Martha Farah | University of Pennsylvania Department of Psychology

Annenberg Professor of Natural Sciences; Director of the Center for Neuroscience & Society

Department:

Psychology

Education:

SB, Philosophy, MIT; Ph.D., Experimental Psychology, Harvard University

Address:

Center for Neuroscience & Society, 3710 Hamilton Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6241

Phone:

215-573-3531

Email:

mfarah@psych.upenn.edu

Personal Page

Research Themes:

Behavioral Neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience

Developmental Psychology

Specific Research Areas:

Cognitive, social and developmental neuroscience, especially the effects of socioeconomic status on brain development, and neuroethics

Research Synopsis:

I am a cognitive neuroscientist who works on problems at the interface of neuroscience and society. These include:

the effects of childhood poverty on brain development
the expanding use of neuropsychiatric medications by healthy people for brain enhancement
novel uses of brain imaging, in e.g. legal, diagnostic and educational contexts
the many ways in which neuroscience is changing the way we think of ourselves as physical, mental, moral and spiritual beings

Appointments:

Psychology Graduate Group; Neuroscience Graduate Group

Advisees:

Dena M. Gromet [Post-doc]
Daniel Hackman [Psychology Graduate Student]
Irena Ilieva [Psychology Graduate Student]
Gwen Lawson [Psychology Graduate Student]

Representative Publications:

Farah, M.J. (2005). Neuroethics: The practical and the philosophical. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9, 34-40.

Farah, M.J., Shera, D.M., Savage, J.H., Betancourt, L., Giannetta, J.M., Brodsky, N.L., Malmud, E.K. & Hurt, H. (2006). Childhood poverty: Specific associations with neurocognitive development. Brain Research, 1110, 166-174.

Farah, M.J. & Heberlein, A.S. (2007). Personhood and neuroscience: Naturalizing or nihilating? American Journal of Bioethics – Neuroscience. (Target Article) 7, 37-48.

Farah, M.J.,Betancourt, L., Shera, D.M., Savage, J.H., Giannetta, J.M., Brodsky, N.L., Elsa K. Malmud, E.K., Hurt, H. (2008). Environmental stimulation, parental nurturance and cognitive development in humans. Developmental Science, 15, 793-801.

Greely, H.T., Sahakian, B., Harris, J., Kessler, R., Gazzaniga, M.S., Campbell, P. & Farah, M.J. (2008). Toward responsible use of cognitive enhancing drugs by the healthy. Nature, 456, 702-705.

Farah, M.J. (2009). A picture is worth a thousand dollars (Editorial), Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, 623-624.

Farah, M.J. & Murphy, N. (2009). Neuroscience and the soul. Science, 323, 1168.

Farah, M.J.,, Smith, M.E., Gawuga, C., Lindsell, D. & Foster, D. (2009). Brain imaging and brain privacy: A realistic concern? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 21, 119-127.

Hackman, D. & Farah, M.J. (2009). Socioeconomic status and brain development. Trends in Cognitive Sciences,13, 65-73.

Rao, H., Betancourt, L.M., Giannetta, J.M.. Brodsky, N.L., Korczykowski, M., Avants, B.B., Gee, J.C, Wang, J.J., Hurt, H., Detre, J.A., Farah, M.J. (2010). Early parental care is important for hippocampal maturation: Evidence from brain morphology in humans. Neuroimage, 49, 1144-1150.

Hackman, D.A., Farah, M.J. & Meaney, M.J. (2010). Socioeconomic status and the brain: Mechanistic insights from human and animal research. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11, 651-659.

Smith, M.E. & Farah, M.J. (in press). Are prescription stimulants “smart pills”? The epidemiology and cognitive neuroscience of prescription stimulant use by normal healthy individuals. Psychological Bulletin,