We are a developmental neuroscience research lab based in the Center for Mind and Brain at UC Davis.
Our work focuses on identifying brain-behavior relationships in socio-emotional information processing, and investigating developmental shifts in neural circuitry to understand the emergence and maintenance of psychopathology during adolescence.
To study this, we examine behavioral and neural correlates of affective processing as it relates to social and non-social stimuli. We are interested in understanding associations among social contextual risk, protective factors, and neural mechanisms that are associated with 3 common forms of psychopathology in adolescence: anxiety, depression, and substance use.
Overarching questions of our research include:
- What concurrent and longitudinal patterns of brain function and structure can help us to identify which adolescents are at the greatest risk for developing psychopathology?
- How do individual differences, social settings and environmental factors operate in conjunction with neural responses to emotionally-salient stimuli to predict psychopathology?
- How do these processes unfold in typical development and change with age or vary by gender?
Center for Mind and Brain
With our lab spaces at the Center for Mind and Brain, there are unique opportunities for research and collaboration with other scientists. Check out the video below, and the Links and Resources page for more information!