Welcome!

The NEST (Neuroscience and Experience of Social Transitions) Lab is in the Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia.

Human minds are incredibly flexible. We can remember our own pasts, consider others’ feelings, imagine new events, communicate through language, control impulses, and the list goes on! Our capacities for these functions are also not exactly the same throughout our lives. Some periods feature both greater evidence of change and higher risk for the emergence of clinical symptoms that might impact our cognitive experiences.

In NEST Lab, we want to know how the human brain supports complex cognitive functions to better understand why human minds are both flexible and vulnerable to psychopathology. We use precision neuroscience methods (e.g., repeated MRI scanning) to examine the organization and functions of large-scale brain networks and precision behavioral methods (e.g., remote ambulatory and ecological momentary assessments) to characterize objective and subjective measures of cognition. We use these techniques to ask foundational questions about networks and more exploratory questions about change.

We are particularly interested in timeframes that feature big social transitions, coinciding with other (biological, behavioral, cognitive) changes and psychopathology risks, with particular focus on matrescence and adolescence. Our lab name captures core aspects of our research program and also relates to these two interesting windows: metaphorical preparation of a nest (matrescence) and to leave a nest (adolescence).

We are actively recruiting graduate students and a postdoc. Please see the For Applicants page for more details.