2022-23 Department of Psychology Colloquium Series -- Stefanie Sequeira (Brown University)

Stefanie Sequeira Brown University “Multimethod Approaches to Studying the Development of Social Threat and Reward Processes during Adolescence” Adolescence is a period of substantial biopsychosocial development marked by complex social relationships and heightened risk for psychopathology, including anxiety disorders. Adolescents are highly sensitive to social threat (e.g., not getting invited to a party) and reward (e.g., receiving a "like" on Instagram), and the impact of social threat and reward on mental health has become a topic of greater concern with the proliferation of social media. In this talk, I will outline my multidisciplinary program of research that seeks to characterize biobehavioral social threat and reward processes in adolescence, as well as identify how these processes contribute to anxiety. First, I will describe my research linking brain function and real-world social behavior to study reactivity to social threat and reward. Next, I will discuss my work linking social anxiety to heightened reactivity to both social threat and reward, emphasizing the importance of considering reward when studying anxiety. Finally, I will highlight future directions for my research, including leveraging intensive longitudinal designs to: 1) understand how neural and behavioral social reward processes develop during adolescence, and 2) clarify the role of social reward in the etiology and treatment of anxiety disorders. Thursday, February 2, 2023 11:00am -12:00pm 490 Gilmer Academic Commons