Cognitive Behavioral Lab
Welcome to the Cognitive Behavioral Lab’s website. Here we are seeking to understand human interaction with plants. As part of these efforts, Dr. Knuth and her team have cataloged the current literature available regarding human behavior and plant purchasing in the North American market. Please browse the keyword tabs above to find the articles links, key takeaways, and potential applications that research may have for your business or entity.
If you’re interested in collaborating, please contact Dr. Melinda Knuth (Principal Investigator) or the lab’s general contact page.
Graduate Students
Emma Arline
Emma Arline joined the Cognitive Behavioral Lab as a research assistant intern in January 2023. She is an undergraduate Psychology major at Montreat college (online) interested in all sorts of integrated psychology applications, whose curiosity about human-plant interactions was sparked by researching therapeutic horticulture in 2022. She assists the Knuth lab graduate students with their study designs and recruitment, examining both how plants impact mental health and how marketing techniques affect plant purchasing.
Ethan Jenkins
Hey everyone, my name is Ethan Jenkins and I am an M.S. in Horticultural Sciences student working in the Cognitive Behavioral Lab at NC State University. My research will involve product labeling and consumer perception of horticulture products. More specifically, I will be studying product source-labeling and quality messaging labeling and how it influences consumer willingness to purchase, and their perceived quality of products based on labeling.
Debasish Paul
Debasish Paul is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Horticultural Science. He joined the Cognitive Behavioral Lab in 2022. His research focuses on sustainability in horticultural supply chains in North America.
Amanda Solliday
Amanda Solliday joined the Knuth lab as a doctoral student in January 2023. Her research focuses on sustainability and climate change in the horticulture industry, and she is working on a project with the American Floral Endowment to help develop practical sustainability resources for the floriculture industry. Amanda brings outreach experience from her previous work in communications at two national labs and Duke University, as a public radio science reporter, and as a scientist in the federal government.
Vanessa Woods
Vanessa Woods is exploring biophilia and how it relates to human wellness and flourishing. Vanessa is interested in how evolutionary theory supports (and does not support) various aspects of the biophilia hypothesis, whether an innate attraction for biodiversity exists, and how this attraction can inform how we build our environments. Vanessa is a Research Scientist in the Evolutionary Anthropology department at Duke University. Vanessa’s latest book, Survival of the Friendliest: Discovering our common humanity is an international bestseller.