Jeffrey Spielberg
Jeffrey Spielberg
Office location
University of Delaware, 105 The Green, Room 212, Wolf Hall, Newark, DE 19716
Lab
302-831-4704 / Wolf Hall, Room 405
Education
- Ph.D. – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- M.A. – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- B.A. – The George Washington University
Biography
Jeffrey Spielberg, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Delaware. His research seeks to identify and understand the developmental mechanisms that lead to pathological anxiety and depression during adolescence, with a focus on the circuitry supporting the expression and regulation of emotion.
Spielberg and his lab research team also examine potential biological factors that lead to the emergence of sex differences in such pathology during adolescence. They are particularly interested in the contribution of pubertal factors (e.g., testosterone) and how related individual differences may place children at greater risk for pathology.
The types of questions they ask include: What types of disturbances in brain circuitry predispose toward the development of anxiety? Are such brain networks organized differently, for instance less robust to disruption or less efficient in integrating information? Can we identify particular network changes during adolescence that explain why this developmental window is the peak onset time for pathological anxiety?
To explore these questions, Spielberg and his team use both behavioral tasks and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Imaging modalities include (resting and task) functional MRI (fMRI), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), quantitative MRI (e.g., magnetization transfer), and magnetic resonance elastography (MRE). To probe networks, they use graph theory tools, including a (publicly available) toolbox developed and maintained in the lab.
Courses Regularly Taught
NSCI438: Clinical Neuroscience
Research Projects
Areas: Clinical science, human neuroimaging, behavioral neuroscience, developmental
We are examining whether an early intervention affects brain activation among 13-15 year olds.
Researchers: Mary Dozier, Jeffrey Spielberg
Impulse control deficits and poor self-regulation are core features of a diverse array of harmful behaviors (aggression, substance use, risky sexual behavior) and mental disorders (antisocial personality disorder, PTSD, externalizing disorders) that increase risk for premature death and poor health outcomes. We are working on identifying neurobiological mechanisms that support adaptive inhibitory control in healthy populations and how these regulatory processes go awry in clinical samples. The goal of this work is to better understand the neural architecture of impulse control deficits across different forms of psychopathology and to clarify how the neural processes supporting inhibition interact with other cognitive, motivational, and emotional systems.
Researchers: Jeffrey Spielberg, Naomi Samimi-Sadeh
In collaboration with colleagues at Cleveland Clinic, the CAD lab is conducting several studies aimed at parsing brain network disturbances observed in bipolar disorder into those unique to mania, unique to depression, and common to both. In addition, we are examining the impact of lithium treatment (e.g., whether disturbed networks are normalized, whether compensatory networks come online). Finally, we are investigating whether depression is associated with different network disturbances in the context of unipolar depression rather than bipolar disorder. Note, data collection for this project currently occurs at Cleveland Clinic.
Adaptive functioning depends on the rapid regulation of motivational processes, and disturbances in this regulation are key features of anxiety and depression. The CAD lab is conducting a number of studies aimed at understanding how brain networks supporting top-down inhibitory control interact with those involved in identifying the motivational importance of stimuli. This work is conducted in both healthy and anxious/depressed individuals, allowing us to describe both the typical manner in which these circuits interact and how divergence from the norm may lead to pathology.
Researchers: Jeffrey Spielberg, Naomi Samimi-Sadeh
Adolescence is the peak onset time for psychopathology involving disturbances in motivation and emotion, including anxiety and depression. Thus, charting the neuromaturational trajectories of brain networks supporting motivation and emotion may prove crucial to discovering how and why psychopathology develops during this period, and ultimately informing prevention and treatment efforts. The CAD lab is conducting several studies aimed at key pieces of this puzzle, including the development and consolidation of connections between amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), with a particular focus on the role of pubertal hormones.
