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| Faculty | Students | Admission | Research | Courses | Teaching |
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Kim Wallen, Ph.D.ResearchMy laboratory investigates the interaction between hormones and social context on the development and expression of sexual and sex-related behavior in nonhuman primates. The general theme that guides our research is the interaction between biological mechanisms and the social and environmental context that shapes their expression and function. We study nonhuman primates because their extended development and complex social structure model important aspects of the human condition and provide insight into the complementary role that social context and biological predispositions play in the development and expression of behavior. We also do studies in humans that complement the nonhuman primate work. Current ProjectsCurrent projects in the laboratory focus on the effects of neonatal amygdala damage in males and females on the development of social behavior, cognition and neuroendocrine function in a collaborative study with Jocelyne Bachevalier, and Mar Sanchez. These studies take advantage of large long-term social groups of monkeys where we can do experimental treatments and then follow the monkeys in social conditions duplicating the naturally occurring rhesus monkey social environment. Other work investigates the role that steroid hormones, specifically estrogens, androgens, and progestins play in the modulation of female sexual desire in monkeys. We are currently investigating hormonal therapies that reinstate sexual motivation in females as possible post-menopausal therapies in women. All nonhuman primate research is performed at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center Field Station using social groups of monkeys. Collaborative work with Dr. Stephan Hamann investigates sex differences in neural activation to sexual stimuli in men and women. We are also using eye-tracking for investigating what aspects of sexual stimuli men and woman attend to and the role that hormones play in sex differences in attention to sexual stimuli. Lab Members
Emeritus lab members
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