Postdoctoral Fellow
Anson Whitmer received a joint Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience in 2009 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. The primary goal of his research is to elucidate the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie and drive depressive rumination, that is, repetitive thinking about one’s problems and depressed mood. His research is not limited to a specific methodology but instead uses the approach that best suits the question of interest – including behavioral, fMRI, and genetic studies. Given that depressive rumination has serious maladaptive consequences, leading, for example, to longer-lasting and more severe episodes of clinical depression, a secondary goal of Anson’s is to develop novel ways to treat depressive rumination, with an emphasis on targeting the cognitive and neural mechanisms that underlie rumination.