Everyone gets stuck in unhealthy patterns at some point, but often change their behaviors when the costs become too high. However, people can get stuck repeating harmful actions, even when there are significant negative consequences. The REPEAT Lab seeks to understand this phenomenon: how rigid and repetitive behavior patterns (e.g., restrictive eating, compulsive behavior) lead to destructive outcomes.

We are particularly interested in understanding patterns of behavior (e.g., persistence) that can serve an important function in some contexts (e.g., working towards a long-term life goal), but can cause problems down the line (e.g., excessive weight loss or productivity standards). Many lab projects focus on restrictive eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa, where the pursuit of weight loss becomes all-consuming.

The REPEAT Lab marries neuroscience and clinical science, embracing a bench-to-bedside philosophy that allows mutual feedback between mechanistic and intervention questions, as well as the societal context in which they are embedded. We take an interdisciplinary and multi-method approach, collaborating with other disciplines (e.g., neuroscience, computer science) and using a range of methods (e.g., neuroimaging, neurocognitive tasks, ecological momentary assessment) and advanced analytical techniques (e.g., computational modeling) to identify and target mechanisms of cognitive and behavioral rigidity.