Dr. Keanan Joyner

Biography

Keanan Joyner is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of addiction, particularly exploring the etiology of alcohol and substance use disorders through cognitive-affective processes and their relationship with externalizing psychopathology. Dr. Joyner leads the Clinical Research Externalizing Addiction Mechanisms Lab (C.R.E.A.M.), which employs human neuroscientific methodologies, notably electroencephalogram (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs), alongside ecological momentary assessment (EMA) techniques to assess addiction risks. He aims to bridge behavioral economic concepts and behavioral genetics to enhance the applicability of addiction models within socioeconomically disadvantaged populations. His works, including publications in Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience and Clinical Psychological Science, advance the understanding of hierarchical taxonomies in psychopathology while proposing new framework designs for evaluating substance use disorder traits through innovative co-twin control designs.

Research Interests