Research Methods
To examine the neural basis of social cognition in infancy and how these processes relate to later outcomes, our lab’s work combine MRI and EEG techniques with rich behavioral methods. Infant neuroimaging work is resource-intensive. Thus, our ongoing research in this area prioritizes collaborating with groups that have established large infant neuroimaging datasets, synthetic cohort methods, & collecting new imaging data.
Our lab participates in several MRI 'big data' initiatives including ENIGMA, the HEALthy Brain and Child Development Study, and the Baby Connectome Project. We are committed to producing generalizable and replicable results and transparency of our methods.
Another key priority for our ongoing work is integrating EEG and fMRI data. EEG is among the best tolerated methods for assessing brain function in infants. In comparison, for fMRI, resting state (i.e., a measure of intrinsic functional connectivity) is the best tolerated measure of brain activity in infants. Yet, we know relatively little about the link between these resting state networks (as assessed with fMRI) and brain function during tasks. Ongoing projects examine associations between measures from these two modalities.
