

Associate Professor
Chair, Children, Youth and Families Field of Practice
McGuinn Hall 209
Telephone: 617-552-1866
Email: j.black@bc.edu
Resilience, education, child and adolescent development, neurodevelopmental disabilities, social-emotional learning
Nature Reviews Neuroscience: The neural basis of humour processing
Cognitive Neuroscience Society: What Shapes a Child’s Sense of Humor?
Jessica M. Black, PhD, is an Educational Neuroscientist and an Associate Professor at the Boston College School of Social Work (BCSSW). She obtained her doctorate in Educational Psychology from Stanford University School of Education and then completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research within the Stanford University School of Medicine.
Dr. Black’s research integrates the use of neuroimaging (functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging), standard neuropsychological behavioral testing and environmental measures, such as the home supports, to predict outcome in children with risk for school failure. Within this population, Dr. Black focuses primarily on children with diagnosis of or risk for learning disabilities, specifically developmental dyslexia. Keenly interested in childhood resilience, Dr. Black has extended her neuroimaging research to better understand the neural underpinnings of humor and the extent to which humor and positive emotion generally may contribute to resilience during pivotal transitions in the lives of youth.
Dr. Black has published in top research journals such as Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, and The Journal of Neuroscience. To learn more about Dr. Black’s publications and research please view her Google Scholar Citation Profile and Research Gate Profile. Dr. Black collaborates with The Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Stanford University School of Medicine, The Brain LENS Lab at the University of California, San Francisco, and The Gabrieli Lab at Massachusetts Institue of Technology.
Dr. Black is also engaged in integrating neuroscience into social work research, education and training. She is the Chair of the Neuroscience in Social Work Special Interest Group (SIG) within the Society for Social Work and Research, and is the Chair of the inaugural Social Work and Neuroscience Intersections Symposium and Conference held at the Boston College School of Social Work in the fall of 2015. Dr. Black teaches SCWK7721 Human Behavior and the Social Environment, SCWK7726 Neuroscience of Human Relationships and Development, and SCWK7724Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience in the Life Course. Completion of these three courses leads to the Neuroscience and Social Work Certificate within the BCSSW.
In addition she is the faculty advisor to the BCSSW Social Brain Book Club and is working to integrate neuroscience research into several foundation courses within the BCSSW. Dr. Black is thrilled to be on the faculty within such an innovative and transformative environment and looks forward to continuing to provide social work students with education, training, and research opportunities in neuroscience.
Hendren, R. L., Haft, S. L., Black, J. M., White, N. C., & Hoeft, F. (2018). Recognizing psychiatric comorbidity with Reading Disorders. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9, 101.
Black, J. M., & Conway, A. M. (2018). The importance of developmental neuroscience for social work research and practice with children and adolescents. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 9(2): 261-284.
Patael, S. Z., Farris, E. A., Black, J. M., Hancock, R., Gabrieli, J. D. E., Cutting, L. E., & Hoeft, F. (2018). Brain basis of cognitive resilience: Prefrontal cortex predicts better reading comprehension in relation to decoding. PLOS ONE.
Black J. M., Xia Z., & Hoeft F. (2017). Neurobiological bases of reading disorder part II: The importance of developmental considerations in typical and atypical reading. Lang Linguist Compass. https://doi.org/10.1111/lnc3.12252
Black, J. M. (2017). Positive emotion. Encyclopedia of Social Work: Oxford University Press. April, DOI:10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.013.1241.
Myers, C. A., Wang, C. Black, J. M., Bugescu, N., & Hoeft, F. (2016). The matter of motivation: Striatal resting-state connectivity is dissociable between grit and mindset. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(10): 1521-1527.
Yamagata, B., Murayama, K., Black, J. M., Hancock, R., Mimura, M., Yang, T. T., Reiss, A. L., & Hoeft, F. (2016). Female-specific intergenerational transmission patterns of the human corticolimbic circuitry. Journal of Neuroscience, 36(4): 1254-60.
Black, J. M., & Hoeft, F. (2015). Utilizing biopsychosocial and strengths-based approaches within the field of child health: What we know and where we can grow. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 147: 13-20.
*Vrticka, P., *Black, J. M., & Reiss, A. L. (2013). The neural basis of humor processing. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 14: 860-868. (*equal contributors)
Black, J. M., Tanaka, H., Stanley, L., Nagamine, M., Zakerani, N., Thurston, A., Kesler, S., Hulme, C., Lyytinen, H., Glover, G. H., Serrone, C., Raman, M. M., Reiss, A. L., & Hoeft, F. (2012). Maternal history of reading difficulty is associated with reduced language-related gray matter in beginning readers. NeuroImage, 59(3): 3021-3032.
Faculty Research Expense Grant (REG), Boston College: Black (PI)
Dates: 06/01/2016 – 5/31/2017
Biomarkers in Adolescent Development and Resilience
Ignite Grant, Boston College: Black (PI)
Dates: 06/01/2014 – 5/31/2015
Using a Biopsychosocial Lens to Examine Risk and Protective Processes in Students with
Learning Disabilities
Teaching and Mentoring Award (TAM), Boston College: Black (PI)
Dates: 06/01/2012 – 5/31/2014
Integrating Neurobiological Perspectives on Development into Social Work Teaching and Mentoring
Faculty Research Incentive Grant (RIG), Boston College: Black (PI)
Dates: 06/01/2012 – 5/31/2014
Prediction of Reading Achievement in Young Children
Faculty Research Expense Grant (REG), Boston College: Black (PI)
Dates: 06/01/2011 – 5/31/2012
Genetics Methodology Short Course, Jackson Laboratory
Children’s Health Research Program Pediatric Research Fund: Reiss (PI)
Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Stanford University School of Medicine
Dates: 01/01/2010 – 12/31/2011
Role: Co-Investigator
Neural Correlates of Humor During Childhood
NIH Research Training Grant (T32): Reiss (PI)
Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research, Stanford University School of Medicine
Dates: 06/2008 – 06/2010
Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Supervisor: Dr. Allan L. Reiss
NIH Research Training Grant
Teaching Excellence Award, Boston College School of Social Work, 2016
Teaching Excellence Award, Boston College School of Social Work, 2015
Scholarship Excellence Award, Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, 2014
Teaching Excellence Award, Boston College Graduate School of Social Work, 2013
Phi Beta Kappa, Alpha of California at the University of California, 1998
Summa Cum Laude, University of California, Berkeley, 1998
Alumni Scholar, University of California, Berkeley, 1997, 1998
Mortar Board National Senior Honor Society, 1997
Golden Key National Honor Society, 1997
2018 – Chair, Teaching Excellence, School of Social Work, Boston College, MA
2018 – Present, Member, University Council on Teaching
2017 – Present, Chair, Children, Youth & Families Concentration, School of Social Work, Boston College, MA
2011 – Present, Editorial Board, Frontiers in Educational Psychology