[1] Her research highlighted fundamental changes in amygdala-prefrontal cortex circuitry across childhood and adolescence and the influential role of early experiences on the developmental trajectories of these circuits.
[1] Tottenham received the National Academy of Sciences Troland Research Award in 2020[2] for "her innovative discoveries of critical windows of affective development during childhood and adolescence, their underlying neural basis at the circuit level and their disruption following early life stress.
[1][8] She attended graduate school at the University of Minnesota and obtained a joint Ph.D. in Child Psychology and Neuroscience in 2005, under the supervision of Charles Nelson and Megan Gunnar.
[8] During her time as an assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles Psychology Department in 2010, Tottenham received a National Institute of Mental Health Biobehavioral Research Award for Innovative New Scientists (BRAINS)[10][11][12] to examine developmental change in amygdala-prefrontal cortex circuitry under normal conditions as well as following early adversity.
[15][16] Tottenham found that children who spent extended amounts of time in institutionalized care developed an abnormal frontolimbic circuitry, both functionally and structurally, which reduced their ability to maintain eye contact and caused anxiety symptoms.
[19] The NimStim Set of facial Expressions is a broad dataset comprising 672 images of unnaturally posed photographs by 43 professional actors.