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Heather Brenhouse
Associate Professor of Psychology

Heather Brenhouse for Northeastern Global News

Childhood trauma changes your brain. But it doesn’t have to be permanent.

Childhood trauma changes your brain. But it doesn’t have to be permanent.

Neuroscientists are using rats to understand how infant trauma makes children, but especially girls, more likely to develop anxiety later.
How does the cheese challenge on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook affect a baby’s developing brain?
An Illustration of a baby with cheese getting thrown on its face.

How does the cheese challenge on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook affect a baby’s developing brain?

“Every experience is a brand-new experience for a baby,” says Northeastern professor Heather Brenhouse, who studies developmental neuroscience. So when they find themselves suddenly with a slice of cheese stuck to their face because their parents are joining a viral social media craze, “the babies have no reason to believe that this is good, bad, strange, or commonplace. They are learning with each experience.”
The stressed-out brain

The stressed-out brain

Heather Brenhouse, an assistant professor of psychology, has received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore the connection between childhood trauma and adolescent mental illness.
A leap of faith for adolescent behavioral health

A leap of faith for adolescent behavioral health

Heather Brenhouse, a newly appointed assistant professor of behavioral neuroscience, examines the impact of early life stress on adolescent behavioral disorders.