Allyson Mackey
Room 354, Levin Building
425 S. University Ave.
Brain plasticity, learning, structural and functional neuroimaging, real-world academic outcomes
I am interested in how changes in the brain give rise to changes in the mind, both as development unfolds, and in response to experience. Over the course of development, maturational changes restrict plasticity. These changes are generally adaptive as they allow for the development of mature function, and prevent drastic remodeling in response to stress or injury. However, reduced plasticity limits the acquisition of new facts and skills. Therefore, developing brains must strike a balance between plasticity/vulnerability and stability/protection. My lab studies the mechanisms by which environmental factors tip this balance to shorten or shift windows of peak plasticity.
My years in inner city public schools, first as a student, and then as a researcher, have led me to concentrate my translational work on reducing the income achievement gap. Ultimately, the goal of my research is to promote positive educational and health outcomes for all individuals, regardless of socioeconomic background.
Professor Allyson Mackey will not be considering new graduate students for admission for Fall 2025.
- PSYC 149 (Intro to Cognitive Neuroscience)
- MAPP 712 (Positive Education)
BS, Biological Sciences, Stanford University
PhD, Neuroscience, University of California Berkeley
Boroshok, A.L., McDermott, C.L., Fotiadis, P., Park, A.T., Tooley, U.A., Gataviņš, M.M., Tisdall, M.D., Bassett, D.S., Mackey, A.P. (2023) Individual differences in cortical myelin map development during childhood. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 101270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcn.2023.101270.
McDermott, C.L., Lee, J., Park, A.T., Tooley, U.A., Boroshok, A.L., Hilton, K., Mupparapu, M., & Mackey, A.P. (2023) Developmental correlates of accelerated molar eruption in early childhood. Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpsgos.2023.02.006
Tooley, U.T. , Park, A.T. , Leonard, J.A., Boroshok, A.L., McDermott, C.L., Tisdall, M.D., Bassett, D.S., & Mackey, A.P. (2022) The age of reason: Functional brain network development during childhood. Journal of Neuroscience. 42(44):8237-8251.
Leonard, J.A., Cordrey, S., Liu, H.S., & Mackey, A.P. (2022) Young children calibrate effort based on the trajectory of their performance. Developmental Psychology. 59(3):609-619. doi: 10.1037/dev0001467
Park, A.T. , Richardson, H., Tooley, U.A. , McDermott, C.L. , Boroshok, A.L., Ke, A. , Leonard, J.A. , Tisdall, M.D., Deater-Deckard, K., Edgar, J.C., & Mackey, A.P. (2022) Early stressful experiences are associated with reduced neural responses to naturalistic emotional and social content in children. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 57:101152.
Boroshok, A.L. , Park, A.T. , Fotiadis, P., Velasquez, G.H. , Tooley, U.A., Simon, K.R., Forde, J.C.P., Delgado Reyes, L.M., Tisdall, M.D., Bassett, D.S., Cooper, E.A. & Mackey, A.P. (2022). Individual differences in frontoparietal plasticity in humans. Npj Science of Learning, 7(1), 1–10.
Hart, Y., Kosoy, E., Liquin, E., Leonard, J.A., Mackey, A.P., & Gopnik, A. (2022) The development of creative search strategies. Cognition, 225, 105102. Park, A.T. & Mackey, A.P. (2022). Do younger children benefit more from cognitive and academic interventions? How training studies can provide insights into developmental changes in plasticity. Mind, Brain, and Education, 16(1), 24-35.
Tooley, U. A. , Bassett, D. S., & Mackey, A. P. (2022). Functional brain network community structure in childhood: Unfinished territories and fuzzy boundaries. NeuroImage, 247, 118843.
Leonard, J.A., Lydon-Staley, D., Sharp, S., Liu, H.Z., Park, A.T., Bassett, D.S., Duckworth, A.L., & Mackey, A.P. (2022). Daily fluctuations in young children’s persistence. Child Development, 93(3), e222-e236
McDermott, C.L. , Hilton, K., Park, A.T. , Tooley, U.A. , Boroshok, A.L. , Mupparapu, M., Scott, J.M., Bumann, E.E., & Mackey, A.P. (2021). Early life stress is associated with earlier emergence of permanent molars. PNAS. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.03.22.436513
Tooley, U.A., Bassett, D.S., & Mackey, A.P. (2021). Environmental influences on the pace of brain development. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 22, 372-384.
Leonard, J.A., Duckworth, A.L, Schulz, L.E., & Mackey, A.P. (2021) Leveraging Cognitive Science to Foster Children’s Persistence. Trends in Cognitive Science, 25(8), 642-644.
Park, A. T., Tooley, U. A., Leonard, J. A., Boroshok, A. L., McDermott, C.L., Tisdall, M.D. & Mackey, A. P. (2021). Early childhood stress is associated with blunted development of ventral tegmental area functional connectivity. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 47, 100909.
Leonard, J.A., Martinez, D. N., Dashineau, S., Park, A.T., & Mackey, A. P. (2021). Children Persist Less When Adults Take Over. Child Development. 92(4), 1325-1336
Tooley, U.A., Mackey, A.P., Ciric, R., Ruparel, K., Moore, T.M., Gur, R.C., Gur, R.E., Satterthwaite T.D., & Bassett, D.S. (2020). Influence of Socioeconomic Status on Functional Brain Network Development. Cerebral Cortex. 30(1):1-19.
Advisees
Maayan Ziv [Psychology Graduate Student]
Monami Nishio [Psychology Graduate Student]
Cassidy McDermott [Psychology Graduate Student]