How Stress Affects Decision-Making and Memory
Contact this Expert Witness
- Company: University of South Florida
- Phone: (813) 974-0480
- Fax: (813) 974-4617
- Website: www.brainmemoryexpertwitness.com/
Specialties & Experience of this Expert Witness
General Specialties:
Human Factors and PharmacologyKeywords/Search Terms:
brain, memory, stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, memory failure, forgotten baby syndrome, amnesia, trauma, heatstroke, automobile-related fatality, cognition, traumatic brain injury, negligence, decision-makingEducation:
Ph.D., University of California, Irvine; B.S., University of California, IrvineYears in Practice:
40Number of Times Deposed/Testified in Last 4 Yrs:
9Additional Information
I am a professor in the Department of Psychology, Cognitive, Neural and Social Division, at the University of South Florida. I have been studying the brain and memory for over 40 years, and I have served as an expert witness on memory-related cases for the past 16 years. In one area of expertise, I have studied how parents and caretakers, without evidence of abuse or neglect of children, unintentionally and unknowingly, forget children in cars. Under conditions in which the ambient temperature is warm enough and the car is exposed to direct sunlight, heat builds within the car and the child may die or become brain damaged as a result of heatstroke. I have testified as a memory expert in cases in which these parents and caretakers have been charged with civil and criminal crimes, including manslaughter. In a related area of expertise, I recently retired as a career scientist in the Department of Veterans Affairs, with 30 years of research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have served as an expert on PTSD in cases in which people have been traumatized as a result of negligence. Overall, I have expertise in the areas of brain, memory, stress and PTSD with over 100 peer-reviewed papers published in medical journals.