H. Hill Goldsmith, PhD
Position title: Fluno Bascom Professor & Leona Tyler Professor of Psychology

PhD, University of Minnesota
Contact Information
Waisman Center
1500 Highland Ave
Room 573
Madison, WI 53706
608.265.2674
hhgoldsm@facstaff.wisc.edu
Lab Website: Wisconsin Twin Research
Research Statement
A principal line of current research, in collaboration with Professor Gernsbacher and others, focuses on autism spectrum disorders. One aspect of this research implies that the current results of genetic (i.e., genome screen) and neuroanatomical (i.e., brain imaging) studies have been less definitive than expected because of the heterogeneity among persons with autistic spectrum disorders. Even when diagnosed according to strict and consistent criteria, symptom profiles of persons with autism vary greatly, suggesting variability in etiology. Thus, we propose to identify and validate a putative subtype of autism, which we refer to as “developmental verbal dyspraxia,” or DVD. DVD is a motor-speech programming disorder resulting in difficulty coordinating and sequencing the oral-motor movements necessary to produce and combine speech sounds (phonemes) to form syllables, words, phrases, and sentences. We hypothesize that a sizable minority of minimally verbal or nonverbal persons with autism are characterize d by DVD. Support for our hypothesis comes from behavioral, genetic, and neuroanatomical evidence. Our project seeks to identify and validate a DVD subtype of autism by screening all children with autism (under age 16) in a metropolitan area; identifying the members of this group who are also characterized by DVD; selecting an autism control group of children not characterized by DVD and a typically developing control group; collecting extensive behavioral, medical, and developmental histories of all children in these groups. We shall also construct indices of the DVD subtype from diagnostic instruments currently being used in full genome screens (e.g., the ADI-R and A-DOS), with the future aim of pro-viding these indices to the research groups who have conducted the genome screens. This research will lay the foundation for identifying other subtypes of autism spectrum disorder. In related research, we have also begun to identify potential participants for a statewide twin study of autism spectrum disorder. Epidemiological research on autism, in collaboration with other Waisman Center investigators, is also in the planning stage.
A second project, underway for several years, is the fine-grained, longitudinal Genetics of Emotional Ontogeny project. This project includes multimodal, comprehensive assessment of emotion and temperament as well as selective assessment of cognition, motor development, physiology, social interaction, and the home environment from birth t o age 3 years. The final sample size will total about 500 twin pairs. The project incorporates an unusually broad set of methods, including lab-based elicitation of behavior, home observation, testing by examiner, telephone interviews, hospital records, diaries, narrative constructions, language inventories, and parent-child and sibling interaction episodes. The chief issues addressed by this project are the nature, sources, and functional consequences of emotional individuality.
A third project uses the resources of our statewide panel of twins. In collaboration with Professor Lemery, we are engaged in a twin study of young children at risk for (1) internalizing problems such as anxiety, social withdrawal, and depression; (2) externalizing problems, such as motor excess, oppositional and conduct problems, and disinhibition; and (3) attentional problems, particularly ADHD. The nature of the risk is assessed and verified by parental questionnaire, structured interview, observation of children’s emotional individuality, observation of interpersonal interactions, and multiple biological measures. These measures are also collected on cotwins and on a control sample. The main goals of the project are to estimate the heritable influence on various forms of childhood psychopathology using both categorical and dimensional approaches, to study the relation of temperamental traits and psychopathology within a behavior-genetic context (including family history information), to consider possible risk-reducing factors related to resiliency and adaptability, such as the capacity to experience and express pleasure, and to collect, extract, and store DNA samples for future analyses once more potential markers of the disorders and more genes involved in relevant neural system. Even more broadly, the project approaches behavioral disorders with the conceptual and empirical tools of developmental psychobiology in addition to the more typical clinical orientation.
A fourth project extends our recently completed behavior-genetic research with infant twins to a new sample of 250 pairs of 6-9 year-old twins, with the inclusion of measures to provide a comprehensive assessment of physiology related to affective reactivity, and particularly to anxiety. Physiological measures are obtained in the laboratory under multiple baseline and emotion-elicitation conditions. These measures include EEG asymmetry, basal and reactive cortisol levels, fear-potentiated startle, and cardiac psychophysiology (including impedance cardiography). The study also employs behavioral measures, assessed in the home, that allow us to assess the latency, duration, and intensity of facial, vocal, and motoric responses to affective stimuli. Other child and family characteristics are assessed by interview and questionnaire, and medical histories are obtained. This project contributes to all four types of evidence needed to complete the logical chain of inference involving genetics, physiology, and behavior in this domain. First, a genetic basis for behavioral individuality must be established. Next, a genetic basis for the biological substrates (e.g., prefrontal EEG asymmetry) needs to be established. Then, we investigate whether there is a common genetic basis for the phenotypically associated behaviors and their biological substrates. Finally, as the field advances, specific molecular genetic markers for relevant behavior and physiology need to be identified.
Selected Publications
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Schmidt, N., Lemery-Chalfant, K., & Goldsmith, H. (n.d.). Wisconsin Twin Project Overview: Temperament and Affective Neuroscience. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 1-6. doi:10.1017/thg.2019.108
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Guerrero JM, Adluru N, Bendlin BB, Goldsmith HH, Schaefer SM, Davidson RJ, Kecskemeti SR, Zhang H, Alexander AL. (2019). Optimizing the intrinsic parallel diffusivity in NODDI: An extensive empirical evaluation. PLoS One. 14(9):e0217118. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0217118.
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Planalp EM, Van Hulle CA, Goldsmith HH. (2019). Parenting in context: Marital adjustment, parent affect, and child temperament in complex families. Journal of Family Psychology, 33(5):532-541. doi: 10.1037/fam0000511.
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Carroll IC, Planalp EM, Van Hulle CA, Goldsmith HH. (2019). Peer Victimization and Selective Attention in Adolescence: Evidence from a Monozygotic Twin Difference Design. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(8):1303-1313. doi: 10.1007/s10802-019-00516-7.
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Adluru N, Luo Z, Van Hulle CA, Schoen AJ, Davidson RJ, Alexander AL, Goldsmith HH. (2019). Anxiety-related experience-dependent white matter structural differences in adolescence: A monozygotic twin difference approach. Science Reports, 18;7(1):8749. PMID: 28821748. PMCID: PMC5562810. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-08107-6
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Planalp, E. M., & Goldsmith, H. H. (2019). Observed Profiles of Infant Temperament: Stability, Heritability, and Associations With Parenting. Child Development. In Press. 2019 Jul 4. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13277.
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Sarkisian KL, Van Hulle CA, Hill Goldsmith H. (2019). Brooding, Inattention, and Impulsivity as Predictors of Adolescent Suicidal Ideation. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 47(2):333-344. PMID: 29808397. PMCID: PMC6265119. doi: 10.1007/s10802-018-0435-5.
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Dean DC 3rd, Planalp EM, Wooten W, Kecskemeti SR, Adluru N, Schmidt CK, Frye C, Birn RM, Burghy CA, Schmidt NL, Styner MA, Short SJ, Kalin NH, Goldsmith HH, Alexander AL, Davidson RJ. (2019). Association of Prenatal Maternal Depression and Anxiety Symptoms With Infant White Matter Microstructure. JAMA Pediatrics, 172(10):973-981. PMID: 30177999. PMCID: PMC6190835. DOI: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.2132
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Van Hulle CA, Lemery-Chalfant K, Hill Goldsmith H. (2018) Parent-Offspring Transmission of Internalizing and Sensory over-Responsivity Symptoms in Adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 46(3):557-567. doi: 10.1007/s10802-017-0300-y.
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Dean DC 3rd, Planalp EM, Wooten W, Schmidt CK, Kecskemeti SR, Frye C, Schmidt NL, Goldsmith HH, Alexander AL, Davidson RJ. (2018). Investigation of brain structure in the 1-month infant. Brain Structure and Function, 223(4):1953-1970. doi: 10.1007/s00429-017-1600-2.
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Alisch RS, Van Hulle C, Chopra P, Bhattacharyya A, Zhang SC, Davidson RJ, Kalin NH, Goldsmith HH. (2017). A multi-dimensional characterization of anxiety in monozygotic twin pairs reveals susceptibility loci in humans. Translational Psychiatry, 7(12):1282. PMCID: PMC5802687. DOI: 10.1038/s41398-017-0047-9
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Van Hulle CA, Clifford S, Moore MN, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2017) Partial replication of two rumination-related candidate gene studies. Cognition & Emotion. 31(5):963-971. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2016.1168779.
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Planalp EM, Van Hulle C, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2017) Genetic and Environmental Contributions to the Development of Positive Affect in Infancy. Emotion, 17(3):412-420. PMID: 27797564. PMCID: PMC5367954. doi: 10.1037/emo0000238.
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Van Hulle CA, Moore MN, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH, Brooker RJ. (2017) Infant stranger fear trajectories predict anxious behaviors and diurnal cortisol rhythm during childhood. Development and Psychopathology, 29(3):1119-1130. PMCID: PMC5431083. doi: 10.1017/S0954579417000311.
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Lundwall RA, Dannemiller JL, Goldsmith HH. (2017) Genetic associations with reflexive visual attention in infancy and childhood. Developmental Science. 20(3). doi: 10.1111/desc.12371.
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Planalp EM, Van Hulle C, Gagne JR, Goldsmith HH. (2017) The Infant Version of the Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery (Lab-TAB): Measurement Properties and Implications for Concepts of Temperament. Frontiers in Psychology. 24;8:846. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00846.
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Gagne JR, O’Sullivan DL, Schmidt NL, Spann CA, Goldsmith HH. (2017) The Shared Etiology of Attentional Control and Anxiety: An Adolescent Twin Study. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 27(1):122-138. PMID: 28498525. PMCID: PMC5431083. doi: 10.1111/jora.12260.
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Brooker RJ, Canen MJ, Davidson RJ, Hill Goldsmith H. (2017). Short- and long-term stability of alpha asymmetry in infants: Baseline and affective measures. Psychophysiology, 54(8):1100-1109. doi: 10.1111/psyp.12866.
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Scott BG, Lemery-Chalfant K, Clifford S, Tein JY, Stoll R, Goldsmith HH. (2016) A Twin Factor Mixture Modeling Approach to Childhood Temperament: Differential Heritability. Child Development. 87(6):1940-1955. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12561.
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Burghy CA, Fox ME, Cornejo MD, Stodola DE, Sommerfeldt SL, Westbrook CA, Van Hulle C, Schmidt NL, Goldsmith HH, Davidson RJ, Birn RM. (2016). Experience-Driven Differences in Childhood Cortisol Predict Affect-Relevant Brain Function and Coping in Adolescent Monozygotic Twins. Science Reports, 6:37081. doi: 10.1038/srep37081.
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Sarkisian K, Van Hulle C, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2016) Childhood inhibitory control and adolescent impulsivity and novelty seeking as differential predictors of relational and overt aggression. Journal of Research in Personality. 67:144-150. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2016.07.011.
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Brooker RJ, Davidson RJ, Goldsmith HH. (2016) Maternal negative affect during infancy is linked to disrupted patterns of diurnal cortisol and alpha asymmetry across contexts during childhood. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 142:274-90. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.08.011.
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Brooker RJ, Phelps RA, Davidson RJ, Goldsmith HH. (2016) Context differences in delta beta coupling are associated with neuroendocrine reactivity in infants. Developmental Psychobiology. 58(3):406-18. doi: 10.1002/dev.21381.
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Van Hulle C, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2015) Trajectories of Sensory Over-Responsivity from Early to Middle Childhood: Birth and Temperament Risk Factors. PLoS One. 24;10(6):e0129968. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129968.
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Clifford S, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2015) The Unique and Shared Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Fear, Anger, and Sadness in Childhood. Child Development. 86(5):1538-56. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12394.
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Eggum-Wilkens ND, Lemery-Chalfant K, Aksan N, Goldsmith HH. (2015) Self-Conscious Shyness: Growth during Toddlerhood, Strong Role of Genetics, and No Prediction from Fearful Shyness. Infancy. 20(2):160-188.
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Van Hulle CA, Moore MN, Shirtcliff EA, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2015) Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Covariation Between DHEA and Testosterone in Adolescent Twins. Behavioral Genetics. 45(3):324-40. doi: 10.1007/s10519-015-9709-7.
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Vendlinski MK, Javaras KN, Van Hulle CA, Lemery-Chalfant K, Maier R, Davidson RJ, Goldsmith HH. (2014) Relative influence of genetics and shared environment on child mental health symptoms depends on comorbidity. PLoS One. 31;9(7):e103080.
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Brooker RJ, Buss KA, Lemery-Chalfant K, Aksan N, Davidson RJ, Goldsmith HH. (2014) Profiles of observed infant anger predict preschool behavior problems: Moderation by life stress. Developmental Psychology. 50(10):2343-52.
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Moore MN, Salk RH, Van Hulle CA, Abramson LY, Hyde JS, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2013) Genetic and Environmental Influences on Rumination, Distraction, and Depressed Mood in Adolescence. Clinical Psychological Science. Jul 1;1(3):316-322.
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Lemery-Chalfant K, Kao K, Swann G, Goldsmith HH. (2013) Childhood temperament: passive gene-environment correlation, gene-environment interaction, and the hidden importance of the family environment. Development and Psychopathology. Feb;25(1):51-63.
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Gagne JR, Miller MM, Goldsmith HH. (2013) Early-but modest-gender differences in focal aspects of childhood temperament. Personality and Individual Differences. 55(2):95-100.
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Schmidt NL, Van Hulle CA, Brooker RJ, Meyer LR, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2013) Wisconsin Twin Research: early development, childhood psychopathology, autism, and sensory over-responsivity. Twin Research and Human Genetics. Feb;16(1):376-84
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Brooker RJ, Buss KA, Lemery-Chalfant K, Aksan N, Davidson RJ, & Goldsmith HH. (2013) The development of stranger fear in infancy and toddlerhood: Normative development, individual differences, antecedents, and outcomes. Developmental Science. 16(6):864-78.
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Van Hulle CA, Schmidt NL, Goldsmith HH. (2012) Is sensory over-responsivity distinguishable from childhood behavior problems? A phenotypic and genetic analysis. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. Jan;53(1):64-72.
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Van Hulle CA, Shirtcliff EA, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2012) Genetic and environmental influences on individual differences in cortisol level and circadian rhythm in middle childhood. Hormones and Behavior. Horm Behav. 2012 Jun;62(1):36-42.
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Gagne JR, Goldsmith HH. (2011) A longitudinal analysis of anger and inhibitory control in twins from 12 to 36 months of age. Developmental Science. Jan;14(1):112-24.
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Gagne JR, Van Hulle CA, Aksan N, Essex MJ, Goldsmith HH. (2011) Deriving childhood temperament measures from emotion-eliciting behavioral episodes: scale construction and initial validation. Psychological Assessment. Jun;23(2):337-53.
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Keuler MM, Schmidt NL, Van Hulle CA, Lemery-Chalfant K, Goldsmith HH. (2011) Sensory overresponsivity: prenatal risk factors and temperamental contributions. Journal of Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics. Sep;32(7):533-41.
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Volbrecht MM, Goldsmith HH. (2010) Early temperamental and family predictors of shyness and anxiety. Developmental Psychology. Sep;46(5):1192-205.