Psychology And Human Development

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 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

By Jenna Somers Autumn Kujawa Children of parents with depression are two to three times more likely to develop anxiety and depressive disorders than children whose parents never experience depression, and some evidence indicates that these effects are particularly pronounced for maternal depression. That’s according to researchers at Pennsylvania… Read More

By Jenna Somers A recent study finds that Black high-school students tend not to believe that their teachers are adequately prepared to teach them math in appropriate ways, have negative perceptions of their math ability, and lack awareness about the intersection between math and their desired careers. Published in… Read More

By Jenna Somers Kathryn Humphreys During pregnancy, the body undergoes dramatic physical changes. However, how brain structure and function change is not well understood. A new study aims to shed light on these changes and their potential effects on mental health throughout the peripartum period, the time during pregnancy… Read More

By Jenna Somers Scholars at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development travel across oceans and borders to answer pressing questions on improving the human condition, a mission shared by scholars the world over who collaborate in partnership with Peabody. To strengthen this mission and advance Peabody’s global… Read More

In May, the Nashville Partnership for Education Equity Research—a collaboration between Metro Nashville Public Schools and Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development—hosted its inaugural research symposium at the MNPS Martin Center for Professional Development. The symposium included poster presentations on research projects to improve equity outcomes… Read More

Ten faculty members from Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development were awarded global engagement funding for the current and upcoming academic year from the Office of Global Engagement. These awards reflect Peabody’s commitment to worldwide collaboration that enhances learning and development in diverse contexts and translates… Read More

By Jenna Somers Alex Christensen Eric Wilkey Alex Christensen and Eric Wilkey, assistant professors of psychology and human development, are emerging leaders in the psychological sciences, strengthening Vanderbilt’s expertise in data science and the neuroscience of mathematical learning,… Read More

LIVE, the Learning Innovation Incubator at Vanderbilt University, has awarded the inaugural LIVE Spark Grants to three interdisciplinary teams innovating cutting-edge learning technologies that leverage AI to advance literacy, music education and aid in the care of people with dementia. Selected from a strong pool of applicants,… Read More

Could unlocking metacognitive skills be the key to math motivation in middle school? Teachers across the globe face the same challenge – how to make math not just bearable, but exciting. Research shows that in middle school, motivation for math in students starts to decline. But at the same time,… Read More

By Jenna Somers Autumn Kujawa A five-year, nearly $3.6 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health will support Autumn Kujawa, associate professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, and her team in examining changes in brain… Read More

By Jenna Somers Sophia Vinci-Booher A three-year, $1.6 million grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development will support Sophia Vinci-Booher, assistant professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development, and her team in evaluating brain development… Read More

By Jenna Somers ChatGPT is here to stay, and educators need to adapt to their students using it—at least, that’s what news headlines have suggested for almost a year following ChatGPT’s unveiling. Much of the coverage has given voice to worries about the possibility that AI will hinder learning… Read More

The Peabody Scholars program gives exceptional undergraduate students at Vanderbilt Peabody College of education and human development the opportunity to contribute to the betterment of society through collaborations with organizations around the world in the form of summer service projects. These projects reflect the program’s larger mission to… Read More

By Jenna Somers Krista Mehari Youth violence prevention researcher Krista Mehari joined Vanderbilt University Peabody College of education and human development in May as assistant professor of psychology and human development. As a community-based researcher, Mehari works with schools, police departments, local businesses, and organizations to understand… Read More

By Jenna Somers Lisa Fazio A study recently published in Psychological Science reveals that when people repeatedly encounter headlines about corporate wrongdoing, they view the wrongdoing as less unethical and are more likely to believe the headlines are true. Social media can cause scandalous news to go viral in… Read More

Kathryn Humphreys, associate professor of psychology and human development at Vanderbilt Peabody College, has won a 2023 Early Career Impact Award from the Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences. Read More

By Jenna Somers Autumn Kujawa A recent study published in Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology demonstrates that measures of brain function related to emotional processing in adolescents with depression could improve predictions of treatment outcomes in response to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Adolescents whose electroencephalogram (EEG) scans… Read More

By Jenna Somers Kaylin Hill, Ph.D. Postdoctoral scholar Kaylin Hill has received a K23 Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Mental Health. The five-year grant exceeding $900,000 will support Hill’s research into the neurobehavioral pathway from depression in mothers and birthing parents to… Read More