University of Maryland-College Park · PsychologyAlcohol Misuse and Anxiety Research Lab
Alexander Joseph Shackman · College Park, Maryland
Research Focus
Dr. Alexander Shackman's lab at the University of Maryland focuses on understanding how anxiety influences behaviors related to alcohol misuse. By integrating advanced brain imaging techniques and smartphone assessments, the lab investigates the connections between brain circuits responsible for processing threats and the behaviors associated with alcohol use. The goal is to find new ways to treat alcohol misuse by identifying key factors that exacerbate anxiety and drive drinking behavior.
alcohol misuseanxietyneuroimagingsmartphone assessmentcomputational psychiatrybrain circuitsdigital phenotypingrisk and ambiguitybehavioral health
Research Aims
3AIM 01Identify brain regions linked to alcohol misuse and anxiety-related behaviors.
AIM 02Use smartphone technology to track real-time anxiety and alcohol cravings.
AIM 03Integrate brain imaging and smartphone data to understand the neurobiological drivers of alcohol use.
Skills the Lab Values
computational modelingfunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)smartphone data collectiondata analysispsychophysiologymachine learningneural circuit analysisbehavioral assessmentsstatistical modeling
Output against the department
Publications162top 46% of dept.136th of 296
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations12ktop 24% of dept.72nd of 296
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.