Dan McCloskey

Dr. Dan McCloskey is Chairperson of the Department of Psychology. Dr. McCloskey’s research is focused on understanding the brain systems involved in mundane social behavior.  This is accomplished by studying the African naked mole-rat, a unique and highly social fossorial rodent.  Laboratory housed colonies of naked mole-rats are examined for individual differences in day-to-day social behaviors and the anatomical and electrophysiological differences in the brain that are related to them.  Using behaviorally-defined criteria to identify differences in 3-D reconstructed quantitative neuroanatomy and in-vivo and in-vitro electrophysiology allows for the ability to understand the role of social behavior brain systems in health, and in diseases such as epilepsy and autism.