Megan Viar-Paxton
Personal Information
Address:
Vanderbilt University Department of Psychology
301 Wilson Hall
111 21st Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203
Email: megan.viar-paxton@vanderbilt.edu
Phone: (615) 671-9829
Fax: (615) 343-8449
Education and Training
Fall 2009 to present - graduate student, Clinical Science Ph.D. program, Vanderbilt University.
August 2011- M.A., Vanderbilt University, Clinical Psychology
Masters Thesis: The effect of context on disgust habituation: Implications for the treatment of blood-injection-injury phobia.
May 2009 - B.A. High Distinction, University of Virginia, Psychology and Religious Studies
Honors Thesis: Threat or challenge? Self-focused attention and evaluation on perceived performance in social anxiety.
Curriculum Vitae
Professional Affiliations and Memberships
American Psychological Association (student affiliate)
Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies
Anxiety Disorders Association of America
Biographical Sketch
In the Program for Anxiety, Cognition, and Treatment under Dr. Bethany Teachman at the University of Virginia, Megan's undergraduate research focused on attentional processes in individuals high in social anxiety. She also worked on some research examining memory biases in social anxiety and age-related differences in obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms. Megan also worked for two years as the program coordinator for the Cognitive Aging Lab under Dr. Tim Salthouse looking at age-related changes in memory and cognitive ability.
Research
As a graduate student in the E.A.R.L. lab, Megan's current research interest is investigating the role of disgust sensitivity in children. Her research aims to investigate 1) assessment of disgust sensitivity in children, 2) it's association with other emotions (anxiety, fear, depression), 3) the role of disgust domains in children, and 4) how parental disgust sensitivity predicts child disgust sensitivity.
Publications
Olatunji, B. O., Ciesielski, B. G., Wolitzky-Taylor, K. B., Wentworth, B. J., & Viar, M. A. (in press). Effects of experienced disgust on habituation during repeated exposure to threat-relevant stimuli in blood-injection-injury phobia. Behavior Therapy
Wolitzky-Taylor, K. B., Viar, M. A., & Olatunji, B. O. (in press). Ethical issues when considering exposure. In T. Davis, T. Ollendick, & L-G.Öst (Eds.) Intensive Treatment of Specific Phobias: One-Session Treatment. New York: Springer Press.
Viar, M. A., Bilsky, S. A., Armstrong, T., & Olatunji, B. O. (2011). Obsessive beliefs and obsessive-compulsive disorder: An examination of specific associations. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35, 108-117.
Viar, M. A., Eztel, E., Ciesielski, B.G., & Olatunji, B.O. (in press). Disgust, anxiety, and vasovagal syncope sensations: A comparison of injection fearful and nonfearful blood donors. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 24, 941-945. doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2010.06.021.
Manuscripts in preparation
Viar-Paxton, M. A., Kim, E. H., Young, J., & Olatunji. B. O. (In preparation). The nature and function of disgust sensitivity in youth: Psychological and psychometric considerations.
Viar-Paxton, M. A., & Olatunji, B. O. (In preparation). Context effects on habituation to disgust-relevant stimuli.
Viar, M. A., Tomarken, A.J., Koch, M.C., & Olatunji, B.O. (In preparation). The role of domain-specific disgust sensitivity in behavioral avoidance and self-reported fainting symptoms in blood-injection-injury phobia.
This page was last updated on February 7, 2012
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