Research Interests

Our research addresses a fundamental challenge: how to map complex behavioral constructs, such as social communication processes in autism onto mechanistic processes in the brain. We target low-level (often non-social)
neurocognitive processes, such as working memory or auditory processing, that may not be specific to the autism diagnosis, but that can be linked to genetic, neurophysiological or neuroanatomical domains, and that impact socio-communicative behavior. The aim is to better understand the autism phenotype by linking research at the molecular level (genetics), the neurofunctional level (brain imaging), and the behavioral level (symptomatology). Click on the “projects” link for more detail on current research projects.

Land acknowledgement

We acknowledge that this is the territory of the Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett,  Nipmuc, and Lenape Peoples, who have stewarded this land throughout the generations.  We thank them for their strength and resilience in protecting this land, and aspire to uphold our responsibilities according to their example.

Lab News

  • Uconn KIDS Events
    Come see members of UConn KIDS and fellow members of our lab at various events around town! You can go to the UConn KIDS website to find out more and see the next events coming up: https://kids.uconn.edu/
    Posted on November 1, 2024
  • Congrats to Hannah Thomas and Aditi Sirsikar on their new pub!
    Congrats to Hannah Thomas and undergraduate lab alum Aditi Sirsikar on their new publication, Convergence and discrepancy between self- and informant-reported depressive symptoms in young autistic adults in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
    Posted on December 20, 2023
  • Congrats to Jason Crutcher on new pub on pragmatic language!
    Crutcher, J., Butler, E., Burke, J. D., Naigles, L., Fein, D. A., & Eigsti, I. M. (in press). Pragmatic language and associations with externalizing behaviors in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and those who have lost the ASD diagnosis. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
    Posted on September 15, 2023