Dr. William DeCoteau

Associate Professor

I was born and raised in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. I attended Mercyhurst College where I played on the varsity hockey team and majored in Psychology. I spent one year after graduation working as a cytogenetic technician at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital. I then completed my PhD in biological psychology at the University of Utah. I received post-doctoral training at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology prior to my arrival at St. Lawrence University. I annually teach courses in introductory psychology, physiological psychology, animal behavior, and human neuropsychology. My research focuses on the role the basal ganglia and prefrontal cortex brain circuitry has in behavior and cognition. Recently, I’ve been collaborating with Dr. Joe Erlichman in the biology department on research that investigates the neurobiological underpinnings of human disorders such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, multiple sclerosis, and anxiety. I serve on the university’s Budget and Finance committee and the Institutional Animal Care and Use committee. I also help mentor the university’s club hockey team. Beyond work, I enjoy the outdoors and cheering on the Saints athletic teams with my wife and three children.

Recent Presentations:
DeCoteau, L. W.E., Smolentzov, L., Fellows, L. Effects of Rodent Prefrontal Cortex Lesions on Space-based Visual Scene Memory. Poster presented at annual meeting of Eastern Psychological Association, Brooklyn, NY, 2010. 

Recent Publications:
DeCoteau, W.E, McElvaine, D., Smolentzov, L. and Kesner, R.P. Effects of Rodent Prefrontal Lesions on Object-based, Visual Scene Memory. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 2009; 92: 552-8.

Kubota, Y., Liu, J., Hu D., DeCoteau, W.E., Eden, U.T., Smith, A.C., and Graybiel, A.M. Stable Encoding of Task Structure Coexists with Flexible Coding of Task Events in Sensorimotor Striatum. Journal of Neurophysiology. 2009; 102: 2142-60.

Senior Research:
Becca Townsend, Maureen Faherty, and Becky Street are collaborating this spring on a project that investigates the neuroprotective function of cerium oxide nanoparticles in mouse models of ALS and MS.