Adriana Galván is Professor of Psychology and the Jeffrey/Wenzel Chair in Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of California, Los Angeles.  She also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Psychiatry and is a faculty member of the Brain Research Institute at UCLA.  Dr. Galván is also on the Leadership Team and Advisory Board of the Center for the Developing Adolescent.  Her research focuses on identifying the neural changes in the developing adolescent brain as they relate to adolescent decision-making and motivation with an eye towards informing policies relevant to young people.  She uses brain imaging, survey methods, cognitive tests, interviews, and physiological assays to characterize the psychological, neurobiological and biological changes across the transition into and out of adolescence. Current projects examine the interactions among social relationships, sleep, and health with adolescent decision-making, motivation and brain development.  Her work has been featured in prestigious peer-reviewed journals such as Neuron, PNAS, Psychological Science, and Journal of Neuroscience, and highlighted in popular outlets such as the Washington Post and Los Angeles Times and cited in the U.S. Supreme Court.

Dr. Galván earned her B.A. in Neuroscience and Behavior from Barnard College, Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Cornell University.  She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Behavior.

Visit our library to view Adriana Galván's papers related to learning mindsets.

Associated Publications