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About

Research in our laboratory synthesizes personality science, cognitive neuroscience, and computational psychiatry to better understand the normative and dysfunctional development of personality and self-regulation.

An image of four teenage girls having a picnic in a field. They are huddled over a cell phone, laughing.

We are especially interested in decision processes and neurocomputational systems that underlie personality pathology and suicidal behavior. Risky behaviors (e.g., reckless driving or petty crimes) are often most pronounced in teenagers and young adults. Although in moderation, taking risks may facilitate greater self-efficacy (e.g., asking out someone for a date despite feeling anxious), in youth whose emotions tend to be stronger and who have greater difficulty controlling their behavior, adolescence may be a period of vulnerability for emotional problems and psychopathology.

 

Research Topics

An image of a man standing at a crossroad, looking at two diverging roads. The left pathway has bright skies with a golden hue. The right pathway looks darker with gray clouds overhead. The man has his fingers crossed behind his back as he stands at the crossroad.

16 images, in a 4x4 grid, of a woman with long dark hair and a bright blue shirt. In each image, she has a different expression and is displaying various emotions. In some she looks happy, in others she looks sad, frustrated, and neutral.

An image of a pair of hands grabbing playing cards at a black cloth-covered table in what appears to be a game of poker. The playing cards are red, and the circular chips are green and white.

An image of a woman on a wooden swing, which is hovering over a cliff. The cliff is covered in green vegetation and includes a waterfall. The woman is facing the waterfall. Her brown hair is in a ponytail and she is wearing a light blue shirt.

An image of an animated woman and man, the woman on the left and the man on the right, with three small question marks hovering above them and a large question mark in between them. They are wearing blue shirts that match the question marks above them and have confused expressions on their faces. There is a light purple background behind them.

An image of 10 people with backpacks in a circle with their hands in the middle, forming a hand-stack.