Travis Edward Baker

Program affiliation: Cognition and brain sciences

Research interests

I have two major lines of research. The specific aim of my PhD research involves the investigation of the biological, cognitive, genetic, and personality-related risk factors underlying substance dependence. Specifically, I use electrophysiological and behavioral assays of the integrity of midbrain dopamine system in humans, combined with assessments of dopamine-related genetic polymorphisms to investigate cognitive control impairments in substance dependent individuals. My other line of research uses electrophysiological experimentation to examine the feedback error-related negativity (fERN), an event related brain potential (ERP) associated with dopamine dependent reward processing and anterior cingulate cortex function, and the topographical N170 (NT170), an ERP component associated with spatial processing and parahippocampal function, to investigate the contributions of these neural systems toward learning to find rewards in ‘virtual maze’ environments.

Awards

2011 - CIHR Research Competition: Silver Medal
2011 - Canadian Student Health Research Forum Travel Award- CIHR Research Competition
2011 - APA Dissertation Competition Nomination
2009 - W. H. Gaddes Award
2009 - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships Doctoral Award, Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR)
2008 - Robert and Douglas Vickery Graduate Award
2008 - Presidents Research Award
2007 - Presidents Research Award
2007 - The Integrated Mentor Program in Addictions Research Training
2007 - IDC Invention Competition Award
2006 - Micheal Smith Foundation / UVic Health Research Fellowship
2006 - Exceptional Research Merit Award, University of Victoria

Representative publications and presentations

Baker, T. E., & Holroyd, C. B. (2011). Dissociated roles of the anterior cingulate cortex in reward and conflict processing as revealed by the feedback error-related negativity and N200. Biological Psychology, 87, 25-34.

Baker, T. E., Stockwell, T., Barnes, G., and Holroyd, C. B. (2011). Individual Differences in Substance Dependence: At the Intersection of Brain, Behaviour, and Cognition. Addiction Biology, 16, 458-466

Baker, T. E., & Holroyd, C. B. (2009). Which way do I go? Neural activation in response to feedback and spatial processing in a virtual T-Maze. Cerebral Cortex 19, 1708-1722

Holroyd, C. B., Baker, T. E., Kerns, K. A., Müller, U. (2008) Electrophysiological evidence of atypical motivation and reward processing in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Neuropsychologia, 46, 2234-2242.