By Chris Barncard, UW Communications MADISON — The proliferation of face coverings to keep COVID-19 in check isn’t keeping kids from understanding facial expressions, according to a new study by University of Wisconsin–Madison psychologists. It’s …
Seth Pollak
Seth Pollak elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Six University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty have been elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, including Waisman Center investigator and psychologist Seth Pollak, PhD. Pollak is the College of Letters & Science Distinguished Professor …
Emotion-detection applications built on outdated science, report warns
Facial Movements Are Unreliable Signals of Emotion, Researchers Say Software that purportedly reads emotions in faces is being deployed or tested for a variety of purposes, including surveillance, hiring, clinical diagnosis, and market research. But …
Childhood stress leaves lasting mark on genes
How does stress put some children at risk of psychiatric disorders when they grow up? To find out, researchers compared their genomes to those of kids whose childhoods were relatively tranquil.
Seth Pollak, PhD – Slide of the Week
Individuals who have experienced chronic and high levels of stress during their childhoods are at increased risk for a wide range of behavioral problems, yet the neurobiological mechanisms underlying this association are poorly understood.
Childhood stress and life risks
Adults who lived high-stress childhoods have trouble reading the signs that a loss or punishment is looming, leaving themselves in situations that risk avoidable health and financial problems and legal trouble.
Where do children’s emotions come from?
Waisman Center investigator Seth Pollak’s research was recently highlighted in the American Psychological Association’s Monitor on Psychology magazine. You can read the full story here.
Seth Pollak, PhD
Children who experience early adversity often develop emotion regulatory problems, but little is known about the mechanisms that mediate this relation. We tested whether general associative learning processes contribute to associations between adversity, in the form of child maltreatment, and negative behavioral outcomes.
How chronic stress in early childhood shapes the brain
Waisman Center investigator Seth Pollak was recently interviewed by the BOLD Blog on Learning and Development. In the interview, Pollak discusses how chronic stress in early childhood shapes the brain. You can read the full …
How is early childhood adversity linked to behavioral problems?
Children who face severe adversity, such as physical abuse, early in life often develop behavioral and emotional problems. But the underlying psychological mechanisms that link early adversity with negative outcomes have remained unclear. A new …