We are an interdisciplinary team of scientists
We use the tools of social cognition, physiology, and neuroscience to understand how people experience emotions in their own bodies, see them in others, and how these processes contribute to social behavior, well-being, and health across the lifespan.
Current Lab Members
Lab Director
Kristen Lindquist, Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina, where she is Director of the Carolina Affective Science Lab and the Social Psychology Graduate Program. She is also a faculty member in the Developmental Psychology Graduate Program and the Human Neuroimaging Group in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience and the Biomedical Research Imaging Center and the Neurobiology Curriculum in the School of Medicine.
Dr. Lindquist received her Ph.D. in Psychology from Boston College and was a postdoctoral fellow in the Harvard University Mind/Brain/Behavior Initiative prior to joining the faculty at UNC.
Postdoctoral fellows
Junqiang (Jacob) Dai, PhD., is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. He received his Ph.D. in developmental psychology at Pennsylvania State University before coming to UNC. Jacob is interested in the role of puberty in the development of neural mechanisms underlying face processing and social development in adolescence.
Jessica S. Flannery, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. She received her Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience at Florida International University before coming to UNC. Jessica is interested in studying individual differences in social and affective neurocognitive mechanisms during the critical developmental period of adolescence. She aims to leverage longitudinal neuroimaging data to identify antecedents and consequences of substance use. Jessica is a National Institutes of Health Post-doctoral Fellow.
Graduate students
Adrienne Bonar, M.A., is a fifth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. She studies how variation in body states and neural networks underlying emotion shape emotional experiences across the lifespan (i.e., adolescence to late adulthood). She is also interested in how sociocultural beliefs and structural inequities influence the experience of emotion. To explore these questions, Adrienne uses methods from affective neuroscience, psychophysiology, psychoneuroimmunology, and social psychology. Adrienne is a UNC Royster Society Fellow and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.
Mallory Feldman, M.A., is a sixth year Ph.D candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. She is interested in how social others scaffold basic psychophysiological processes underlying emotional experience and embodied aspects of mind. Mallory is a National Institutes of Health Pre-doctoral Fellow.
Natalie Frye, M.A., is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. She is interested in the network neuroscience of emotion, the change in neural networks across development, and implications for mental health. Natalie is the lab Science Outreach Coordinator.
Ruofan Ma, M.A., is a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. She is interested taking a lifespan apporach to understand how interoception contributes to individuals' perception of the self and others, and in turn, influences social decision-making processes. As a clinical psychology student, she is also interested in how these processes contribute to mental health outcomes, and she always aims to promote mental health equity with her research. Her training has been supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Doctoral Foreign Study Award (DFSA).
Michelle Shipkova, M.A., is a third year Ph.D. student in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at the University of North Carolina. She is interested in how individual differences in representations of body states and concept knowledge contribute to the development of emotion and are impacted by early life experiences. Michelle is a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow.
Project Coordinators
Sarah Albani (she/her), B.S., is a Project Coordinator working on our NIDA-supported study of social affective processing, social context, and health risk behaviors in childhood and adolescence. She graduated from Michigan State University in 2022 with a B.S. in Neuroscience and a minor in Leadership of Organizations. Sarah is interested in learning how social and environmental stressors affect emotional regulation, resilience and mental well-being. She plans on pursuing these interests through a PhD in Clinical Psychology. In her free time, she enjoys spending time with friends, being outdoors, and getting a good cup of coffee.
Juan Bellassai (he/him), M.A., is a Project Coordinator working on our NIDA-supported study of social affective processing, social context, and health risk behaviors in childhood and adolescence. He is from Asuncion, Paraguay and graduated from Brown University with a B.A in Biology in 2019 and a Masters in Psychology from the The New School for Social Research in 2022. Juan is interested in studying how social media plays a role in the development of psychopathology in teens and young adults with the goal of developing preventative and intervention methods. He plans on pursuing these interests through a PhD in Clinical Psychology. In his free time he enjoys reading, running, and exploring the local concert scene.
Ashley Slocum (she/her), B.S., is a Project Coordinator working on our NIDA-supported study of social affective processing, social context, and health risk behaviors in childhood and adolescence. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2022 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in English. She previously worked as a research intern for the Triangle Center for Behavioral Health investigating neurodevelopmental disorders in adolescents. She is interested in learning how youth experience with children’s literature affects emotional socialization and neurodevelopment. She plans on pursuing a PhD in Clinical Psychology and working with children. In her free time, she is illustrating a children’s book and enjoys reading, cooking, and running with her dog, Amber.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Dujana Buheis
Grace Chow
Elizabeth Esterov
Jennifer Fan
Mia Foglesong
Nikia Friday
Adelaide Harper
Victoria Jacksin
Emma Kitchens
Yijing Lin
Keyan Lin
Aleya Monslave
Bailey Smith
Zhou Yun Song
Carson St. Denis
alumni
Former graduate students
Gabriella Alvarez, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh
C. Daryl Cameron, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University
Cameron Doyle, Ph.D., Quantitative UX Researcher, Meta Platforms Inc.
Kent Lee, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, Northeastern University
Joseph Leshin, PhD., Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Psychology, Northeastern University
Jennifer MacCormack, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Virginia
Joshua Jackson, PhD., Assistant Professor, Department of Behavioral Science, University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Elise Rice, Ph.D., Program Officer, Division of Behavioral and Social Research, National Institute on Aging
Holly Shablack, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Cognitive and Behavioral Science, Washington and Lee University
Former Undergraduate and post-bacc Research assistants
Aya Avishai, PhD., Quantitative UX Researcher, Meta Platforms, Inc.
Conrad Baldner, PhD., Assistant Professor, Sapienza University of Rome
Adrienne Bonar, PhD Student, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Jeffrey Brooks, PhD., Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, Berkeley; Research Scientist, Hume AI
Maleah “MJ” Carter, Intramural Research Training Award Research Fellow, National Institute of Mental Health
Mary Cox, PhD student, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
Cameron Doyle, Ph.D., Quantitative UX Researcher, Meta Platforms, Inc.
Srishti Goel, PhD student, Department of Psychology, Yale University
Anika Khan, PhD, Clinical Postdoctoral Fellow, Pediatric Anxiety and Treatment Center at Hall-Mercer, University of Pennsylvania
Ava Liccione, Project Manager, Health and Human Performance Lab, Carnegie Mellon
Jingyi Luo, MPhil student, Department of Psychology, Hong Kong University
Courtney Medina, PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh
Heather Ortega, PhD student, Department of Neuroscience, Yale University School of Medicine
Michael Parrish, Ph.D., Prisma Health, University of South Carolina
John Redhead, Research Assistant, Medical School of South Carolina
Jared Scruggs, PhD student, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Maria Sobrino, PhD student, Department of Psychology, CUNY
Andrea Stein, PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin
Natasha Vernooij, PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of Michigan
Justin Wahlers, PhD student, Department of Psychology, University of Alabama
Gary Wilkins, PhD student, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University