The ability to navigate social interactions and form meaningful social bonds is central to healthy development. The Laboratory on Affective Neuroscience & Development studies brain–behavior mechanisms that shape how individuals differ in social and emotional functioning across development. We use a multi-method approach that includes electroencephalography (EEG), psychophysiology, eye-tracking, ecological momentary assessment (EMA), and behavioral paradigms.

AREAS OF RESEARCH

• Parsing shared and unique contributions of core self-regulatory and socio-emotional mechanisms (e.g., inhibitory control, empathy, frustrative non-reward) to the development of externalizing behaviors across childhood and adolescence

• Examining real-time, dynamic associations between health behaviors (e.g., sleep), affective and cognitive regulation (e.g., inhibitory control, emotion lability), and fluctuations in externalizing symptoms and behaviors using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) and other intensive longitudinal methods

• Understanding how these processes unfold across development using multi-method, multi-informant, and longitudinal research designs

• Applying advanced quantitative approaches to model within-person dynamics, developmental change, and co-occurring mechanisms in psychopathology

• Identifying modifiable targets for prevention and intervention by linking mechanistic processes to real-world behavior and risk