Skip to content
CIFAR header logo
fr
menu_mobile_logo_alt
  • News
  • Events
    • Public Events
    • Invitation-only Meetings
  • Programs
    • Research Programs
    • Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
    • Next Generation Initiatives
  • People
    • Fellows & Advisors
    • CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars
    • Canada CIFAR AI Chairs
    • AI Strategy Leadership
    • Solution Network Members
    • Leadership
  • Support Us
  • About
    • Our Story
    • CIFAR 40
    • Awards
    • Partnerships
    • Publications & Reports
    • Careers
    • Staff Directory
    • Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
  • fr
  • Home
  • Bio

Follow Us

Allyson Mackey

Allyson Mackey

Appointment

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2020-2022

Child & Brain Development

Connect

Website

About

Children today will be responsible for solving our world’s toughest problems including climate and inequality.

Allyson Mackey is interested in how children learn problem solving skills: how they build reasoning through practice, creativity through play, and curiosity through exploration. She studies how children’s early experiences shape their ability to learn new skills, their brain plasticity. Negative experiences, like trauma and poverty, may restrict brain plasticity, and positive experiences, such as high-quality early education and supportive parenting, may promote brain plasticity. Mackey’s work maps the variability in brain plasticity to inform the type and timing of educational interventions.

Awards

  • Association for Psychological Science Rising Star Award
  • Jacobs Early Career Research Fellowship

Relevant Publications

  • Leonard, J.A. , Martinez, D. N., Dashineau, S., Park, A.T. , & Mackey, A. P. (2019). Children Persist Less When Adults Take Over. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/xkshv in press at Child Development

  • Leonard, J.A., Romeo, R.R., Park, A., Takada, M.E., Robinson, S.T., Grotzinger, H., Last, B.S., Finn, A.S., Gabrieli, J.D.E., & Mackey, A.P. (2019) The neural correlates of reasoning differ by socioeconomic status in development. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. 36, 100641.

  • Park A.T. , Leonard J.A., Saxler P., Cyr A.B., Gabrieli J.D.E, & Mackey A.P. (2018) Amygdala-medial prefrontal functional connectivity relates to stress exposure and mental health in early childhood. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. 13(4): 430-439.

  • Mackey, A. P., Finn, A. S., Leonard, J. A., Jacoby-Senghor, D. S., West, M. R., Gabrieli, C. F. O., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2015). Neuroanatomical correlates of the income-achievement gap. Psychological Science, 26(6), 925–933.

  • Mackey, A. P., Miller Singley, A. T., & Bunge, S. A. (2013). Intensive reasoning training alters patterns of brain connectivity at rest. The Journal of Neuroscience: The Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience, 33(11), 4796–4803.

Institution

University of Pennsylvania

Department

Department of Psychology

Education

  • PhD (Neuroscience), University of California, Berkeley
  • BS (Biological Sciences), Stanford University

Country

United States

Support Us

CIFAR is a registered charitable organization supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Quebec, as well as foundations, individuals, corporations and Canadian and international partner organizations.

Donate Now
CIFAR header logo

MaRS Centre, West Tower
661 University Ave., Suite 505
Toronto, ON M5G 1M1 Canada

Contact Us
Media
Careers
Accessibility Policies
Supporters
Financial Reports
Subscribe

  • © Copyright 2023 CIFAR. All Rights Reserved.
  • Charitable Registration Number: 11921 9251 RR0001
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy
  • Sitemap

Subscribe

Stay up to date on news & ideas from CIFAR.

This website stores cookies on your computer. These cookies are used to collect information about how you interact with our website and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics and metrics about our visitors both on this website and other media. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy.
Accept Learn more