Peter Clayson

Associate Professor

CONTACT

Office: PCD 4110
Phone: 813/974-6480
Email

LINKS

EDUCATION

  • 2019   Postdoctoral Fellow, Desert Pacific Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2017    Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, Minors in Behavioral Neuroscience and Quantitative Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2012    M.A.  in Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2010    B.S. in Psychology - Clinical Emphasis, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2017-2019   Assistant Project Scientist, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

TEACHING

Undergraduate Research Methods
Clinical Supervision
Open Science Practices

RESEARCH

My research applies findings from cognitive and affective neuroscience to examine adaptive control in healthy participants and psychopathology. Adaptive control refers to how the brain coordinates cognitive, emotional, and physiological processes to identify problems in the environment and optimize goal-directed behavior. Adaptive control dysfunction is evident in numerous clinical disorders, and my research cuts across diagnostic boundaries to understand this dysfunction and its impact on behavior. My research examines healthy and clinical populations to answer these questions: How well do models of adaptive control predict performance? How do variations in adaptive control contribute to psychopathology? Can adaptive control be improved in psychopathology, leading to benefits in functional outcome? I primarily answer these questions using studies of event-related brain potentials (ERPs).

In support of the above work, I support the application of psychophysiological measurements to studies of individual differences by offering evidence to mobilize the field to evaluate ERPs psychometrically. Biological measurements are constrained by the same fundamental psychometric principles as self-report measurements, but these principles receive little or no attention in studies of psychophysiology. This lack of attention to psychometrics limits the more widespread application of psychophysiological findings to clinical or intervention research. Therefore, I seek to apply rigorous measurement theory to understanding the psychometric characteristics of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and other psychophysiological measurements in healthy and clinical samples. By ensuring that clinical psychophysiological research is grounded in psychometric principles, this work fosters a better understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of mental illness, because strong psychometric characteristics is a precondition for between-subjects measurement comparison.

SPECIALTY AREA

Clinical

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Park, B., Holbrook, A., Rast, P., Light, G. A., Foti, D., Kotov, R., & Clayson, P. E. (2025). Trial-by-trial ERP-behavior relationships in psychosis: Between- and within-person variability in performance monitoring adjustments. Schizophrenia Research, 282, 158-165. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2025.06.010

Holbrook, A., Park, B., Baldwin, S. A., Riesel, A., Larson, M. J., & Clayson, P. E. (2025). Psychometric reliability of ERN and Pe across flanker, Stroop, and go/no-go tasks: A direct and conceptual replication. Psychophysiology, 62, e70042. doi: 10.1111/psyp.70042

Clayson, P. E., Carbine, K. A., Shuford, J. L., McDonald, J. B., & Larson, M. J. (2025). A registered report of preregistration practices in studies of electroencephalogram (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs): A first look at accessibility, adherence, transparency, and expected replication rates. Cortex, 185, 253-269. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2025.02.008

Heindorf, G., Holbrook, A., Park, B., Light, G. A., Rast, P., Foti, D., Kotov, R., & Clayson, P. E. (2025). The impact of ERP reliability cutoffs on sample characteristics and effect sizes: Performance-monitoring ERPs in psychosis and healthy controls. Psychophysiology, 62, e14758. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14758

Holbrook, A., Park, B., Rast, P., Light, G. A., & Clayson, P. E. (2025). Intraindividual variability of event-related potentials in psychosis: A registered report. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 5, 100396. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2024.100396

Clayson, P. E. (2024). The psychometric upgrade psychophysiology needs. Psychophysiology, 61, e14522. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14522