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Consortium of Sleep Psychology

Research

Ongoing Studies

Multimodal NeuroImaging in Sleep Psychology Study — MNI SP

Dr. Duraccio

1- Sleep is critical to health, yet its underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Dr. Kay’s work in somnoimaging—a form of sleep neuroimaging—has revealed how brain metabolism and activity during sleep differ across insomnia, sleep perception, sleep deprivation, and environmental influences. Combining somnoimaging with behavioral and physiological data may clarify how sleep relates to mental health.

Because many psychiatric disorders share transdiagnostic symptoms, the NIMH RDoC framework provides a useful structure for studying how sleep and circadian disruption might contribute to mental health risk across multiple domains.

To advance both research and training, a Mentored Environmental Grant (MEG) established the Consortium of Sleep Psychology. The program includes three trainee levels:

  • Level 1: Introductory weekly training, participation in data collection and analysis.
  • Level 2: Increased responsibility, mentoring Level 1 trainees, leading research presentations, conducting archival research, and presenting at the annual SLEEP conference.
  • Level 3: Leadership in trainings, graduate school mentoring, and opportunities for senior projects.

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Sleep Psychology Archival Research Collaboration — SPARC Study

Dr. Kay

The Sleep Psychology Archival Research Collaboration will gather data from several of Dr. Kay’s existing IRB-approved studies, including projects on multimodal neuroimaging of insomnia, sleep and aging, suicidality, and sleep valuation. These datasets will remain securely stored according to their original protocols but will now fall under this new IRB for continuing oversight. Additional archival studies, including the MNI_SS and SPROUT projects, will also be incorporated.

Any future archival studies containing identifiable data will require an IRB addendum and approval before inclusion. Three faculty members must unanimously approve incoming studies after reviewing their materials and consent forms. Data access will be tightly regulated: researchers must submit a written request detailing their proposed purpose and analyses, and at least two faculty IRB members must approve the request. Approved individuals will then be added to the IRB personnel list before receiving access.