Susan M. Rivera
Education
- Professor of Psychology
- B.A., Psychology, Indiana University
About
Susan Rivera is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and an affiliated faculty with the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience, which seeks to understand the function of the human brain in health and in illness. She also is a faculty member in the Center for Mind and Brain and a member of the M.I.N.D. Institute, both at UC Davis. In addition, Dr. Rivera serves as a member of a number of professional organizations, including the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, the Cognitive Development Society, the Society for Research in Child Development, the Jean Piaget Society and the Society for Neuroscience. She also serves as Associate Editor of Frontiers in Developmental Psychology and as an editorial board member for Human Development and Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders.
Research Focus
Dr. Rivera heads a program of research that is devoted to investigating neurocognitive development in both typically and atypically developing individuals, specifically those with fragile X syndrome, autism and Down syndrome. She uses psychophysical (infrared eye tracking) as well as functional (fMRI and ERP) and structural (DTI, volumetric measurement) techniques. Her research is focused broadly on three topics: the functions of the parietal lobe of the brain (e.g., arithmetic, spatial reasoning, visual awareness of objects in space and multisensory integration); functions of the limbic system as is relates to social anxiety; and investigations of a neurodegenerative disease associated with the fragile X premutation (FXTAS).
Selected Publications
- Leow, A, Harvey, D, Goodrich-Hunsaker, N, GadElkarim, J, Kumar, A, Zhan, L, Rivera, S, and Simon, T (in press). Altered structured brain connectome in young adult fragile X permutation carriers. Human Brain Mapping.
Altered structural brain connectome in young adult fragile X premutation carriers - Gallego, PK, Burris, JL, and Rivera, SM (2014). Visual motion processing deficits in infants with the fragile X permutation. Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 6(29).
Visual motion processing deficits in infants with the fragile X premutation - Kim, S, Tassone, F, Simon, T, and Rivera, S (2014). Altered neural activity in the ‘when’ pathway during temporal processing in fragile X permutation carriers. Behavioural Brain Research.
Altered neural activity in the ‘when’ pathway during temporal processing in fragile X premutation carriers - Wong, L, Goodrich-Hunsaker, N, McLennan, Y, Tassone, F, Zhang, M, Rivera, S, and Simon, T (2014). Eye Movements Reveal Impaired Inhibitory Control in Adult Male Fragile X Premutation Carriers Asymptomatice for FXTAS. Neuropsychology, 28(4):571-584.
Eye Movements Reveal Impaired Inhibitory Control in Adult Male Fragile X Premutation Carriers Asymptomatic for FXTAS - Leigh, M, Nguyen, D, Mu, Y, Winarni, T, Schneider, A, Chechi, T, Polussa, J, Doucet, P, Tassone, F, Rivera, S, Hessl, D, and Hagerman, R (2013). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of minocycline in children and adolescents with fragile X syndrome. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 34(3):147-155.
A randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of minocycline in children and adolescents with fragile X syndrome
Teaching
Dr. Rivera teaches in the areas of Developmental Neuroscience, Cognitive Development, and Numerical Representation and Reasoning. Recently she has taught undergraduate courses in Developmental Disorders, and Cognitive and Perceptual Development, and a graduate seminar in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.
Awards
Dr. Rivera has received a number of prestigious awards throughout her career. In 2010, she was the recipient of the UC Davis School of Medicine Dean’s Award for Excellence in Collaboration. She has received several M.I.N.D. Institute Pilot Research Grant Awards and was a Faculty Research Grant Recipient at UC Davis from 2003 to 2004. Prior to her tenure at UC Davis, she received the IGA Junior Faculty Research Award and fellowships from the National Institute of Health in Postdoctoral Training and Research. In 1998, she received the Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor award at UC Berkeley. In the mid to late 1990s, she received the American Psychological Association Dissertation Research Award, a Graduate Division Dissertation Award Fellowship at UC Berkeley, the National Research Service Award from the National Institute of Mental Health, and a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship.
