Anna Alkozei
- Assistant Clinical Professor, Family and Community Medicine - (Clinical Series Track)
Contact
- (520) 626-8638
- AHSC, Rm. 7429
- aalkozei@arizona.edu
Degrees
- Doctoral Re-Specialization in Clinical Psychology Clinical Psychology
- University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States
- Ph.D. Psychology
- University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom
- Autonomic Arousal and Interpretation of Physical Symptoms in Childhood Anxiety DIsorders
- B.S. Psychology
- University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, United Kingdom
Licensure & Certification
- Clinical Psychologist, Arizona Board of Psychologist Examiners (2022)
Interests
No activities entered.
Courses
No activities entered.
Scholarly Contributions
Journals/Publications
- Durham, M. R., Smith, R., Cloonan, S., Hildebrand, L. L., Woods-Lubert, R., Skalamera, J., Berryhill, S. M., Weihs, K. L., Lane, R. D., Allen, J. J., Dailey, N. S., Alkozei, A., Vanuk, J. R., & Killgore, W. D. (2023). Development and validation of an online emotional intelligence training program. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1221817.More infoEmotional intelligence (EI) is associated with a range of positive health, wellbeing, and behavioral outcomes. The present article describes the development and validation of an online training program for increasing EI abilities in adults. The training program was based on theoretical models of emotional functioning and empirical literature on successful approaches for training socioemotional skills and resilience.
- Smith, R., Persich, M. R., Chuning, A. E., Cloonan, S., Woods-Lubert, R., Skalamera, J., Berryhill, S. M., Weihs, K. L., Lane, R. D., Allen, J. J., Dailey, N. S., Alkozei, A., Vanuk, J. R., & Killgore, W. D. (2023). Improvements in mindfulness, interoceptive and emotional awareness, emotion regulation, and interpersonal emotion management following completion of an online emotional skills training program. Emotion (Washington, D.C.).More infoSocioemotional skills, such as the ability to recognize, understand, and regulate the emotions of self and others, are associated with both physical and emotional health. The present study tested the effectiveness of a recently validated online training program for increasing these emotional skills in adults. In this study, 448 participants (323 female) were randomly assigned to complete this training program or a placebo control program. Among those who completed the training program or placebo ( = 326), the training program led to improved scores post-training on measures of interoceptive and emotional awareness, mindfulness, emotion recognition, and emotion regulation strategies (e.g., reduced emotion suppression and greater impulse control) relative to placebo. In a smaller group of participants who also completed a 6-month follow-up visit ( = 94), sustained improvements were observed on several measures in those who completed the training program, while the placebo group instead showed decreased performance. This suggested a potentially protective effect against emotional challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic occurring during this time. These results suggest that this online training program shows promise in improving emotional skills relevant to adaptive social and emotional functioning, and that it might be useful as an intervention within at-risk populations and those with emotional disorders associated with reduced application of these skills. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
- Killgore, W. D., Alkozei, A., Vanuk, J. R., Reign, D., Grandner, M. A., & Dailey, N. S. (2022). Blue light exposure increases functional connectivity between dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and multiple cortical regions. Neuroreport, 33(5), 236-241.More infoBlue light is a powerful environmental stimulus that can produce significant phase shifts in the circadian rhythm of melatonin and sleep propensity as well as acute effects on alertness of neurobehavioral performance. Here, we undertook an expansion and reanalysis of our previously published findings to examine the effect of acute blue light exposure on the strength of resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between a previously identified region of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and 106 cortical and subcortical regions.
- Alkozei, A., Smith, R., Kotzin, M. D., Waugaman, D. L., & Killgore, W. (2019). The Association Between Trait Gratitude and Self-Reported Sleep Quality Is Mediated by Depressive Mood State. BEHAVIORAL SLEEP MEDICINE, 17(1), 41-48.
- Vanuk, J. R., Alkozei, A., Raikes, A. C., Allen, J., & Killgore, W. (2019). Ability-Based Emotional Intelligence Is Associated With Greater Cardiac Vagal Control and Reactivity. FRONTIERS IN HUMAN NEUROSCIENCE, 13.
- Alkozei, A. (2018).
Developmental Contributions to Emotional Awareness
. Journal of Personality Assessment, 101(2), 150-158. doi:10.1080/00223891.2017.1411917More infoThe Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) has received considerable support as a reliable and valid measure of individual differences in emotional awareness (EA) since the original report involving 40 participants (Lane, Quinlan, Schwartz, Walker, & Zeitlin, 1990 ). However, the hypothesized developmental nature of EA (conceptualized as a cognitive skill) has thus far only been examined in that 1 early study. Here we report multiple regression analyses on the entire sample of 94 participants who completed the LEAS as part of that original study, as well as the same developmental and affective measures used in the original report. We first observed that different developmental measures, including the Object Relations Inventory and the Sentence Completion Test of Ego Development, accounted for unique portions of the variance in LEAS scores. We also observed that higher LEAS scores were associated with greater within-category variance in the self-reported positive and guilt- and shame-related emotions people reported experiencing on a typical day. Based on these findings, we introduce a 3-dimensional cognitive-developmental framework that LEAS scores plausibly track, including (a) the transition from focusing on external/physical to internal/psychological characteristics, (b) greater conceptual complexity, and (c) self-other differentiation. We then discuss the implications of this framework for understanding the nature of EA and for future research. - Alkozei, A., Smith, R., & Killgore, W. (2018). Gratitude and Subjective Wellbeing: A Proposal of Two Causal Frameworks. JOURNAL OF HAPPINESS STUDIES, 19(5), 1519-1542.
- Alkozei, A. (2017).
Chronic sleep restriction differentially affects implicit biases toward food among men and women: preliminary evidence
. Journal of Sleep Research, 27(4), e12629. doi:10.1111/jsr.12629More infoChronic sleep restriction and obesity are two major public health concerns. This study investigated how chronic sleep restriction changes implicit attitudes towards low- and high-calorie foods. In a randomized, counterbalanced cross-over design, 17 participants (eight females, nine males) underwent two laboratory testing sessions where they were either sleep-restricted for 3 weeks (i.e. underwent three weekly cycles of 5 nights of 4 h of sleep followed by 2 nights of 8 h of sleep opportunity) or received 3 weeks of control sleep (i.e. 8 h of sleep opportunity per night for 3 weeks). There was evidence for a significant sleep condition x sex interaction (F(1, 20) = 4.60, P = 0.04). After chronic sleep restriction, men showed a trend towards a significant decrease in their implicit attitudes favouring low-calorie foods (P = 0.08), whereas women did not show a significant change (P = 0.16). Men may be at increased risk of weight gain when sleep-deprived due to a reduced bias towards low-calorie foods. - Smith, R., Alkozei, A., Bao, J., Smith, C., Lane, R. D., & Killgore, W. (2017). Resting state functional connectivity correlates of emotional awareness. NEUROIMAGE, 159, 99-106.
- Alkozei, A., McMahon, E., & Lahav, A. (2014). Stress levels and depressive symptoms in NICU mothers in the early postpartum period. JOURNAL OF MATERNAL-FETAL & NEONATAL MEDICINE, 27(17), 1738-1743.