HUD Colloquium Fall 2025 Presents: Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar

The Human Development Colloquium Series Presents:

Dyadic Social Dynamics Captured via Parent-Child Synchrony

Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar

Professor of Psychology

Associate Director, Social Science Research Institute
Editor-in-Chief, Developmental Psychology

Penn State University Park

Bio: Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar is the McCourtney Professor of Child Studies at Penn State University. Her research examines trajectories of early socioemotional development from infancy through adolescence, focusing on early appearing temperament traits and their impact on the ways
children respond to, and engage with, their environment. In conducting her work, Dr. Pérez-Edgar has taken a multi-method approach involving direct observation of behavior, cognitive measures, eye-tracking, psychophysiology, and neuroimaging. Dr. Pérez-Edgar is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) and the recipient of numerous awards including a
Cattell Sabbatical Award and an NIMH R01 BRAINS Award. She is also the recipient of the APA Division 7 Mentor Award. Currently, she is the Editor-in-Chief of Developmental Psychology.

Abstract: This talk will explore how parent-child synchrony supports dyadic social dynamics, highlighting novel markers of risk for socioemotional difficulties and specific targets for intervention that are embedded
within the dyad. Dyadic social dynamics act as a conduit for parent-to-child transmission of traits, capturing daily moment-to-moment interactions. These dyadic processes influence the developmental trajectory from familial risk to symptoms, acting on risk mechanisms evident before any disorder onset. Dyadic synchrony, the coordination between parent and child across neural,
autonomic, behavioral, and emotional levels, may influence how children internalize and reflect modeled distress. This research serves as a framework for targeting dyadically-linked biobehavioral mechanisms that highlighted the socially embedded child.