Professional Bio

Joscelin Rocha-Hidalgo, Ph.D. is an Assistant Research Professor in the Cognition, Affect, and Temperament (CAT) Lab at Penn State, where she works closely with Dr. Koraly Pérez-Edgar on NIH-funded projects examining parent–child dynamics, socioemotional development, and neural synchrony. She earned her B.A. from Berea College (2016) and her M.A. (2020) and Ph.D. (2022) in Psychology from Georgetown University, with a concentration in Lifespan Cognitive Neuroscience. Her research integrates developmental neuroscience and psychobiology to investigate how early caregiver–child interactions shape children’s regulatory, cognitive, and socioemotional outcomes.