Biography

Margaret Sheridan, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley in Clinical Psychology. The goal of her research is to better understand the neural underpinnings of the development of cognitive control across childhood (from 5-18 years of age) and to understand how disruption in this process results in psychopathology. In particular she studies how experiences of adversity shift brain development to lead to risk for psychopathology. Her research uses multimethod tools including longitudinal assessments, fMRI, EEG, and psychophysiology. Dr. Sheridan is the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholar award and her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, NSF, Robert Wood Johnson, Dubai Cares, and NC TraCs. Dr Sheridan has published extensively, with over 80 publications and book chapters.

3-005 - RDoC: A Lens for Understanding Changes in Adolescent Brain and Behavior

Session Type: Invited Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

From suicidal ideation to delinquent behavior, Adolescence is a period where risk for psychopathology and associated behaviors increases dramatically. This uptick in psychopathology is linked to developmental shifts in the underlying cognitive, emotional, and social lives of adolescents. Increasingly sophisticated research in adolescent development has identified change in neural, physiological, and behavioral function and interactions across these levels of analysis during adolescence. In this symposium we examine adolescent functioning across several levels of analysis in four RDoC domains: Positive Valence Systems, Negative Valence Systems, Cognitive Processes, and Social Processes. Each talk will use multilevel measurement within one domain to link adolescent development to brain, behavioral, and interpersonal processes underlying risk for psychopathology. Across the talks we will identify specific within domain processes which are most relevant to better understanding and treating adolescent mental health.

Sub Unit

• SRA Invited Program and Special Events

Chair

• Margaret A. Sheridan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Individual Presentations

• Cognitive Processes: The Impact of Early Exposures on the Development of Complex Cognition in Adolescence - Presenting Author: Margaret A. Sheridan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Developmental Shifts in Using Reward Cues to Guide Goal-directed Behavior - Presenting Author: Leah H. Somerville, Harvard University

• Childhood Trauma Exposure and Negative Valence Systems in Adolescence - Presenting Author: Kate McLaughlin, University of Washington

• Social Processes Shape the Adolescent Brain - Presenting Author: Eva H. Telzer, University of North Carolina

• Risk and Resilience Mechanisms Underlying Dimensions of Psychopathology During Adolescence - Presenting Author: Amanda E. Guyer, University of California Davis