WUSTL Cognitive Control & Psychopathology Laboratory

Recent Publication: Chen R, Song H, Ching S, Braver TS. (2026) Task-induced topological and geometrical changes in whole-brain dynamics predict cognitive individual differences.

psycnet.apa.org

Recent Publication: Chen R, Vedovati G, Braver T, Ching S. (2026) Comparing Dynamical Models Through Diffeomorphic Vector Field Alignment.

Comparing Dynamical Models Through Diffeomorphic Vector Field Alignment Abstract. Dynamical systems models such as recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are increasingly popular in theoretical neuroscience as a vehicle for hypothesis generation and data analysis. Evaluating the dynamics in such models is key to understanding their learned generative mechanisms. However, such...

New study reveals that fears of violence change children’s brains structure and function

Patrick Lindsley, a graduate student in the Clinical Psychology Program, working under Deanna Barch, a professor of psychological and brain sciences, joins Megan Lynch with a look a new study which looks at children’s brain development and fear of violence.

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Recent Publication: Lindsley PM, Elsayed NM, Barch DM. Contributions of neighborhood violent crime and perceived neighborhood safety to cognition and mental health in the adolescent brain cognitive development study.

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Recent Publication: Constantino-Pettit A. Gilbert K, Boone K, Luking K, Geselowitz B, Tillman R, Whalen D, Luby J, Barch DM, Vogel A. Associations of Child Amygdala Development With Borderline Personality Symptoms During Adolescence.

www.sciencedirect.com

How feelings of neighborhood safety may shape young minds.

"The WashU team found that fears over neighborhood safety may leave a mark on young brains. For example, children who reported feeling less safe in their neighborhoods tended to have smaller amygdalas, a deep brain structure that helps assess threats and process emotions. They were also more likely to show signs of depression, anxiety, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and conduct disorders, and they tended to score lower on cognitive tests, including tests designed to measure focus, memory, and reading ability."

How feelings of neighborhood safety may shape young minds Young people who sense danger in their communities, whether present or not, may suffer cognitive consequences.

Recent Publication: Hadash Y, Dar O, Amir I, Braver TS, Bernstein A. (2026) The Mindfulness Internal Attention (MIA) Framework: Uncovering the Attentional Mechanisms of Mindfulness Training.

www.annualreviews.org

Recent Publication: Song H, Chen R, Botch TL, Braver TS, Rosenberg MD, Zacks JM, Ching S. (2025) Geometry of neural dynamics along the cortical attractor landscape reflects changes in attention.

Geometry of neural dynamics along the cortical attractor landscape reflects changes in attention - Nature Communications Attention fluctuates over time and across contexts—how is this reflected in the brain? Fitting a dynamical systems model to fMRI data, Song and colleagues show that the geometry of neural dynamics along the attractor landscape reflects changes in attention.

Recent Publication: Marek S, Donohue MR, Karcher N, Hoyniak C, Chauvin RJ, Meyer AC, Miller J, Van AN, Wang A, Baden NJ, Suljic V, Scheidter KM, Monk J, Whiting FI, Ramirez-Perez NJ, Krimmel SR, Metoki A, Paul SE, Gorelik AJ, Hendrickson TJ, Malone SM, Schwarzlose RF, Cardenas-Iniguez C, Herting M, Petersen SE, Luby J, Randolph AC, Shanahan M, Turkheimer E, Kay BP, Gordon EM, Laumann TO, Barch DM, Fair DA, Tervo-Clemmens B, Dosenbach NUF. (2025) Patterns of brain-wide associations reflect socioeconomics

www.biorxiv.org

Recent Publication: Barch DM. (2025) Enhancing cognitive function in schizophrenia: we must make better choices.

Enhancing cognitive function in schizophrenia: we must make better choices In this issue of the Lancet Psychiatry, Richard S E Keefe and colleagues1 report on the findings from a set of three phase 3 randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trials of a drug called iclepertin for the treatment of cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS). Iclepe...