Eye-Tracking and Real-World Emotions Studies at the Clinical Affective Neuroscience Laboratory, UCSF
Virginia Sturm, Professor
Neurology
Applications for Spring 2026 are closed for this project.
In the Clinical Affective Neuroscience (CAN) lab, we conduct research on the neurobiological basis of affective symptoms in neurodegenerative diseases and neurodevelopmental disorders. Our lab utilizes a variety of assessments (psychophysiology, facial coding, and self-reported experience) to quantify emotion and social functioning in real-world and laboratory settings. Our lab offers two main research projects for the prospective apprentices:
1- Working with eye-tracking data collected in the laboratory. Apprentices will learn about the various metrics collected by the eye-tracker, including gaze position and pupil dilation. They may assist with programming Areas of Interest into the Tobii eye-tracker software and exporting files for analysis.
2- Processing real-world data (autonomic and behavioral) collected from our wearable devices and experience sampling surveys. Apprentices may download data and prepare raw files for cleaning in the AcqKnowledge physiological data software.
Role: As a research apprentice, you will be expected to become familiar with multiple data collection software such as Qualtrics, REDCap, Tobii, or AcqKnowledge. You will assist with data exporting, cleaning, and processing for our in-lab eye-tracking study and/or our remote study.
In addition to these projects, you may also work on other projects, such as:
•Supporting the lab’s REDCap database management
•Performing literature reviews
•Transcribing audio from verbal language tasks
You will be attending weekly lab meetings and may also have the opportunity to participate in other educational activities, such as departmental talks.
Qualifications: Familiarity with R or other programming languages--desirable but not essential.
Day-to-day supervisor for this project: Micah Valero, Staff Researcher
Hours: 9-11 hrs
Related website: https://canlab.ucsf.edu/
Related website: https://memory.ucsf.edu/