McNair Scholar 2024 - Ricardo Vazquez Montero
Ricardo Vazquez Montero is a junior at the University of Minnesota majoring in Developmental Psychology B.S. with minors in Neuroscience and Psychology. His research interests include environmental factors and social inequalities associated with neurodevelopment and risk for psychopathology. Ricardo plans to attend graduate school for Clinical Psychology after graduation.
Quote from Ricardo Vazquez Montero
My dream is to become a research professor to uncover the effects that social inequality has on neurodevelopment and the formation of mental disorders and implement interventions to disrupt these negative associations as well as be a mentor to those from underrepresented backgrounds in higher education
Research project
Associations Between Neighborhood Deprivation and Brain Regions Linked to Emotion Regulation Processes in Adolescence
Abstract
Adolescence is a critical period of development with significant changes in the brain that occur within the context of environmental supports and challenges that may influence neurodevelopment. Neighborhood deprivation has emerged as a potential key contextual influence on adolescent brain development. Using the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study database we examined associations between neighborhood deprivation in late childhood and the volume and thickness of brain regions linked to emotion regulation in early adolescence. We then examined whether greater school engagement and community cohesion may moderate these negative associations. Our findings suggest an association between neighborhood deprivation and reduced brain volume and thickness. When community cohesion and school engagement factors were added slight but not significant buffers were found. Our results add to the growing literature surrounding neighborhood deprivation and neurodevelopment and shed more light on the importance of resource and funding allocation to areas of high deprivation.
Faculty mentor
Dr. Sylia Wilson is an Associate Professor at the University of Minnesota’s Institute of Child Development. She completed her graduate training in Clinical Psychology at Northwestern University, clinical internship at the Minneapolis VA, and postdoctoral training at the University of Minnesota’s Minnesota Center for Twin and Family Research and the Institute of Child Development. Dr. Wilson’s research interests are in the developmental etiology of psychopathology; differentiating pre-existing neurobehavioral deviations that confer risk for psychopathology from the effects of psychopathology on neurobehavioral development; and the mechanisms by which early familial and environmental adversity disrupts and/or alters neurodevelopment in sensitive developmental periods, increasing risk for psychopathology.