*** Dr. Hudac is accepting CNS students for Fall 2024 ***

BACKGROUND: 

Dr. Hudac received her Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2014,  completed postdoctoral training at the University of Washington, and was an Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama before coming to UofSC in 2022. She directs the Brain Research Across Development (B-RAD) Laboratory (https://www.b-radlab.com/). Her work uses a variety of cognitive neuroscience techniques, including EEG/ERP, eye tracking, and fMRI, to better understand how the brain changes as infants, children, adolescents, and adults learn about others. Her current work emphasizes a few specific topics:

Understanding the social brain:  We primarily focus on the development of the social brain, including basic processes (e.g., social attention, intrinsic social motivation) and higher-ordered social cognition (e.g., understanding goal-oriented behavior, reasoning about others, emotion regulation). We implement a variety of statistical techniques to better understand the unique contribution of different cognitive substages. We work with neurotypical populations to better understand these mechanisms with an emphasis on how the social brain responds dynamically (i.e. moment-to-moment).
Neurodevelopmental disorders: We work to identify "biomarkers" that may be critical for generating targeted treatments for neurodiverse individuals, including people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) diagnoses.  We aim to identify unique subgroups by examining patterns across biomarkers -- for instance, subgroups based upon genetic etiology or based upon behavioral profile. Current efforts in biomarker development target GRIN2B, SCN2A, DYRK1A, and CHD8 disruptive mutations.
Addressing disparities: We investigate brain development in populations that are historically represented in research, including rural and minority populations. Several of our projects directly tackle this aim: for instance, we are currently working to showcase our methodologies for completing EEG/ERP testing with minimally verbal youth, as well as working closely with community members and hairstylists to solve technological (equipment) hurdles to improve research experiences for individuals with coarse and curly hair. More broadly, we are committed to overcoming traditional barriers to participation through community engagement, as well as creative solutions to reduce burden on families (e.g., researchers travel to complete EEG testing using portable equipment).  

RECENT & REPRESENTATIVE PUBLICATIONS

1. Hudac, C.M., Wallace, J., Ward, V.R., Friedman, N.R., Delfin, D., & Newman, S. (2022). Dynamic cognitive inhibition in the context of frustration: Increasing racial representation of adolescent athletes using mobile community-engaged EEG methods. Frontiers Neurology, 13, 2022.
2. Hudac, C.M., Naples, A., DesChamps, T.D., Coffman, M.C., Kresse, A., Ward, T., Mukerji, C., Aaronson, B., Faja, S., McPartland, J., & Bernier, R. (2021). Modeling temporal connectivity of face processing in youth and adults. Social Neuroscience, 2021: 1-17.
3. Hudac, C.M., Santhosh, M., Celerian, C., Chung, K-M., Jung, W., & Webb, S.J. (2021) The role of racial and developmental experience in emotional adaptive coding. Developmental Neuropsychology, 1-16.
4. Earl, R.K., Ward, T., Gerdts, J., Eichler, E.E., Bernier, R.A., & Hudac, C.M. (2021). Sleep problems in children with ASD and gene disrupting mutations. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 182(5) doi: 10.1080/00221325.2021.1922869.
5. Hudac, C.M. (2019). Rapid dynamic modulation of ostracism neural responses following social priming. Social Neuroscience, 14(3), 313-327.
6. Beighley, J.S.*, Hudac, C.M.*, Arnett, A.B., Peterson, J.L., Gerdts, J., Wallace, A.S., Mefford, H., Hoekzema, K., Turner, T.N., O’Roak, B.J., Eichler, E.E., & Bernier, R.A. (2019). Clinical and behavioral phenotypes of carriers of mutations in CHD8 or its conserved target genes. Biological Psychiatry, 87(2), 123-131. (Link to webinar Spectrum presentation)
7. Hudac, C.M., DesChamps, T.D., Arnett, A.B., Cairney, B.E., Ma, R., Webb, S.J., & Bernier, R.A. (2018). Early enhanced processing and delayed habituation to deviance sounds in autism spectrum disorder. Brain and Cognition, 123, 110-119.
8. Kaiser, M. D., Hudac, C. M., Shultz, S., Lee, S., Cheung, C., Berken, A. M., Deen, B., Pitskel, N. B., Sugrue, D. R., Voos, A. C., Saulnier, C. A., Ventola, P., Wolf, J.M., Klin, A., Vander Wyk, B. C., & Pelphrey, K. A. (2010). Neural signatures of autism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107, 49, 21223-21228.