Faculty

Erika E Forbes, PhD

Erika E Forbes, PhD

Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics, Psychology and Clinical and Translational Science

Contact Details

121 Meyran Avenue
Pittsburgh
 
PA
 
15213
Phone (412) 383-5438
Email
Website
ANDP Lab

Education & Training

PhD
Clinical Psychology, University of Pittsburgh
Clinical Affective Neuroscience, University of Pittsburgh

Professional Affiliations

Fellow, Association for Psychological Science
Member, American Psychological Association
Member, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Member, Society for Research in Psychopathology
Member, Association for Psychological Science
Member, FLUX: Congress on Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience

Selected Honors & Awards

Eva King Killam Research Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
Emerging Mentor Award, Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
NARSAD Independent Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
NARSAD Young Investigator Award, Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
Fellowship Award, Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation

Research Interests

Clinical affective neuroscience; Reward & emotion neural circuitry in adolescents; Brain development
Selected Research Publications & Products
  1. Ambrosia M, Eckstrand KL, Morgan JK, Allen NB, Jones NP, Sheeber L, Silk JS, Forbes EE. Temptations of friends: adolescents' neural and behavioral responses to best friends predict risky behavior. Soc Cogn Affect Neurosci. 2018 May 1;13(5):483-491.
  2. Lichenstein SD, Musselman S, Shaw DS, Sitnick S, Forbes EE. Nucleus accumbens functional connectivity at age 20 is associated with trajectory of adolescent cannabis use and predicts psychosocial functioning in young adulthood. Addiction. 2017 Nov;112(11):1961-1970.
  3. Eckstrand KL, Choukas-Bradley S, Mohanty A, Cross M, Allen NB, Silk JS, Jones NP, Forbes EE. Heightened activity in social reward networks is associated with adolescents' risky sexual behaviors. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2017 Oct;27:1-9.
  4. Casement MD, Keenan KE, Hipwell AE, Guyer AE, Forbes EE. Neural Reward Processing Mediates the Relationship between Insomnia Symptoms and Depression in Adolescence. Sleep. 2016 Feb 1;39(2):439-47.
  5. Lichenstein SD, Verstynen T, Forbes EE. Adolescent brain development and depression: A case for the importance of connectivity of the anterior cingulate cortex. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Nov;70:271-287.

Education Interests

Research mentorship; Clinical psychology intern supervision

Clinical Interests

Depression, anxiety & sleep in adolescence

Pitt Psychiatry Hosts First Interventional Psychiatry Showcase

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Interventional psychiatry is a major focus for many Pitt Psychiatry clinical and research faculty members. In the clinical environment, interventional psychiatry entails the development and implementation of novel psychiatric treatments using devices and innovative pharmacology, alone or with cognitive or behavioral treatment strategies. In interventional psychiatry research, investigators marry technology...

The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium: Presenting Translational Research in Developmental Psychopathology

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The Developmental Affective Neuroscience Symposium (DANS) presents recent translational research in developmental psychopathology. The 2023 DANS theme was “ Neurodevelopment of Regulatory Systems: A Focus on Emotions and Motivation ,” featuring research focused on the development of neural networks and circuitries implicated in regulating or modulating neural response to emotionally or motivationally salient...

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience: Mother–Child Neural Synchronization Is Time Linked to Mother–Child Positive Affective State Matching

Researcher and Child with Headsets On

In the first years of life, affective state matching, in which mothers and children imitate and elaborate on each other’s positive emotional expressions—through shared smiling, mutual eye gaze, back-and-forth vocalizations, and joint play—is a hallmark of early mother-child interactions. In addition, positive affective state matching also appears to promote child emotional self-regulation through the process in...

Meet the Pitt Psychiatry Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity Leadership & Advisory Council

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The Department of Psychiatry Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity (DEI) Leadership Council represents the recent step in a continued journey to enhance DEI in our community ( learn more about this work here ). Composed of nine Department of Psychiatry faculty members, the Council provides continuity and dynamism to our DEI-related efforts, so that we can continue to engage our academic community in a way that matches...

New Research: Maternal Response to Positive Affect Moderates the Impact of Familial Risk for Depression on Ventral Striatal Response to Winning Reward in Children

Morgan et al. Biological Psychiatry 2022

Adolescent offspring of depressed parents show diminished response to reward in the ventral striatum. Though factors associated with neural alterations in childhood are poorly understood, altered reward response may emerge before adolescence in offspring at familial risk for depression. A group of investigators, including Pitt Psychiatry scientists Judith Morgan, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry and...