Tracy Riggins, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology
Biology/Psychology Building 2147E
riggins@umd.edu
Curriculum Vitae

Tracy (DeBoer) Riggins received her Ph.D. in Child Psychology from the Institute of Child Development at the University of Minnesota in 2005. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in pediatric neuroimaging at the University of California, Davis and the University of Maryland, School of Medicine in Baltimore. The goal of her research program is to provide better understanding of the neural bases of cognitive development. The empirical research conducted in her laboratory involves both typically developing children and children at-risk for cognitive impairments and uses a combination of behavioral and neuroimaging methodologies. Findings from her research have shown impairments in children’s memory performance as a result of prenatal iron deficiency, associations between hippocampal volume reductions and cognitive abilities in children with chromosomal abnormalities, and deficits in functional brain activity in adolescents with a history of prenatal drug exposure.

Dr. Riggins currently teaches an undergraduate course in Developmental Psychology (PSYC355) and a graduate seminar on Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience.