Michael Potegal, Ph.D., L.P.

Associate Professor
Phone: (612) 625-7466 or (612) 625-6964
Email: poteg001@umn.edu

Dr. Potegal is an Associate Professor in the Division of Pediatric Clinical Neuroscience within the Department of Pediatrics. In the earlier part of his research career in behavioral neuroscience, he worked on basal ganglia and vestibular mechanisms of spatial orientation. Subsequently, he studied brain mechanisms of aggression in order to characterize the internal motivational state(s) that control external behavior. After re-orienting his career in a more clinical direction, he joined the faculty of the Pediatric Neuropsychology Clinic in 2000 where he renewed his study of children's temper tantrums. Tantrums are a common feature of child development which have implications for both mental health and understanding of basic emotions. He has undertaken a long-term research program into the ontogeny, neurophysiology, dynamics, and interactional aspects of children's tantrums and relationships to child temperament and parental intervention. His clinical interests include assessment of behavioral dysregulation

Education:

• B.S. in Physics, City College of New York, NY 1963
• Ph.D. in Physiological Psychology, M.I.T., 1969
• Postdoctoral training in Neurophysiology, Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, New York & University of Amsterdam, 1970
• Senior Research Scientist, New York State Psychiatric Institute
• Senior Fellow, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research
• Clinical Psychology Training, University of Wisconsin
• Intern, University of Minnesota Clinical Psychology Training Program
• Fellow in Pediatric Neuropsychology, University of Minnesota Medical School

Funded Research:

• Quantifying Children¹s Emotions with the Emotion Intensity-Linkage Function Model, NICHHD R01-HD055343 (2008-2011)
• Psychopathology and Interictal Discharges in Children with Epilepsy, U of M Graduate Faculties Grant-in-Aid (2008-2011)
• Identification of MPS III behavioral phenotype(s) and associated neuropathology-Lysosomal Disease Network, NINDS (U54 Rare Disease Center) (2009-2011)

Dr. Potegal is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Society for Research on Aggression.