The University of Texas at Austin · NeuroscienceAdolescent Brain Development Lab
Alison R Preston · Austin, Texas
Research Focus
Dr. Alison R. Preston's research focuses on understanding how specific brain areas develop during adolescence and how this relates to memory and reasoning abilities. By studying the hippocampus and frontoparietal cortex, her lab aims to uncover why memory becomes more complex as we age and how these changes might impact learning and mental health. The findings could lead to better strategies for supporting cognitive development in young people.
adolescent brain developmentmemoryreasoninghippocampusfrontoparietal cortexcognitive developmentfunctional MRIneural representationmental health disorderslearning processes
Research Aims
3AIM 01Test how the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex develop and affect memory as adolescents grow.
AIM 02Explore how memory reactivation influences reasoning abilities during different stages of adolescence.
AIM 03Investigate how control of memory retrieval changes during adolescence and affects learning outcomes.
Skills the Lab Values
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)data analysislongitudinal study designcomputational modelingcognitive testingmemory assessmentneuroimaging techniquesstatistical analysis using software like R or Pythonexperimental design
Output against the department
Publications106bottom 36% of dept.426th of 671
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations8.6ktop 45% of dept.299th of 671
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.