Auburn University · HDFS
Exploring Social Worlds.
Understanding Connections.
Advancing Developmental Science.
Welcome to CONNECT Lab! Led by Dr. Tianying Cai at Auburn University, we study how adolescents' social worlds shape the developing brain and body.
About the Lab
Where Brain, Behavior, and Environment Meet
Our research examines how adolescents' everyday relationships and broader social environments shape brain and body development. By combining neuroimaging (fMRI, fNIRS), physiological measures (ECG, EDA), behavioral observations, and computational approaches, we seek to understand how young people interact with their social worlds. We also develop research methods to better capture these complex relationships.
Explore Our ResearchOur Philosophy
CONNECT Is More Than Our Name.
People connect.
Adolescents' relationships with family, friends, and others play an important role in shaping their development.
Contexts connect.
Families, peer networks, neighborhoods, and broader social environments intersect and jointly shape young people's experiences.
Methods connect.
Bringing together different research approaches allows us to ask questions that no single method can answer alone.
We connect.
We welcome students and fellow researchers who share our curiosity about how social experiences shape the developing brain and body.
Latest News
Lab Updates
Research Visit at the University of Chicago
Dr. Tianying Cai visited the Department of Psychology at University of Chicago, where she presented a talk titled “Measuring Interpersonal Neural Dynamics Across Time: Ongoing work in fNIRS hyperscanning and...
New Publication in Affective Science
Dr. Tianying Cai’s co-authored work, Do Global Emotion Regulation Profiles Under COVID-19 Stress Predict Daily Strategy Use Later?, was published on Affective Science. The lead author of this project is...
Hyperscanning Demo for PSYC 7400
CONNECT Lab did a research demo of fNIRS Hyperscanning for the PSYC 7400 Cognitive Neuroscience.