Palm Beach Atlantic University

In addition to our state-of-the-art classroom facilities, Dr. David Compton is the director of the Donnelly Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory. 

The Donnelley Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory focuses on behavioral and neural mechanisms associated with learning and memory. Currently, we are interested in the effects of the so-called designer tryptamines as drugs of abuse and there similarities to and differences from more familiar club drugs such as MDMA (Ecstasy). 

In our Laboratory, you will explore such questions such as what role does our brain play in behaviors we perform every day? The courses held here are designed to provide an overview of the central nervous system (CNS) involvement in such areas as cognitive processes, learning, memory, emotion, sexual behavior and stress. Students will also gain a mastery of how neurons function and communicate within the CNS. How this communication translates to behavior, and processes that interrupt this translation (e.g. drugs, brain damage, CNS disorders) will be covered in detail. 

Methods for investigating areas of biological psychology will also be explored. Students will also be introduced in the lab to current controversial issues in physiological psychology and have an opportunity to research and present one side of an issue. Successful completion of our course will provide you with a heightened awareness of the physiological processes that underlie behavior and daily issues that directly relate to physiological psychology. 

For more information on the Donnelly Behavioral Neuroscience Laboratory, please contact Dr. Compton at (561) 850-7832 or

via e-mail

.