Youth Psychosocial & Brain Development
Adolescence is a time of intense brain development in systems that support social and ethical thinking, meaning-making, and emotional feelings. It is also a time of intense social engagement, in which youths conceptualize their personal values and learnings while they navigate different cultural understandings from parents, peers, schools, and the broader society.
We study how these processes connecting adolescents’ bodily expression of emotional feelings, abstract thinking, brain development, and cultural meaning-making take place over time, how they are supported by enriching pedagogical practices and value-rich relationships, as well as how they lead to adolescents thriving.
Partners
Sages and Seekers
Collaborators/Co-Authors
Scott Barry Barry Kaufman, Oisin Butler, Joanna A. Christodoulou, Terrence W. Deacon, Larissa Del Piero Borofsky, Solange Dénervaud, Matthias Faeth, Camille Farrington, Kurt W. Fischer, Eleonora Fornari, Rebecca Gotlieb, Patric Hagmann, Elizabeth Hyde, Erik Jahner, Jonas T. Kaplan, Tami Katzir, Jean‐François Knebel, Christina Krone, Simone Kühn, Corinna Laube, Gayla Margolin, David Sander, Darby Saxbe, Vanessa Singh, Lesley Sylvan, Deborah P. Waber, Xiao-Fei Yang
Reports
Project supported by the Research: Art Works program at the National Endowment for the Arts. Sages and Seekers: Values-based life goals in intergenerational conversations increase low-SES adolescents’ life purpose and sense of community participation.
Selected Publications: Articles
Riveros, R., Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2021) Toward a Neuropsychology of Spiritual Development in Adolescence. Adolescent Research Review, 6(3), 323-332. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-021-00158-1
Gotlieb, R., Yang, X.-F., Immordino-Yang, M.H., (2021) Measuring Learning in the Blink of an Eye: Adolescents’ Neurophysiological Reactions Predict Long-Term Memory for Stories. Frontiers in Education-Educational Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2020.594668
Dénervaud, S., Fornari, E., Yang, X-F., Hagmann, P., Sander, D., Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2020). An fMRI study of error monitoring in Montessori and traditionally-schooled children. npj Science of Learning, 5(11), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41539-020-0069-6
Dénervaud, S., Knebel, J-F., Immordino-Yang, M.H., Hagmann, P. (2020). Effects of traditional versus Montessori schooling on 4 to 15-year old children’s performance monitoring. Mind, Brain and Education, 14(2), 167-175. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12233
Butler, O., Yang, X.-F., Laube, C., Kühn, S. & Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2018) Community violence exposure correlates with smaller gray matter volume and lower IQ in urban adolescents. Human Brain Mapping, 39(5), 2088-2097. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23988
Saxbe, D., Del Piero, L., Immordino-Yang, M.H., Kaplan, J., Margolin, G. (2016) Neural mediators of the intergenerational transmission of family aggression. Development and Psychopathology, 28(02), 595-606. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579415000528
Structural map of anatomical development over a two-year lag in low-SES urban community youth.
Saxbe, D., Del Piero, L., Immordino-Yang, M.H., Kaplan, J., Margolin, G. (2015) Neural correlates of adolescents’ viewing of parents’ and peers’ emotions: Associations with risk-taking behavior and risky peer affiliations. Social Neuroscience, 10(6), 592-604. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2015.1022216
Immordino-Yang, M.H., Christodoulou, J., Singh, V. (2012). Rest is not idleness: Implications of the brain’s default mode for human development and education. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(4), 352-364. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612447308
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2011, invited submission). Musings on the neurobiological and evolutionary origins of creativity via a developmental analysis of one child’s poetry. LEARNING Landscapes, 5(1), 133-139. https://doi.org/10.36510/learnland.v5i1.536
Adapted and reprinted as a feature article in: International Primary Curriculum Magazine, Issue 9, pp. 22-23, Spring 2013.
Translated into Spanish and reprinted as a feature article in: Para el Aula, Issue 6, pp.4-7, June 2013. Titled: Reflexiones acerca de los orígenes neurobiológicos.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. & Sylvan, L. (2010, invited submission). Admiration for virtue: Neuroscientific perspectives on a motivating emotion. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 35(2), 110-115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2010.03.003
Selected Publications: Chapters
Immordino-Yang, M.H & Gotlieb, R. (2020) Understanding Emotional Thought Can Transform Educators’ Understanding of How Students Learn. In Thomas, Mareschal & Dumontheil (Eds.), Educational Neuroscience: Development across the Lifespan, London, U.K.: Psychology Press (Taylor and Francis).
NOTE: French translation by Jérôme Alain Lapasset published in Unité Socio-Cognition.
Immordino-Yang, M.H (2019) Embodied brains, social minds, cultural meaning: Why emotions really matter for learning. In Liliana Landolfi (Ed.), Framing Minds: English and Affective Neurosciences. Chapter 2, Part II: Neurosciences and Emotions. (pp. 15-34) Naples, Italy: Liguori Editore.
Gotlieb, R., Hyde, E., Immordino-Yang, M.H., Kaufman, S.B. (2018) Imagination is the seed of creativity. In J. Kaufman & R. Sternberg (Eds.), Cambridge Handbook of Creativity, 2nd Ed. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. & Gotlieb, R. (2017) An evolving understanding of social emotions: A mind, brain and education perspective. In M. Schwartz & Pare-Blagoev, J. (eds.) Mind, Brain and Education. Chapter 3 (pp. 73-96) New York: Routledge.
NOTE: In progress translation into French by Jérôme Alain Lapasset for Approche Neuropsychologique des Apprentissages chez l’Enfant.
Translated into French by Jérôme Alain Lapasset published in Unité Socio-Cognition.
Translated into Spanish and republished in 2018 by the Centro de Cooperación Regional para la Educación de Adultos en América Latina y el Caribe.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2016) Foreword. In M. Conyers & D. Wilson, Smarter teacher leadership: Neuroscience and the power of purposeful collaboration. New York: Teacher’s College Press.
Gotlieb, R., Jahner, E., Immordino-Yang, M.H.¸ Kaufman, S.B. (2016) How social-emotional imagination facilitates deep learning and creativity in the classroom. In R. Beghetto & J. Kaufman (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Nurturing Creativity in the Classroom, second edition. (pp. 308-336) Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2015) Embodied brains, social minds: Toward a cultural neuroscience of social emotion. In Chiao, J., Li, S.-C., Seligman, R., Turner, R. (Eds.), Oxford Handbook of Cultural Neuroscience. Chapter 8, Part II: Cultural neuroscience of Emotion. (pp. 129-142) Oxford: U.K.: Oxford University Press.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. & Christodoulou, J.C. (2014) Neuroscientific contributions to understanding and measuring emotions in educational contexts. In R. Pekrun & L. Linnenbrink-Garcia (eds.), International handbook of emotions in education. (pp. 607-624) New York, NY: Taylor and Francis/Routledge.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2014) Foreword. S. Madrid, R. Kantor and D. Fernie (Eds.) (Re)Framing the emotional worlds of the early childhood classroom. (pp. xi-xii) Routledge Press.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2014) Developing Computer Interfaces that Inspire: Insights from affective neuroscience. In R. Calvo and D. Peters (Eds.), Positive Computing: Technology for well-being and human potential. (pp. 251-252) Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2012) Emotion and cognition are co-regulated. In G. Rappolt-Schlichtmann, S.G. Daley, & L.T. Rose (Eds.), A Research Reader in Universal Design for Learning. (pp.57-90) Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
Immordino-Yang, M.H., & Fischer, K. W. (2010). Brain development. In I. Weiner & E. Craighead (Eds.), Corsini encyclopedia of psychology, 4th Edition (pp. 254-256). New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2009). Social neuroscience and its application to education. In S. Feifer & G. Rattan (Eds.), Emotional disorders: A Neuropsychological, Psychopharmacological, and Educational Perspective (pp. 15-22). Middletown, MD: School Neuropsychology Press.
Fischer, K.W., & Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2008). The fundamental importance of the brain and learning for education. In Jossey-Bass reader on the brain and learning. (pp. xvii – xxi) San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2007). Introduction & Chapter 3: Compensation after losing half of the brain. In A. Nava (Ed.), Critical issues in brain science and pedagogy (pp. 3-4, 45-54). San Francisco: McGraw Hill.
Immordino-Yang, M.H. & Deacon, T. (2007). An evolutionary perspective on reading and reading disorders? In K.W. Fischer, J. H. Bernstein & M.H. Immordino-Yang (Eds.), Mind, brain and education in reading disorders. (pp. 16-29). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Immordino-Yang, M.H., & Fischer, K.W. (2007). Dynamic development of hemispheric biases in three cases: Cognitive/hemispheric cycles, music, and hemispherectomy. In D. Coch, K. W. Fischer & G. Dawson (Eds.), Human behavior, learning and the developing brain: Vol.1. Typical development (pp. 74-111). New York, NY: Guilford Press.
Fischer, K.W., Immordino-Yang, M.H., & Waber, D. (2007). Toward a grounded synthesis of mind, brain, and education for reading disorders: An introduction to the field and this book. In K. W. Fischer, J. H. Bernstein, & M. H. Immordino-Yang (Eds.), Mind, brain and education in reading disorders. (pp. 3-15). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Katzir, T., Immordino-Yang, M.H., & Fischer, K.W. (2007). Mind, brain, and education in the era of globalization. In M. M. Suarez-Orozco (Ed.), Learning and living in the global era: International perspectives on globalization and education. (pp. 85-103). Berkeley, CA: University of California Press/Ross Institute.
Case Reports
Immordino-Yang, M.H. (2007). A tale of two cases: Lessons for education from the study of two boys living with half their brains. Mind, Brain and Education, 1(2), 66-83. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-228X.2007.00008.x
Commentaries: Ablin, J. L. (2008). Learning as problem design versus problem solving: Making the connection between cognitive neuroscience research and educational practice. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2(2), 52-54. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-228X.2008.00030.x
Christoff, K. (2008). Applying neuroscientific findings to education: The good, the tough and the hopeful. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2(2), 55-58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-228X.2008.00031.x
Snow, C. (2008). Varied developmental trajectories: Lessons for educators. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2(2), 59-61. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-228X.2008.00032.x
vanGeert, P., & Steenbeek, H. (2008). Brains and the dynamics of “wants“ and “cans” in learning. Mind, Brain, and Education, 2(2), 62-66. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-228X.2008.00033.x
For additional publications, visit the full list.
Resources
POSTER
Poster presented at the International Mind, Brain and Education Society Conference, Los Angeles, CA. NOTE: This poster received one of four awards for “best research poster;” approximately 100 posters competed.
SCIENTIFIC PRESENTATION
Mary Helen Immordino-Yang spoke at Tufts University for the Tisch College Initiative on Social-Emotional Learning and Civic Engagement (SEL-CE).
Funders
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Templeton Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
Californians Dedicated to Education Foundation
National Science Foundation
Raikes Foundation
Stuart Foundation
ECMC Foundation
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Mellon Mays Foundation