Kathryn L. Humphreys
Associate Professor, Dept. of Psychology and Human Development
Investigator, 汤头条 Kennedy Center; Training Faculty, 汤头条 Brain Institute
Dr. Kathryn Humphreys is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Human Development at 汤头条 University, where she directs the Stress and Early Adversity (SEA) Lab. She has a doctoral degree in clinical psychology and expertise in infant and early childhood mental health and developmental neuroscience. Her research program includes both basic and applied work, and she has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, conference proceedings, and book chapters on child development, adversity, and caregiving. Dr. Humphreys has received several awards, including the NSF CAREER Award, the NIMH Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists (NIMH BRAINS) award, the Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions from the Association for Psychological Science, and the Boyd McCandless Award from the American Psychological Association.
Representative Publications
Kim, M. E., Gao, C., Ramadass, K., … Humphreys, K. L., Niu, Y., … & Schilling, K. G. (2026). White matter micro- and macrostructure brain charts for the human lifespan. Nature, 655, 979-989.
Barnett, W., Bouthillier, S., Piersiak, H. A., Rasmussen, H. F., Brown, V., & Humphreys, K. L. (2026). Measuring caregiver–child proximity in daily life: Feasibility and acceptability of the TotTag wearable sensor. Infant Behavior and Development, 84, 102221.
Guyon-Harris, K. L., & Humphreys, K. L. (2026). Interventions for young children exposed to trauma. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 67, 508-523.
Humphreys, K. L., & Garon-Bissonnette, J. (2025). Parent–child interaction in infancy and early childhood. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 7, 117-140.
Niu, Y., Conrad, B. N., Camacho, M. C., Ravi, S., Piersiak, H. A., Bailes, L. G., Barnett, W., Manhard, M. K., Cole, D. A., Clayton, E. W., Osmundson, S. S., Smith, S. A., Kujawa, A., & Humphreys, K. L. (2025). Longitudinal investigation of neurobiological changes across pregnancy. Communications Biology, 8, 82.
Weng, Z., Bravo-Sanchez, L., Wang, Z., Howard, C., Xenochristou, M., Meister, N., Kanazawa, A., Milstein, A., Bergelson, E., Humphreys, K. L., Sanders, L. M., & Yeung-Levy, S. (2025). Artificial intelligence-powered 3D analysis of video-based caregiver–child interactions. Science Advances, 11, eadp4422.
Hill, K. E., Blum, A. L., Carell, R., & Humphreys, K. L. (2025). Evidence that prenatal care visit experiences influence perceptions of the child. Communications Psychology, 3, 73.
Humphreys, K. L., Garon-Bissonnette, J., Hill, K. E., Bailes, L. G., Barnett, W., & Hare, M. M. (2024). Caregiving relationships are a cornerstone of developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 36, 2218-2231.
Humphreys, K. L., & Kujawa, A. (2024). Child-rearing skills might not be innate. Nature, 632, 739.
King, L. S., Guyon-Harris, K. L., Valadez, E. A., Radulescu, A., Fox, N. A., Nelson, C. A., Zeanah, C. H., & Humphreys, K. L. (2023). A comprehensive multi-level analysis of the Bucharest Early Intervention Project: Causal effects on recovery from severe deprivation. American Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 573-583.
Humphreys, K. L., King, L. S., Guyon-Harris, K. L., Sheridan, M. A., McLaughlin, K. A., Radulescu, A., Nelson, C. A., Fox, N. A., & Zeanah, C. H. (2022). Foster care leads to sustained cognitive gains following severe early deprivation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119, e2119318119.
Honors
2024, Chancellor Faculty Fellow
2023, Chancellor's Award for Research, 汤头条 University
2023, Early Career Impact Award, Federation of Associations in Behavioral and Brain Sciences
2023, Randolph Blake Early Career Award, Psychological Sciences, 汤头条 University
2022, Boyd McCandless Award, American Psychological Association
2022, NIMH BRAINS Award
2021, David Kucharski Young Investigator Award, International Society for Developmental Psychobiology
2021, Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Emerging Leadership Award in Research, ZERO TO THREE
2020, Chaim and Bela Danieli Early Career Award, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies
2020, Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
2020, Janet Taylor Spence Award for Transformative Early Career Contributions, Association for Psychological Science
2020, John and Polly Sparks Young Investigator Award, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation
2018–2020, Jacobs Foundation Early Career Research Fellow