A Short Biography:

Dr. Silvers studies the neural bases of emotion regulation in children, adolescents and young adults using functional neuroimaging methods. Her research is focused on how interactions between the lateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex and subcortical structures involved in emotion and learning, such as the amygdala and ventral striatum, develop across the lifespan. Dr. Silvers and her lab are currently pursuing three lines of research. First, they are examining how prefrontal-subcortical interactions vary as a function of age and individual differences and how such variability relates to emotion regulatory ability. To do this work, Silvers employs neuroimaging and behavioral measures and examines age effects using cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches. Second, Silvers is assessing how parents influence the development of neural circuits involved in fear learning. This work is being done both by exploring the effects of parental deprivation in early in life (i.e., in children who were initially reared in orphanages) and also by testing how parents model fear and anxiety behavior for their children. Third, she is conducting work to examine how activation of brain regions involved in emotion generation and regulation during childhood may predict mental and physical health outcomes including obesity and anxiety.