Department Of Psychology And Human Development

By Jenna Somers Almost anyone who starts a new job reads training and policy documents as part of an on-boarding process. They might peruse the assigned reading to check the right boxes, but how much are they really learning in the process? How can employers verify learning from training materials… Read More

At Vanderbilt, research doesn’t just live in the lab. It moves into the world in the shape of new tools, treatments and technologies that improve lives, support communities and expand what’s possible. Read More

Key Takeaways: Vanderbilt has launched a new Quantitative Methods and Data Analytics for Human Behavior M.S. program. Students who earn the degree will have in-demand skills to be competitive across a range of industries. Apply early to take advantage of priority decision benefits: Priority Decision 1: January 3,… Read More

By Jenna Somers In daily conversations, most people are not aware of the complex brain processes taking place that make their conversations possible. However, understanding these processes could improve how AI communicates with people and how students learn at school. A new study aims to shed light on these processes,… Read More

Salvatore Falletta (submitted photo) Warren Lowell (Vanderbilt University) Amy Owen Michelle Perdomo Douglas Ribeiro (Vanderbilt University) Jonathan Seiden… Read More

By Jenna Somers   Families interested in enrolling their children in this study should contact the research team at vuhandsonplaylab@gmail.com or (615) 343-1079. Down syndrome, the most common chromosomal cause of cognitive disability, affects approximately one in 700 live births. Scientists have known the genetic etiology of Down syndrome for… Read More

By Jenna Somers After a hard day of work, a parent reading a bedtime story to their child might feel too tired and stressed to think of questions that could spark insightful conversations about the story with their child. But these conversations—which scholars call dialogic reading—are critical to literacy development. Read More

Meet some of Vanderbilt's newest faculty as they explain why Vanderbilt is the right academic home for them. Read More

By Jenna Somers Key Takeaways Researchers uncovered new personality traits and developed a new personality hierarchy using novel data science methods in taxonomic graph analysis (TGA). TGA could lead to a more precise understanding of personality and classifications in psychopathology. The researchers’ TGA method builds personality hierarchies from the bottom… Read More

A recent study out of Vietnam, published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology, offers important insights into how culture effects adolescents’ aggressive responses to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). ACEs include child abuse and neglect, exposure to domestic violence, and other such damaging experiences. The study focused on the… Read More

The Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, in partnership with the Vanderbilt Postdoctoral Association, announced the 2025 award winners at the Spring Postdoc Awards Ceremony on May 21. The event highlighted the vital contributions that postdocs make across various disciplines at the university.   Read More

Vanderbilt has announced eleven awardees in the latest round of its Innovation Catalyst Fund, an initiative that supports translational research that has promising commercial potential. Read More

by Jenna Somers Jessika Boles After consulting with the palliative care team, Jessika Boles, MEd’08, found herself speaking with a mother about honoring her daughter’s legacy. “One of the ways we can do that is through handprint art, since handprints and fingerprints are unique to each person. Would you… Read More

By Jenna Somers When parents need answers about their child’s cognitive and emotional development or mental health, they may first ask the child’s pediatrician or a specialist. The parents may find the help they seek, or the doctor might say something like, “The research isn’t clear on that yet.” Scientific… Read More

by Jenna Somers When a first grader has a spelling test on a Friday, they probably understand that the more they study throughout the week, the better they’ll perform on the test. They also probably understand that if they only study on Monday, then by Friday, they may not remember… Read More

The third annual Honors Banquet commemorated excellence in academics, leadership and innovation among Graduate School students and faculty. On March 20, the banquet was held to honor and reflect on remarkable achievements in research and creative expression from the more than 50 graduate programs and departments represented in the Graduate School. Read More

Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development’s expertise in designing and offering gifted education was highlighted in March when Peabody Global Initiatives and Chris Vanags, director of the Peabody Research Office, hosted a pair of Japanese visiting researchers. Hirokazu Kumazaki, professor in the Department of Neuropsychiatry at… Read More

Kathleen Hoover-Dempsey Kathleen Virginia Hoover-Dempsey, 82, passed away on March 24, 2025. She joined Peabody College in 1973 as professor of psychology and retired in 2013 as professor of psychology, emerita. During her career, she served several years as chair of the Department of Psychology and Human Development and as… Read More

In two recent studies funded by the National Institutes of Health, moderate-severe TBI was associated with difficulties in communication, namely remembering spoken language and integrating information in gesture with speech. Both impairments can inhibit a person’s ability to understand and effectively communicate with others, but the research teams hope the studies’ findings could pave the way for improved therapies and assessments to help people with TBI communicate more easily in their daily lives. Read More

By Jenna Somers Many young children struggle in math due to difficulty in understanding place value and calculating with two-digit numbers. But would the burden of learning these foundational concepts ease if they were introduced to children through the fun of playing a board game? A multi-institutional research team, including… Read More