Susan M. Rivera, Ph.D.

Professor, Department of Psychology, College of Letters and Science

UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute
2825 50th Street
Sacramento, CA 95817
E-mail:  srivera@ucdavis.edu
Web site:  http://mindbrain.ucdavis.edu/people/srivera/Rivera 

Dr. Rivera studies neurocognitive development in typical development as well as in atypically developing populations including autism, fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome.  Her laboratory uses behavioral, eye-tracking and neuroimaging techniques to investigate the development of dorsal vs. ventral visual processing, object representation, numerical cognition and affective processing.

Rivera, S.M. & Reiss, A.L. (in press).  From genes to brain to behavior:  The case of fragile X Syndrome.  In J. Rumsey & M. Ernst (Eds.), Neuroimaging in Developmental Clinical Neuroscience.  Cambridge University Press.
Nordahl, C.W., Dierker, D., Mostafavi, I., Schumann, C.M., Rivera, S.M., Amaral, D.G., and Van Essen, D.C. (in press). Cortical folding abnormalities in children with autism revealed by surface-based morphometry. Journal of Neuroscience.
Adams, J.S., Adams, P.E., Nguyen, D., Brunberg, J.A., Tassone, F., Zhang, W., Rivera, S.M., Koldewyn, K., Grigsby, J., DeCarlie, C., Hagerman, P. and Hagerman, R.J. (2007). Volumetric brain changes in females with fragile X associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS). Neurology, 69(9):851-859.
Simon, T.J., Rivera, S.M. (2007). Neuroanatomical Approaches to the Study of Mathematical Ability and Disability.  In D. B. Berch & M. M. M. Mazzocco (Eds.), Why is Math So Hard for Some Children? The Nature and Origins of Mathematical Learning Difficulties and Disabilities. Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co.
Hessl, D.H., Rivera, S.M., Koldewyn, K. Cordeiro, L., Adams, J., Tassone, F., Hagerman, P.J. and Hagerman, R.J. (2007).  Amygdala dysfunction in men with the fragile X premutation. Brain, 130 (2):404-16.
Rivera, S.M. & Zawaydeh, A.N. (2006). Word Comprehension Facilitates Object Individuation in10- and 11-month-old Infants. Brain Research, doi:10.1016/j.brainres.2006.08.112.
Cohen S., Masyn, K, Adams J., Hessl D., Rivera, S.M., Cogswell J., Tassone F., Grigsby J., Brunberg J., Leehey, M., Loesch, D., DeCarli, C., Hagerman P., Hagerman R. (2006). Molecular and Imaging Correlates of the Fragile X-Associated tremor Ataxia Syndrome (FXTAS).  Neurology, 67 (8), 1426-1431.
Rivera, S.M. and Koldewyn, K.  (2005). Unraveling the mystery of motion perception impairments in autism:  Some further considerations. Current Psychology of Cognition 23(1-2):189-197.
Williams, S.E., Rivera, S.M. and Reiss, A.L. (2005). Functional MRI of Working Memory in Pediatric Head Injury: A Longitudinal Case Study. Brain Injury, 19(7), 549-53.
Rivera, S.M., Reiss, A.L, Eckert, M.A., and Menon, V.  (2005). Developmental changes in mental arithmetic:  Evidence for increased functional specialization of the left inferior parietal cortex.  Cerebral Cortex, 15(5), 1779-1790.
Hessl,D.,  Rivera, S.M., and Reiss, A.L (2004.)  The Neuroanatomy and Neuroendocrinology of Fragile X Syndrome.  Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 10: 17-24.
Langer, J., Rivera, S.M., Schlesinger, M., and Wakeley, A. (2002).  Early Cognitive Development: Ontogeny and Phylogeny.  In: Valsiner, J. & Connolly, K. (Eds.),  Handbook of Developmental Psychology.  London:  Sage.
Rivera, S.M., Menon, V., White, C.D., Glaser, B., Glover, G. and Reiss, A.L. (2002). Functional brain activation during arithmetic processing in females with fragile X Syndrome is related to FMR-1 protein expression. Human Brain Mapping.16(4),206-218.
Menon, V., Mackenzie, K., Rivera, S.M., & Reiss, A.L. (2002). Prefrontal Cortex Involvement in Processing Incorrect Arithmetic Equations: Evidence From Event-Related fMRI. Human Brain Mapping, 16(3), 119-130.
Menon V., Rivera S.M., White C.D., Eliez S., Glover G.H., Reiss A.L. (2000).  Functional Optimization of Arithmetic Processing in Perfect Performers. Cognitive Brain Research, 9 (3) 343-345.
Menon V., Rivera S.M., White C.D., Glover G.H., Reiss A.L.  (2000).  Dissociating Prefrontal and Parietal Activation During Arithmetic Processing.  Neuroimage, 12, (4), 357-365.
Wakeley, A., Rivera, S.M. & Langer, J. (2000).  Can young infants add and subtract?  Child Development, 71(6), 1525-1534.
Wakeley, A., Rivera, S.M., and Langer, J. (2000). Not proved: Reply to Wynn. Child Development, 71(6),1537-1539.
Rivera, S.M., Wakeley, A. & Langer, J.  (1999). The drawbridge phenomenon:  representational reasoning or perceptual preference?   Developmental Psychology, v35(2), 427-435.

Koldewyn, K., Henry, M. Le, L. and Rivera, S.M.  Children with autism show differences in brain activation, despite similar behavioral performance, on a mental arithmetic task.  Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, New York, NY, May 5-8, 2007.
Reynolds, E.A., Pinter, J., Koldewyn, K., Le, L., Backer, K., Tang, M., and Rivera, S.M. Deficient intraparietal sulcus activity during number comparison in individuals with Down syndrome. Poster presented at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting, New York, NY, May 5-8, 2007.
Saron, C.D., Horton, D.M., DeBoer, T., Beransky, M., Colombi, C. and Rivera, S.M.  Attenuated primary auditory cortex activation in toddlers with autism spectrum disorders:  Evidence from high-density middle latency AEPS. Poster presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, Seattle, WA, May 3-5, 2007.
Rivera, S.M., Koldewyn, K., Tassone, F., Hagerman, R., Hessl, D. FMRI evidence of amygdala dysfunction in men with the fragile X premutation. Paper presented at the 10th International Fragile X Conference, Atlanta, GA, July, 2006.
Koldewyn, K., Rivera, S.M., Hessl, D., Tassone, F., Hagerman, R.H.  Evidence of hippocampal dysfunction in males with the fragile X premutation.  Paper presented at the 10th International Fragile X Conference, Atlanta, GA, July, 2006.
Farzin, F., Mastergeorge, A., Kirkham, N., Hagerman, R.H., Rivera, S.M.  Information Processing in Infants with Fragile X Syndrome.  Paper presented at the 10th International Fragile X Conference, Atlanta, GA, July, 2006.
Saron, C.D., Horton, D.M., Coffey-Corina, S., Rivera, S.M.  Sensorimotor and multisensory deficits of integration: a behavioral and ERP investigation of children with autism spectrum disorders.  Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, Montreal, Canada, June, 2006.
Koldewyn, K., Hessl, D.H., Tassone, F., Cordeiro, L., Hagerman, R.H., Rivera, S.M.  Psychophysical and fMRI evidence of amygdala dysfunction in men with the fragile X premutation.  Poster presented at the Annual Cognitve Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April, 2006.
Saron, C.D., Horton, D.M., Coffey-Corina, S., Rivera, S.M.   Sight, sound, and touch unbound: an ERP investigation of multisensory integration deficits in children with autistim spectrum disorders. Poster presented at the Annual Cognitve Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April, 2006.
Rivera, S.M., Henry, M.H., Crone, E., Reynolds, E., Herrera, A., Herrera, A., Chen, I., van der Maas, H., Langer, J.  Neural basis of protracted developmental changes in proportional reasoning.  Poster presented at the Annual Cognitve Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April, 2006. 
Rivera, S.M. The neural bases of quantitative reasoning, insights from typical and atypical development.  Invited talk at the Annual American Educational Research Association Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April, 2006.
Rivera, S.M., ,  Koldewyn, K., Henry, M.L., and Solomon, M. Performance disparity cannot explain differences in brain activation in children with autism.  Paper presented at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Washington, D.C., November, 2005.
Koldewyn, K., Rivera, S.M., Hessl, D., Tassone, F. and Hagerman, R.  Evidence of hippocampal dysfunction in males with the fragile X permutation.  Paper presented at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Washington, D.C., November, 2005.
Saron, C.D., Horton, D.M. and Rivera, S.M.  Visual, auditory, and somatosensory stimuli in the same perceptual binding domain: A trisensory stimulator for investigating multisensory integration deficits in autism using reaction time and high-density event-related potentials.  Paper presented at the annual Society for Neuroscience Meeting, Washington, D.C., November, 2005.
Henry, M.L., Crone, E., Langer, J., van der Maas, H., and Rivera, S.M.  Investigating the Neural Organization of Reasoning Skills in Children and Adults Using the Balance Scale Task.  Paper presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA, April, 2005.
Koldewyn, K., Henry, M.L., Soloman, M. and Rivera, S.M. Children with autism show functional activation differences on a response inhibition task.  Paper presented at the Annual Congitve Neuroscience Society Meeting, New York, NY, April, 2005.
Rivera, S.M., Koldewyn, K. and Henry, M.  Children with autism show a different functional nueroarchitecture regardless of differences in behavioral performance.  Paper presented at the Society for Neuroscience Meeting, San Diego, CA, October, 2004.
Rivera, S.M., David, N., Barcellos, T., Henry, M.L. and Hagerman, R.J.  Effects of the fragile X-associated Tremor Ataxia Syndrome on cerebellar functioning: An fMRI study.  Invited Symposium talk:  9th International Fragile X Conference, Washington, DC, June, 2004.
Rivera, S.M., Mikaelian, B. and Henry, M.L. Differences in brain activation in children with autism independent of behavioral performance.  Paper presented at the International Meeting for Autism Research, Sacramento, CA, May, 2004.
David, N., Rivera, S.M., and Hagerman, R.J. An fMRI Study of Cerebellar Dysfunction in Fragile X-associated Tremor/ Ataxia Syndrome.  Paper to be presented at the Annual Congitve Neuroscience Society Meeting, San Francisco, CA, April, 2004.
Rivera, S.M.  Using fMRI to show the neural substrates of stage-like learning:  the case of conservation reasoning.  Symposium talk presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL, April, 2003.

Principal Investigator: Visual Processing and Later Cognitive Effects in Infants with fragile X Syndrome, NIH/NICHD, 8/8/07-5/31/12, $ 1,274,000.  This project is a prospective, longitudinal study that will elucidate early visual processing differences in infants with fragile X Syndrome and how abnormal visual processing, if present, relates to cognitive deficits known to emerge in early childhood.

Principal Investigator: Amygdala Function in Children and Adolescents with Fragile X Syndrome, NIH/NIMH, 9/1/07-8/31/09,  $417,000. The goal of the project is to investigate molecular, neuroanatomical and functional aspects of amygdala dysfunction in child and adolescent females and high-functioning males with the fragile X full mutation.

Principal Investigator:  Biological Motion Perception in Autism:  A window into social cognition deficits?, Autism Speaks Mentored Research Award, 1/1/07-12/31/08, $56,000. 
The goal of this project is to gain new knowledge about the social deficits seen in autism by studying biological motion perception. It employs fMRI paradigms probing both biological motion and coherent motion perception, in an effort to determine to what extent these deficits can be explained primarily as a dorsal stream deficit versus deficits in higher-order social cognition areas.

Co-Principal Investigator (Saron, PI): Behavioral and Brain Responses to Sensory Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Cure Autism Now, 11/01/05-10/31/07, $120,000.
This project examines the behavioral (reaction time), electromyographic (EMG), and brain (EEG) responses to sensory processing in children with Austism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) as compared to typically developing (TD) children. Specifically, it examines the integration of multiple sensory systems through analysis of dense-channel array event related potentials (ERPs) elicited in response to visual, auditory, and somatosensory stimuli delivered alone or in simultaneous combination

Co-Principal Investgator (Hessl, PI): Limbic system function in carriers of the fragile X premutation, NIH/NIMH, $1,500,000. 
This project investigates relations between molecular genetic, neuropsychological and physiological systems underlying social-emotional and memory functioning in adult males with the fragile X premutation.

Co-Investigator on Project 4 (Hagerman, overall PI): NeuroTherapeutics Research Consortium, NIH/NCRR, $1,792,000 .
The principal objective of the Research Consortium is implementation of a highly integrated, interdisciplinary approach to develop targeted molecular therapeutics for neurogenetic disorders, using the late-onset neurodegenerative disorder fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS) as its principal research paradigm. The fundamental challenge addressed by the Consortium is how to develop and integrate the various components required to achieve (and measure) a targeted therapeutic response to a CNS disorder.

Ad-hoc journal reviewer 

Biological Psychiatry
Brain Research
Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Cognitive Development
Child Development
Developmental Psychology
Development and Psychopathology
Neuroimage

Ad-hoc grant reviewer for National Science Foundation (ongoing)

Ad-hoc grant reviewer for National Institute of Health (ongoing)

Provided materials for “Featured Scientist” exhibit, Explorit Science Center (Oct-Dec, 2002)

Served on National Science Foundation Review Panel (Cognitive Neuroscience Program) in Washington, DC (June, 2003).

2005-2006       M.I.N.D. Institute Pilot Research Grant Award Recipient
2005-2006       Grant to Promote Extra-Mural Funding, U.C. Davis
2003-2004       Faculty Research Grant Recipient, U.C. Davis
2003-2004       M.I.N.D. Institute Faculty Pilot Grant Award Recipient
2001-2002       IGA Junior Faculty Research Award
2000-2001       National Institute of Health Postdoctoral Training Fellowship