Affective processing

Affective processing in adolescence

Adolescence and early adulthood are important times in the development of emotional processes. Challenges with emotional processing during adolescence can be associated with the development of psychopathology, substance abuse, and risky behavior. In collaboration with Dr. Tara Chaplin and the Youth Emotions Lab we are examining development and gender differences in emotional processing during adolescence. We are particularly interested in the role that relationships between teens and their parents and friends play in the development of brain processes that underlie healthy emotional expression and regulation.

Recent Publications:

Hansen A, Turpyn CC, Mauro K, Thompson JC, Chaplin TM. (2019). Adolescent Brain Response to Reward Is Associated with a Bias toward Immediate Reward. Dev Neuropsychol. 10, 1-12. doi: 10.1080/87565641.2019.1636798.

Turpyn CC, Niehaus C, Faundez F, Thompson JC, Chaplin TM (2020). Maternal Neurobiological Processing of Negative Adolescent Stimuli: Relations With Positive Parenting and Relationship Quality. Journal of Research on Adolescence 30, 458-471.

Gonçalves SF, Turpyn CC, Niehaus CE, Mauro KL, Hinagpis CL, Thompson JC, Chaplin TM (2021). Neural Activation to Loss and Reward Among Alcohol Naive Adolescents Who Later Initiate Alcohol Use. Dev Cog Neurosci, Aug;50:100978.

Stress, emotions and impulsive behaviors

The CSNG also is a close collaborator with Dr. Sarah Fischer and the GMU Impulse Lab. Together, we investigate brain processes involved in the relationship between stress, emotional responses, and pathological behaviors such as binge eating, bulimia nervosa, and alcohol abuse. In this collaboration, we use lab based measures, neuroimaging, and ecological momentary assessment (EMA). We are also interested in using network-based methods to understand the relationship between stress, psychopathology, and eating disorders.

Recent Publications:

Collins B, Breithaupt L, McDowell J, Thompson JC, Fischer S. (2017). The impact of acute stress on the neural processing of food cues in bulimia nervosa: Replication in two samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology.126, 540-551.

Wonderlich, J.A., Breithaupt, L., Thompson, J.C., Crosby, R.D., Engel, S.G., Fischer, S. (2018). The impact of neural responses to food cues following stress on trajectories of negative and positive affect and binge eating in daily life. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 102, 14-22.

Westwater ML, Seidlitz J, Diederen KMJ, Fischer S, Thompson JC (2018). Associations between cortical thickness, structural connectivity and severity of dimensional bulimia nervosa symptomatology. Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. 271, 118-127.