical Psychology ,50(1), 33-45.

     Pluck, G., Lee, K. H., David, R., Spence, S. A., & Parks, R. W. (2012). Neuropsychological and cognitive performance of homeless adults. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, 44(1), 9-15.

     Pluck, G., Nakakarumai, M., & Sato, Y. (2015a). Homelessness and cognitive impairment: An exploratory study in Tokyo, Japan. East Asian Archives of Psychiatry, 25(3), 122-127.

     Pluck, G., Banda-Cruz, D. R., Andrade-Guimaraes, M. V., Ricaurte-Diaz, S., & Borja-Alvarez, T. (2015b). Post-traumatic stress disorder and intellectual function of socioeconomically deprived ‘street children’ in Quito, Ecuador. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 13(2), 215-224.

     Pluck, G., Banda-Cruz, D. R., Andrade-Guimaraes, M. V., & Trueba, A. F. (2018). Socioeconomic deprivation and the development of neuropsychological functions: A study with “street children” in Ecuador. Child Neuropsychology, 24, 510-523.

     Riddoch, M. J., Humphreys, G. W., Jacobson, S., Pluck, G., Bateman, A., & Edwards, M. (2004). Impaired orientation discrimination and localization following parietal damage: On the interplay between dorsal and ventral processes in visual perception. Cognitive Neuropsychology ,21(6), 597-623.

     Ritz, T., Trueba, A. F., Vogel, P. D., Auchus, R. J., & Rosenfield, D. (2018). Exhaled nitric oxide and vascular endothelial growth factor as predictors of cold symptoms after stress. Biological Psychology, 132, 116-124.

     Trueba, A., Ryan, M. W., Vogel, P. D., & Ritz, T. (2016). Effects of academic exam stress on nasal leukotriene B4 and vascular endothelial growth factor in asthma and health. Biological Psychology, 118, 44-51.

     Trueba, A. F., Simon, E., Auchus, R. J., & Ritz, T. (2016). Cortisol response to acute stress in asthma: Moderation by depressive mood. Physiology & Behavior, 159, 20-26.