How experiences influence brain function and long-term health

How experiences influence brain function and long-term health

It has been said that “it takes a village to raise a child” and understanding neuroscience can be one of the building blocks for that village. How important are relationships, social privilege, and early stressors in the formation and development of the brain? Faculty members Kristin Valentino and Elizabeth Archie will share their research examples from a variety of work including longitudinal studies with families and studies on other species. Discover how adversity can affect health and development and how social support can buffer these adverse effects. What interventions can potentially improve caregiving support and neurobiological outcomes for maltreated children?

How does experience influence development and behavior?

Presented by Nancy Michael

A primer on what developing human brains expect: How early attachments inform future behavior, how we learn, and how the stress response works.

Meet the Guest

Presented by Nancy Michael

Elizabeth Archie

Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Elizabeth Archie studies how social relationships change across the life course and contribute to individual health and survival. She studies these questions in wild animals, focusing on a 50-year study of wild baboons in Kenya. 


“I am really excited about how research like mine — which traces the lives of wild animals — can lend new insight into the evolutionary drivers of human behavior and health.”

Meet the Guest

Presented by Nancy Michael

Kristin Valentino

Director, William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families & William J. Shaw Center for Children and Families Professor of Psychology

Kristin Valentino’s research addresses how maltreatment affects child development, with a focus on the caregiving behaviors that may promote risk and/or resilience among maltreating families. She evaluates how interventions may be designed to improve caregiving and, in turn, to improve developmental outcomes for maltreated children.

“As such, this work informs clinical and policy efforts designed to improve the welfare of maltreated children and families, including programs that may be readily disseminated to communities nationally.”

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Presented by Nancy Michael

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Featured Speakers: 

  • Elizabeth Archie, Associate Professor of Behavioral Ecology and Disease Ecology, Science University of Notre Dame
  • Nancy Michael, Associate Teaching Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies for Neuroscience and Behavior, Science University of Notre Dame

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