Research at the D&P Lab focuses on the transactional nature through which children’s interactions with their family, community and culture can shape the course of development. Specifically, we are interested in how the integration of biological, psychological and environmental factors can inform our understanding of the development of memory and self among children.   Guiding our research is a developmental psychopathology perspective, which emphasizes the interface between normal and atypical development.   As such, our research focuses on at-risk populations including children from low-income families and children from maltreating families.   Our research integrates methods from cognitive, developmental, and clinical psychology, and utilizes a multiple-levels-of analysis approach towards the study of child development and child psychopathology

Current projects include:

1. An investigation of autobiographical memory, trauma, executive functions and psychopathology among inpatient school-aged children
2. An investigation of mother-child reminiscing in relation to autobiographical memory and self development among low SES pre-school aged children and their mothers.
3. A pilot study testing a brief intervention for maltreated preschool-aged children and their mothers
4. An investigation of the roles of cognitive and behavioral inhibition in relation to overgeneral autobiographical memory among depressed and nondepressed college-aged students
5. A longitudinal study of the effects of maternal history of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on the birth outcomes and early development of infants from low-income families
6. An investigation of the neurobiological correlates of overgeneral autobiographical memory