For the Curry College psychology department, it is out with the old and in with the new.
Thanks in part to a generous grant from the George I. Alden Trust (supplemented by the college itself) and the efforts of department chair Dr. Bruce Steinberg, the technology students now use in the Psychology Laboratory is on the cutting edge in the field of psychophysiology.
This new equipment gives students a front row seat to the latest advancements in the study of neuro-feedback, EEG, attention, cardiovascular function and the psychophysiology of stress and trauma.
"We realized that all of our equipment needed a systematic upgrade, so we went to our old friends at the Alden Trust for help", explains Dr. Steinberg. "Thanks to their generosity, and the ongoing support of the College, our student and faculty research capability has taken a quantum leap forward."
An example of this "leap forward" can be seen in the way the department's new psychophysiological research equipment processes information from research participants during stress tests.
"In the past, our machinery had the capability of analyzing three signals per second from the cardiovascular system, " recalls Dr. Steinberg. "Now, the computers can handle 250,000 signals per second. It's quite amazing."
Gone are the days of analyzing polygraph results on long strips of paper. Now, students can study endless 
amounts of data, using a computer-based program called Windaq.
"Students are living in an ever-growing digital age, so understanding technology is actually becoming just as important as the research they are conducting," Says Dr. Steinberg. "We have professional level equipment that these young adults will be using to study interesting problems that are relevant to their lives."
And with stronger data collection and processing, this technology will also be less prone to break down, will work more effectively with some of the older hardware still essential to the department, and will extend the capabilities of research across the board.
"With this equipment we have stepped up our ability to measure things like the volume of blood pumped by the heart," explains Dr. Steinberg. "This is a great way of analyzing stress, how it affects our health, and also how we can take steps to reduce the negative effects of stress."