Jennifer Silvers, PhD
University of California, Los Angeles
Dr. Silvers is an Associate Professor at UCLA, where she holds the Bernice Wenzel and Wendell Jeffrey Term Chair in Developmental Neuroscience. Dr. Silvers completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Virginia, her Ph.D. at Columbia University, and her postdoctoral training at Columbia University. Dr. Silvers’ lab at UCLA uses behavioral, immunological, and neuroscientific techniques to examine emotional and cognitive development from childhood to young adulthood. Dr. Silvers’ research is particularly focused on the developmental building blocks that give rise to emotion regulation and decision making, and how social experiences (especially early in life) shape these features of development. Dr. Silvers is currently funded by the NSF and NIH, and has received early career awards from APA, APS, Flux, ISDP, NSF, and SRCD.
Impacts of experience on adolescent neurodevelopment
The brain’s tendency to respond adaptively to environmental inputs is a key feature of human development. In this talk, I will describe current research directions in my lab centered on how variations in experience – especially early caregiving adversity and social relationships – shape brain and behavioral development during adolescence. First, I will describe basic research elucidating how experiences fuel cognitive and affective neurodevelopment during adolescence, with a focus on emotion regulation and decision making. Second, I will outline ongoing efforts to identify and act upon modifiable mechanisms that can promote healthy adolescent development.