PROGRAM OF RESEARCH

Doctoral Milestones

Dissertation

• Title: Normative range parenting & the developing brain: Investigating the functional & structural neural correlates of parenting in the absence of trauma.

• Proposal Date: March 2020

• Defense Date: April 2021

Master’s Thesis

• Title: Normal range parenting and the developing brain: A scoping review of the literature.

• Defense Date: April 2018

Publications

1. Farber, M.J., Gee, D.G., Hariri, A.R. (In press). Normative range parenting and the developing brain: a scoping review and recommendations for future research. Eur. J. Neurosci.

2. Gold, A.L., Abend, R., Britton, J.C., Behrens, B., Farber, M.J., Ronkin, E., Leibenluft, E., Pine, D.S. (2020). Age differences in the neural correlates of anxiety disorders: An fMRI study of response to learned threat. Am J Psych.

3. Kim, M.J., Farber, M.J., Knodt, A.R., Hariri, A.R. (2019). Corticolimbic Circuit Structure Moderates an Association Between Early Life Stress and Later Trait Anxiety. Neuroimage: Clinical.

4. Farber, M.J., Romer, A.R., Knodt, A.R., Hariri, A.R. (2019). Maternal Overprotection in Childhood is Associated with Amygdala Reactivity and Structural Connectivity in Adulthood. Dev Cog Neuro.

5. Farber, M.J., Romer, A.R., Kim, M.J., Knodt, A.R., Elsayed, N.M., Williamson, D.E., Hariri, A.R. (2018). Paradoxical Associations Between Higher Familial Warmth, Lower Stress, and Increased Amygdala Reactivity to Interpersonal Threat. Emotion.

6. Gold, A. L., Shechner, T., Farber, M. J., Spiro, C. N., Leibenluft, E., Pine, D. S. and Britton, J. C. (2016), Amygdala–Cortical Connectivity: Associations with Anxiety, Development, and Threat. Depress Anxiety, 33: 917–926.

7. Dorfman, J., Benson, B., Farber, M., Pine, D., & Ernst, M. (2016). Altered striatal intrinsic functional connectivity in pediatric anxiety. Neuropsychologia, 85, 159–168.

Invited Talks

Society for Psychophysiological Research (Symposium) :

October 2018 | Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Diathesis Stress Across the Lifespan: Measuring Markers of Risk for Psychopathology from Infancy to Adulthood. “Parental Control, Amygdala-Prefrontal Circuitry, and Future Mood”

Presentations

• Pandya, U., Farber, M.J., Daffre, C., Strauman, T.J., Brewster, A.B. (2020, August). Neural markers of metacognition before and after “curriculum as intervention”. Poster presented at Duke University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Vertical Integration Program culminating meeting, Durham, NC.

• Zucker, N., Rivera-Cancel, A., Datta, N., Erwin, S., Nicholas, J., Caldwell, K.A., Ives, L., Romer, A., Marsan, S., Farber, M.J., Maslow, G. (2020, May). Feeling and Body Investigators: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Treatment for Young Children with Functional Abdominal Pain. Poster presented at Annals of Behavioral Medicine, Remote Meeting due to COVID-19.

• Paschall, K.A., Farber, M.J., Cooke, M.E. (2019, August). Associations Among Conscientiousness, Actual Stress, and Perceived Stress. Poster presented at Duke University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Vertical Integration Program culminating meeting, Durham, NC.

• Jackson, S.K., Farber, M.J., Strauman, T.J. (2018, August). Like Mother. Like Child? The Role of Maternal Depression on Future Child Internalizing Symptoms. Poster presented at Duke University, Department of Psychology & Neuroscience, Vertical Integration Program culminating meeting, Durham, NC.

• Farber, M.J., Romer, A.L., Elliott, M.L., Radtke, S.R., Knodt, A.R., Hariri, A.R. (2017, May). Family functioning and amygdala reactivity to threat: affective responsiveness as a protective buffer. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Sciences and Cognitive Therapies 29th Annual Meeting, Boston, MA.

• Farber, M.J., Gold, A.L., Averbeck, B., Shechner, T.S., Britton, J.C., Pine, D.S. (2016, June). Using computational modeling to assess fear learning in pediatric anxiety disorders. Presented at NIMH intramural group meeting, Emotion and Development Branch, Bethesda, MD.

• Farber, M.J., Gold, A.L., Ronkin, E., Britton, J.C., Leibenluft, E., Pine, D.S. (2015, Nov). Threat appraisal during extinction recall in pediatric and adult anxiety disorders: an fMRI replication study. Poster presented at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies 49th Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL.

• Farber, M. J (2013, Nov). The negative side effects of atypical antipsychotics. Poster presented at the Cornell Undergraduate Research Board 3rd Annual Fall Research Forum, Ithaca, NY. 

Current Research

Under the mentorship of Ahmad Hariri and Tim Strauman, I am investigating the impact of normative variability in parenting on neurodevelopment. I am currently focused on how parental care and protection may differentially impact amygdala response to threat in adolescence. Moving forward, I intend to examine this question more broadly, exploring the wide-spread neural circuitry impacted by various early parenting styles. My hope is to bring a cognitive neuroscience foundation to the parenting literature.

Under the mentorship of Tim Strauman and Ann Brewster, I engage in research investigating two parallel processes: (1) effectiveness of a school-based “curriculum as intervention” in fostering adolescent mental health, specifically in high school students at-risk of suspension and drop-out, and (2) functional neural changes resulting from learned metacognitive strategies in high school students pre and post “curriculum as intervention”. Within this group, I also provide mentorship to undergraduate research assistants through all stages of research process from study design through conference presentations and work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary research team of clinical and educational psychologists.

Previous Research

In Danny Pine’s lab, I engaged in translational research investigating the neurobiology of pediatric and adolescent anxiety disorders. I was the lead Post-baccalaureate Fellow on two primary research projects: (1) a fear conditioning and extinction recall functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in anxious and non-anxious youths and adults, and (2) an fMRI study examining functional connectivity at rest in anxious and non-anxious children. Working in Danny's lab initiated my interest in clinical neuroscience.

In Tamar Kushnir's lab, I studied mechanisms of causal and conceptual learning in young children. During my two years in the ECCL, I gained essential & basic research skills via recruitment, screening and scheduling, and data acquisition. During my senior year, I co-lead a project investigating the language preschoolers use to describe causal events. It was through this lab that I discovered my enthusiasm for working with children.