Sucharit Katyal, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral scholar
Specialty: Psychological and neural processes underlying human cognitive, perceptual and affective systems

Sucharit Katyal is a postdoctoral scholar at the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at UC Davis. His research focuses on understanding psychological and neural processes underlying human cognitive, perceptual and affective systems using behavioral, neuroimaging and neurophysiological techniques.

Katyal is mentored by Assistant Professor Philippe Goldin, a neuroscientist at the School Of Nursing. He is currently interested in investigating the neuropsychosomatic states and traits of the contemplative mind and is exploring how meditation might alter the neuropsychological cognitive processes in long-term meditators as well as how these processes are altered with meditation training in new practitioners. His research is framed within larger goals including, how contemplative science theory can be closely integrated with cognitive neurosciences, and how we can better utilize contemplative therapy to suit individual needs.

After he completed his doctorate in Psychology in 2013 at the University of Texas at Austin, Katyal studied subcortical neural bases of visual attention in humans using high-resolution, functional MRI. He then completed a postdoctoral position at the University of Minnesota Department of Psychology, where he studied neural bases of visual perception and awareness, combining electroencephelography with multistable perceptual paradigms.