Studies

This study investigates emotions in children anywhere from 2-20 years old. We want to better understand how children and adolescents react to various stimuli, and how these feelings might be related to mental health. Kids under 11 years old would come into our lab for a short visit where we play some games and ask some questions, and kids older than 11 can do that in addition to getting their brain scanned in a non-invasive fMRI machine (and even potentially get a 3D print of their brain)!

Our Dance Study is investigating the relationship between empathy, dance experience, and the ability to differentiate between planned and spontaneous behavior. In this study we aim to measure whether empathy and/or experience in dance mediate individuals' ability to correctly differentiate between choreographed and improvised dance. 

The goal of this study is to advance current knowledge on how attachment representations promote humans' exploration and learning while they learn to navigate a rewarding environment. Participants complete a computerized exploration task after being prompted to think about different social figures in their life and complete a self-report questionnaire. This study is currently in the data collection phase.

Toddlerhood represents a significant period in emotional and memory development, yet we know very little about what toddler brains are doing during this incredible time of change. We have developed a toddler-friendly neuroimaging study that uses magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study the toddler brain and how it supports emotional behavior and memory. Toddlers will complete toddler-friendly tasks within our fMRI scanner during this study.

Caregivers play an important role in shaping young children's development by providing opportunities for exploration and learning. At the same time, as adults, we do not remember specific experiences from toddlerhood. We hypothesize that caregivers may shape how toddlers learn and remember specific information. This study uses storybook reading and eye-tracking to discover how caregivers influence toddlers' memory. 

In collaboration with Stellenbosch University in South Africa and the Child Mind Institute, the Philani Study is a longitudinal study. This study aims to diversify our existing knowledge and to identify whether and how resiliency-promoting experiences in early adolescence can foster adaptive and healthy emotional regulation development.

This study sought to address how being in an emotional state of awe might influence dimensions such as personality, learning, attention, schemas, and cognition. The Awe study is in the data analysis stage.

Emotional schemas are superordinate memory structures that are formed based on past experiences and guide how we experience, interpret, and respond to emotions and the environment. The Childhood Adversity, Schemas, and Emotions (CHASE) study aims to examine the effects of early life adversity on emotional schema learning and memory processes later in development. Participants come into the lab on two consecutive days. On day 1, participants complete an online survey and then learn a new emotional schema by completing a behavioral task. The next day, participants complete two behavioral tasks that assess the adaptation and generalization of the emotional schema when confronted with new information. This study is in the data analysis phase.

The Conte study is a longitudinal neuroimaging follow-up examining the association between prenatal exposure to depression and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and children's emotional behavior. Prenatal data was collected from mothers during their third trimester of pregnancy, and postpartum. We are now bringing children back into the lab at 5-7 years old to examine the long-term effects of these prenatal exposures on affective development. This study is in the data analysis phase, and is a collaboration with the New York State Psychiatric Institute and the department of Child Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center.

This is a study in the data analysis stage that recruited previously instituionalized and domestically adopted children and comparisons between the ages of 5- 17 years old. The goal of the study was to better understand how early social experiences influence emotional health. We aimed to study children and adolescents as well as their parents. This project used a combination of functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) neuroimaging, physiological, and behavioral methods to examine how early social environments scaffold and modulate neural systems involved in emotional learning. Participation included two in-lab visits at Columbia University where biological and physiological measures were taken, questionnaires and interviews were completed, and fMRI protocols were conducted. A follow-up memory test occurred one week after the fMRI scan.

A sub-study of the ELFK study, this is a study in the analysis stage that recruited 2-4 year old children who were adopted, born in the US, or born in another country and are now living in the US. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in shaping socio-emotional development. We were particularly interested in studying whether orphanage rearing affects the gut microflora of developing individuals and whether rearing- induced gut alterations moderate associations between rearing and brain development. To this effect, parents were asked to collect stool and saliva samples from their children as well as fill out food diaries and medication health questionnaires.

This is a longitudinal study that examined neuro-affective development across childhood to adolescence following both typical and atypical caregiving experiences. Internationally adopted youth with history of institutional care and comparison youth participated in study sessions that measured affective behavior (e.g. tasks, questionnaires), physiology (e.g. cortisol), and neurobiological development (functional and structural MRI). The study was conducted with an accelerated longitudinal design, with a wide age range at baseline (3-16 years old). Participants completed up to 3 waves of data collection that occurred at two year intervals. The SB Study is in the data analysis stage.