Stacey Schaefer

My research focus is on the emotional determinants of health, wellbeing, and aging, and has a goal of gaining a better understanding of how emotional, social, and biological processes interact to impact wellbeing and health outcomes (mental, physical, cognitive, and brain health) as people age.  Both psychophysiological (e.g. facial EMG) and neuroimaging (e.g. fMRI) measures are used to measure individual differences in the time course of emotional responses in the body and the brain to learn how these  measures are related to health, wellbeing, and especially brain aging (structure, function, and connectivity), and identify the psychosocial, behavioral, and lifestyle factors that moderate those relationships.