Jason Tsukahara

Jason Tsukahara, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, where he directs the CALM Lab. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms underlying attention control and how those mechanisms can be enhanced through mindfulness-related practice.

Before joining UNCW, Dr. Tsukahara was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Miami, where he worked with Dr. Amishi Jha studying the benefits of mindfulness training in high-demand occupations such as firefighters. He earned his Ph.D. at Georgia Institute of Technology where he was advised by Dr. Randall Engle and studied individual differences in the ability to control attention.

Education

Ph.D. in Cognition and Brain Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
M.A. in Experimental Psychology, California State University, San Bernardino
B.A. in Behavioral Neuroscience, Western Washington University

Specialization in Teaching

Dr. Tsukahara's teaching emphasizes critical thinking and how we can apply principles from cognitive psychology, research methods, and statistics to the real-world and everyday life.

- Perception & Cognition
- Cognitive Psychology (Graduate Level)

Research Interests

What you pay attention to, and how well you are able to pay attention, shapes your thoughts, your success, and your well-being. Understanding the voluntary control of attention is the focus of Dr. Tsukahara's research in the CALM Lab, where he combines cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and contemplative practices to understand how attention shapes life and mind. His research investigates how well individuals can control their attention, how this ability influences their perception, memory, reasoning, and well-being, the neural mechanisms underlying this ability, and how mindfulness-related practices from contemplative traditions can aid us in using our attention more wisely and with greater control.