Research Experience

Ph.D. Dissertation

Maternal Interactions and Stressful Events: Autobiographical Memory Development in Children Post-COVID-19

Aim 1: Acute and chronic stressors may affect a mother's well-being. This paper will examine if chronic stress moderates the relation between an acute stressor and maternal mental and physiological well-being in an at-risk sample.

Aim 2: A mother's well-being may also relate to how she interacts with her child. This paper will investigate if a mother's mental well-being is associated with how sensitive and elaborative she is while reminiscing on past memories with her child. Additionally, this paper will examine if the mothers sensitivity and elaboration relate to a child's autobiographical recall.

Aim 3: Finally, acute stressors may also affect the child. This final paper will examine the relation between an acute stressor and the child's autobiographical recall, while also examining if a mother's sensitivity and elaboration during reminiscing can buffer the effects of acute stress on child memory.

Ongoing Projects

My Role: Behavioral and Sleep Assessor

Parents Advancing Toddler Health

This study seeks to determine which parent coaching programs are the most engaging and helpful for families whose toddlers have sleep and behavior problems.English and Spanish-speaking parents receive one of three possible parent coaching programs: sleep, behavior, or safety. Over the course of a year, parents participate in weekly video calls for the parent coaching program for two months, plus four research video calls.

My Role: Primary Investigator

Study of Autobiographical Memory

Through questionnaires, behavioral assessments, and physiological data collection, this study seeks to understand how strain on the family during the COVID-19 pandemic relates to child memory development and how maternal interactions and child biological stress may function as protective and risk factors, respectively.

Former Projects

My Role: First Author

Early Biological and Environmental Correlates of School Readiness

This study investigates the early correlates of school readiness by considering both environmental influences and biological factors. Several measures of SES, maternal caregiving style, and biological stress were tested as correlates of academic competence. Manuscript is currently under review by Early Childhood Research Quarterly

My Role: First Author

Neural Correlates of Emotion Regulation

This study utilized a pre-existing longitudinal dataset to investigate the early neural correlates of emotion regulation in early- to mid-childhood. Analyses included a region-of-interest investigation and an exploratory whole-brain vertex-by-vertex analysis. Manuscript is published in Developmental Psychobiology.

My Role: Primary Investigator

Consequences of Unsolicited Advice in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Therapist and Client Collaboration was coded in the three minutes prior to and after unsolicited advice was offered by the therapist. Changes in therapist-client collaboration and the role of therapist and client attachment styles were analyzed. Findings were published in Counseling Psychology Quarterly.

My Role: Project Coordinator

Hippocampal Development and Sleep-Dependent Memory Consolidation

This study examined whether maturation of memory-related brain structures (specifically, the hippocampus) results in more information being retained without interference, reducing the need for frequent consolidation, which underlies the transition out of naps.

My Role: Physiological Data Processor (EEG & HRA/RSA)

Neurocognitive Development of Infants in South Africa

This project uses EEG measures of brain activity and eye-tracking measures to assess the neurocognitive development of infants in rural South Africa. Infants are enrolled in the project at birth, and we will assess them at ages 6, 15, and 24 months. Ultimately, the study will characterize pattens of neural and cognitive development in this population, as well as examining whether an early intervention program improves these neurocognitive outcomes.

My Role: Research Assistant

Hippocampal Memory Development

This multimodal and longitudinal study examined the structural and functional development of brain regions known to play an important role in memory during childhood.