Dr. Adriana Galván is a Professor of Psychology at UCLA whose expertise is in adolescent brain development. She received her B.A. from Barnard College, Columbia University and her PhD in Neuroscience from Cornell. She is the Director of the Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory. The focus of her research is on characterizing the neural mechanisms underlying adolescent behavior with an eye towards informing policy (e.g. juvenile justice). Her research is generously funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH), National Science Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, Russell Sage Foundation, Jacobs Foundation, and the William T. Grant Foundation.

Using a multimodal approach that combines brain imaging, task-based behavior, physiological assays, and daily diary methods, her current research address the following questions: 1) How do neurodevelopmental changes in cortical and striatal systems subserve characteristic adolescent behaviors, including decision making, reward sensitivity and risk-taking, and learning? 2) What is the role of context in dynamic behavioral and neurobiological changes across adolescence?; and 3) How do neural changes differ between typically and atypically developing adolescents?

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