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Friedman, Naomi P

Associate Professor

Positions

Research Areas research areas

Research

research overview

  • My research is focused on specifying the neural and genetic mechanisms underlying individual differences in executive functions –– high-level cognitive processes that regulate thought and action and thereby enable goal-directed behavior –– and their relations to everyday self-regulation and psychopathology. I use a variety of approaches, including neuroimaging, twin studies, and statistical genetic analyses.

keywords

  • executive functions, intelligence, working memory, cognitive abilities, individual differences, self regulation, behavioral genetics, twin studies, neuroimaging, neuroscience

Publications

selected publications

Teaching

courses taught

  • EBIO 5800 - Critical Thinking in Biology
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2022
    Lect. and discussion. Explores controversial issues, historical themes, or emerging developments in biology. Consult the EBIO Undergraduate Advising Center for current listings. May be repeated up to 12 total credit hours. Recommended prerequisite: minimum of 14 hours of EBIO course work. Same as EBIO 4800.
  • IPHY 6010 - Seminar
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2022
    Presents special topics in integrative physiology. May be repeated up to 15 total credits.
  • NRSC 4011 - Senior Thesis
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2022 / Spring 2023
    Senior Thesis credits are available for students during the semester that they write and defend a departmental Honors Thesis. A neuroscience honors thesis must be based on an empirical research project that the student directs/participates in under guidance from a faculty member. Contact the neuroscience director for further information.
  • PSYC 3102 - Behavioral Genetics
    Primary Instructor - Fall 2018 / Fall 2023 / Fall 2024
    This course introduces the basic principles of behavior genetics, the field of study that is interested in evaluating the different forces that shape individual differences. More specifically, the course will survey the evidence for genetic and environmental influences on a broad range of human behaviors, including psychopathology, personality, cognition, and substance use. This course also covers the different methods for evaluating these genetic and environmental contributions, including family-based designs that compare similarities across siblings, twins, and parents and their children, animal models of human behavior, and more recent genomic methods that measure our DNA. Lectures are largely about conceptually understanding findings from this field and the corresponding methods used to produce these findings. This course does not require a strong statistical or biological background to be successful or understand the material.
  • PSYC 4011 - Senior Thesis
    Primary Instructor - Spring 2018
    Critically reviews some aspect of psychological literature, scholarly analysis of a major psychological issue, and/or empirical research project. See the psychology honors director for further information.
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