Leah Somerville

American psychologist

Leah H. Somerville

Alma mater| University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dartmouth College
Scientific career
Institutions| Harvard University
Thesis| Physiological and neural mechanisms of anxiety, negativity, and threat. (2008)

Leah H. Somerville is an American psychologist who is a professor at Harvard University. She is a member of the Human Connectome Project. Somerville was awarded the 2022 National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award.[1]

## Early life and education

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Somerville became interested in adolescent neurodevelopment due to her own experiences as a teenager. She spent four years volunteering as a teen crisis counsellor, and intended to pursue a career in social work.[2] Whilst an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, she became interested in affective neuroscience.[3] Somerville was eventually a doctoral student at Dartmouth College, where she studied the neural mechanisms of anxiety, negativity and threat.[4][5] After earning her doctoral degree, Somerville joined the Sackler Institute for Developmental Biology. During her postdoc she looked to combine an appreciation of development into emotion.[6]

## Research and career

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In 2012, Somerville joined the Department of Psychology at Harvard University, where she leads the Affective Neuroscience & Development Laboratory in the Center for Brain Science.[7] Her research considers human emotion and the factors that explain variability in how people respond to emotions. Somerville is interested in how brain development influences psychological functioning. She has also studied how brain and psychological development interact during human adolescence.[8][9] She believes that dynamic trajectories of brain development shape the interplay between these processes.[10]

Somerville was made an endowed Professor at Harvard University in 2021.[11] Somerville was awarded a Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences in 2022.[12]

## Awards and honors

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* 2014 American Psychological Foundation FJ McGuigan Early Career Research Prize for Understanding the Human Mind[2][5]
* 2014 American Psychological Association Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions[10]
* 2022 National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award[12]

## Selected publications

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* Leah H Somerville; Rebecca M Jones; B J Casey (August 19, 2009). "A time of change: behavioral and neural correlates of adolescent sensitivity to appetitive and aversive environmental cues". Brain and Cognition. 72 (1): 124–133\. doi:10.1016/J.BANDC.2009.07.003. ISSN 0278-2626. PMC 2814936. PMID 19695759. Wikidata Q33624337.
* Paul J Whalen; Jerome Kagan; Robert G Cook; et al. (December 1, 2004). "Human amygdala responsivity to masked fearful eye whites". Science. 306 (5704): 2061. doi:10.1126/SCIENCE.1103617. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 15604401. Wikidata Q50983697.
* B J Casey; Leah H Somerville; Ian H Gotlib; et al. (September 6, 2011). "Behavioral and neural correlates of delay of gratification 40 years later". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 108 (36): 14998–5003\. Bibcode:2011PNAS..10814998C. doi:10.1073/PNAS.1108561108. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 3169162. PMID 21876169. Wikidata Q24601241.

## References

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1. ^ "Leah Somerville". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
2. ^ a b "F.J. McGuigan Early Career Investigator Research Grant on Understanding the Human Mind". www.apa.org. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
3. ^ "OHBM2018 Keynote series: Q&A with Leah Somerville". ORGANIZATION FOR HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
4. ^ Somerville, Leah (2008). Physiological and neural mechanisms of anxiety, negativity, and threat. Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (Thesis). Dartmouth College. doi:10.1349/ddlp.183. OCLC 939402636.
5. ^ a b "Leah Somerville receives F. J. McGuigan Early Career Investigator Prize". www.apa.org. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
6. ^ "Leah Somerville". Association for Psychological Science - APS. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
7. ^ "People | Affective Neuroscience & Development Lab | Leah Somerville". andl.wjh.harvard.edu. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
8. ^ Behavior, Center for Law, Brain & Behavior (March 17, 2015), Leah Somerville: The Neuroscience, retrieved January 28, 2022`{{citation}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. ^ "Teens' self-consciousness linked with specific brain, physiological responses". EurekAlert!. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
10. ^ a b "Janet Taylor Spence Award Recipients". Association for Psychological Science - APS. Retrieved January 26, 2022.
11. ^ "People | Affective Neuroscience & Development Lab | Leah Somerville". andl.wjh.harvard.edu. Retrieved January 28, 2022.
12. ^ a b "2022 Awards". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved January 26, 2022.

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