Building Understanding of Developmental Differences across Years (BUDDY)
A growing body of research has found socioeconomic disparities in children's language and memory development in early childhood. The BUDDY Study first followed approximately 200 children through the first three years of their life understand how brain function, language, and memory develops during this important period. The second phase of the BUDDY Study will follow these children until age 4.5.
Development of Cognitive Control Strategy Use
Throughout the first decade of life, children become increasingly adept at planning ahead for and complete goals. The ability to manage activational and motivational resources in order to complete a goal is known as Cognitive Control. The Development of Cognitive Control Project aims to understand why children elect to use different cognitive control strategies to prepare for the same goal. To better understand the use of cognitive control strategies, I examine behavioral performance, brain activity (EEG), and executive functioning (a grouping of cognitive skills utilized in go
Longitudinal investigation of the relations among stress, brain activity, neurocognitive skill, and socioemotional functioning during Infancy (R00)
The project investigates how maternal stress and child stress prospectively predict concurrent and longitudinal child brain activity and examines how stress-related patterns of brain activity predict changes in cognitive and socioemotional functioning in the year before school entry.
Baby's First Years: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Poverty Reduction
In response to the growing body of research examining the effects of socioeconomic disparities on cognitive development, Baby's First Years is the first randomized experiment testing causal connections between poverty reduction and brain development among very young children.
Longitudinal Associations between Stress, Cognition, and Socioemotional Development (K99-R00)
The project investigates how maternal and child stress alters brain activity across infancy and early childhood and how such alterations predict neurocognitive and socioemotional functioning. Elucidating the direct influence of chronic physiological stress on alterations in brain development and the functional significance of such alterations provides important insights for early identification and intervention of future long-term cognitive and socioemotional outcomes.
