Peer-Reviewed Publications

Lorenz, T. K. Harp, N. R., Angeletti, P., & Neta, M. (2025). Chronic stress may amplify gender/sex differences in amygdala reactivity to ambiguous emotional stimuli. Stress & Health.

Peckinpaugh, I.K., & Neta, M. (in press). Developmental window during which reappraisal may mitigate intergenerational transmission of depression. Affective Science.

Pierce, J. E., Grisso, M., & Neta, M. (2025). Intersection of biases: In-group positivity for racially diverse ambiguous facial expressions. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations.

Schultz, D. H., Bouchard, H. C., Barbot, M. C., Laing-Young, J. M., Chiao, A., Higgins, K. L., Barbey, A. K., Savage, C. R., & Neta, M. (2025). Self-reported concussion history is not related to cortical volume in college athletes. Plos ONE.

Pierce, J. E., Wig, G. S., Harp, N. R., & Neta, M. (2024). Resting-state functional network segregation of the default mode network predicts valence bias across the lifespan. Imaging Neuroscience.

Haque, E., Harp, N. R., & Neta, M. (2024). Greater social network complexity mitigates pandemic-related negativity. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

Dworetsky, A., Seitzman, B. A., Adeyemo, B., Nielsen, A. N., Hatoum, A. S., Smith, D. M., Nichols, T. E., Neta, M., Petersen, S. E., & Gratton, C. (2024). Two common and distinct forms of variation in human functional brain networks. Nature Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-024-01618

Pierce, J. E., Jones, V. K., & Neta, M. (2024). A more connected future: How social connection, interdisciplinary approaches, and new technology will shape the affective science of loneliness, a commentary on the Special Issue. Affective Science.

Kupka, G., Humphries, A., & Neta, M. (2024). Relating objective measures of physical activity to emotion regulation. Affective Science.

Harp, N. R., Nielsen, A. N., Schultz, D., Chan, L., & Neta, M. (2024). In the face of ambiguity: Intrinsic brain organization in development predicts one's bias toward positivity or negativity. Cerebral Cortex.

Grocott, B., Neta, M., Chen, F., LeMoult, J. (2024). Associations of state and chronic loneliness with interpretation bias: The role of internalizing symptoms. Behaviour Research and Therapy.

Clinchard, C. J., Harp, N. R., Lorenz, T. K., & Neta, M. (2024). Proposing a model whereby negative valence bias increases the risk for more severe dysphoric PTSD and depression symptomology. Emotion.

Bouchard, H. C., Higgins, K. L., Amadon, G. K., Laing, J. M., Maerlander, A., Al-Momani, S., Albers, L., Neta, M., Savage, C. R., & Schultz, D. H. (2023). Concussion-related disruptions to hub connectivity in the default mode network are related to symptoms and cognitive performance. Journal of Neurotrauma. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.03.07.531551v1

Harp, N. R., Gross, J. J., Uusberg, A., & Neta, M. (2023). The role of trait reappraisal in response to emotional ambiguity: A meta-analysis. Emotion. 

Uddin, L. Q., Fernandino, L., Neta, M., Greene, D. J., & Mooshagian, E. (2023). Hemispheric specialization and interhemispheric interaction-from perception to consciousness: Introduction to a special issue in honor of Eran Zaidel (1944-2021). Neuropsychologia, 108725.

Harp, N. R., Blair, R. J. R., & Neta, M. (2023). Shift in valence bias associated with decrease in trait anxiety and depression symptoms. Cognitive Therapy & Research.

Pierce, J. E., Petro, N. M., Clancy, E., Gratton, C., Petersen, S. E., & Neta, M. (2023). Specialized late cingulo-opercular network activation elucidates the mechanisms underlying decisions about ambiguity. NeuroImage.

Neta, M., Harp, N. R., Tong, T. T., Clinchard, C. J., Brown, C. C., Gross, J. J., & Uusberg, A. (2023). Think again: The role of reappraisal in reducing negative valence bias. Cognition & Emotion.

Harp, N. R., Langbehn, A., Larsen, J. T., Niedenthal, P. M., & Neta, M. (2023). Facial coverings differentially alter valence judgments of emotional expressions. Basic and Applied Social Psychology.

Harp, N. R. & Neta, M. (2023). Tendency to share positive emotions buffers loneliness-related negativity in the context of shared adversity. Journal of Research in Personality.

Puccetti, N. A., Villano, W. J., Stamatis, C. A., Hall, K. A., Torres, V. F., Neta, M., Timpano, K. R., Heller, A. S. (2023). Negative interpretation bias connects to real-world daily affect: A multistudy approach. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Neta, M., & Kim, M. J. (2022). Surprise as an emotion: A response to Ortony. Perspectives on Psychological Science.

Pierce, J. E., Haque, E., & Neta, M. (2022). Affective flexibility as a developmental building block of cognitive reappraisal: An fMRI study. Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, 58, 101170.

Pierce, J. E., Clancy, E., Petro, N. M., Dodd, M. D., & Neta, M. (2022). Task-irrelevant emotional faces impact BOLD responses more for prosaccades than antisaccades in a mixed saccade fMRI task. Neuropsychologia, 108428.

Basyouni, R., Harp, N. R., Haas, I. J., & Neta, M. (2022). Political identity biases Americans' judgments of outgroup emotion. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 103, 104392. 

Brock, R. L., Harp, N. R., & Neta, M. (2022). Interpersonal emotion regulation mitigates the link between trait neuroticism and a more negative valence bias. Personality and Individual Differences, 196, 111726. 

Harp, N. R., Freeman, J. B., & Neta, M. (2022). Mindfulness-based stress reduction triggers a long-term shift toward more positive appraisals of emotional ambiguity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General.

Pierce, J. E., Blair, R. J. R., Clark, K. R.,Neta, M. (2022). Reappraisal-related downregulation of amygdala BOLD activation occurs only during explicit post-stimulus evaluation. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-021-00980-z

Raio, C. M., Harp, N. R., Brown, C. C., & Neta, M. (2021). Reappraisal - but not suppression - tendencies determine negativity bias after laboratory and real-world stress exposure. Affective Science, 2, 455–467.

Petro, N. M., Basyouni, R., & Neta, M. (2021). Positivity effect in aging: Evidence for the primacy of positive responses toward emotional ambiguity. Neurobiology of Aging. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2021.06.015

Neta, M. & Brock, R. L. (2021). Social connectedness and negative affect uniquely explain individual differences in response to emotional ambiguity. Nature: Scientific Reports, 11, article number: 3870.

Petro, N. M., Tottenham, N., & Neta, M. (2021). Exploring valence bias as a metric for fronto-amygdalar connectivity and depressive symptoms in childhood. Developmental Psychobiology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dev.22084 

Dworetsky, A., Seitzman, B. A., Adeyemo, B., Neta, M., Coalson, R. S., Petersen, S. E., & Gratton, C. (2021). Probabilistic mapping of human functional brain networks identifies regions of high group consensus. NeuroImage. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118164

Neta, M., Berkebile, M., & Freeman, J. B. (2020). The dynamic process of ambiguous emotion perception. Cognition & Emotion.

Harp, N. R., Brown, C. C., & Neta, M. (2020). Spring break or heart break? Extending the valence bias to emotional words. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Neta, M., Harp, N. R., Henley, D. J., Beckford, S. E., & Koehler, K. (2019). One step at a time: Physical activity is linked to positive interpretations of ambiguity. PloS one, 14 (11): e0225106. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225106.

Petro, N. M., Tong, T. T., Henley, D. J., & Neta, M. (2018). Individual differences in valence bias: fMRI evidence of the initial negativity hypothesis. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 13 (7), 687-698. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsy049.

Neta, M. & Dodd, M. D. (2018). Through the eyes of the beholder: Simulated Eye-movement Experience ("SEE") modulates valence bias in response to emotional ambiguity. Emotion. doi:10.1037/emo0000421.

Neta, M., Tong, T. T., & Henley, D. J. (2018). It’s a matter of time (perspectives): Shifting valence responses to emotional ambiguity. Motivation & Emotion, 42, 258-266. doi:10.1007/s11031-018-9665-7.

+Brown, C. C., +Raio, C. M., & Neta, M. (2017). Cortisol response enhance negative valence perception for ambiguous facial expressions. Nature: Scientific Reports, 7, article number: 15107. doi:10.1038/s41598-017-14846-3 (+co-first authors)

Neta, M., Cantelon, J., Mahoney, C. R., Taylor, H. A., & Davis, F. C. (2017). The impact of uncertain threat on affective bias: Individual differences in response to ambiguity. Emotion, 17(8):1137-1143. doi: 10.1037/emo0000349.

Neta, M., Tong, T. T., Rosen, M. L., Enersen, A., Kim, M. J., & Dodd, M. D. (2017). All in the first glance: First fixation predicts individual differences in valence bias. Cognition & Emotion, 31(4), 772-780. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2016.1152231.

Neta, M., Nelson, S. M., & Petersen, S. E. (2017). Dorsal anterior cingulate, medial superior frontal cortex, and anterior insula show performance reporting-related late task control signals. Cerebral Cortex, 27(3), 2154-2165. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw053.

Gratton, C., Neta, M., Sun, H., Ploran, E. J., Schlaggar, B.L., Wheeler, M. E., Petersen, S. E., & Nelson, S. M. (2017). Distinct stages of moment-to-moment processing in the cinguloopercular and frontoparietal networks. Cerebral Cortex, 27(3), 2403-2417. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhw092.

Neta, M. & Tong, T. T. (2016). Don't like what you see? Give it time: Longer reaction times associated with increased positive affect. Emotion, 16(5), 730-739. doi: 10.1037/emo0000181.

Davis, F. C., Neta, M., Kim, M. J., Moran, J. M., & Whalen, P. J. (2016). Interpreting ambiguous social cues in unpredictable contexts. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience, 11(5):775-82. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsw003.

Kim, M. J., Solomon, K. M., Neta, M., Davis, F. C., Oler, J. A., Mazzulla, E. C., & Whalen, P. J. (2016). A face versus non-face context influences amygdala responses to masked fearful eye whites. Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience.

Dubis, J. W., Siegel, J. S.,Neta, M., Visscher, K. M., & Petersen, S. E. (2016). Tasks driven by perceptual information do not recruit sustained BOLD activity in cingulo-opercular regions. Cerebral Cortex, 26(1):192-201. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhu187.

Neta, M., Miezin, F. M., Nelson, S. M., Dubis, J. W., Dosenbach, N. U. F., Schlaggar, B. L., & Petersen, S. E. (2015). Spatial and temporal characteristics of error-related activity in the human brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(1), 253-266.

Kim, M. J., Neta, M., Davis, F. C., Ruberry, E. J., Dinescu, D., Heatherton, T. F., Stotland, M. A., & Whalen, P. J. (2014). Botulinum toxin-induced facial muscle paralysis affects amygdala responses to the perception of emotional expressions: Preliminary findings from an A-B-A design. Biology of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, 4(11).

Neta, M., Schlaggar, B. L., & Petersen, S. E. (2014). Separable responses to error, ambiguity, and reaction time in cingulo-opercular task control regions. NeuroImage, 99, 59 - 68.

Greene, D. J., Laumann, T. O., Dubis, J. W., Ihnen, S. K., Neta, M., Power, J. D., Pruett, J. R., Black, K. J., & Schlaggar, B. L. (2014). Developmental changes in the organization of functional connections between the basal ganglia and cerebral cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 34(17), 5842-5854.

Neta, M., Kelley, W. M., & Whalen, P. J. (2013). Neural responses to ambiguity involve domain-general and specific emotion processing systems. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(4), 547-557.

Neta, M., Davis, F. C., & Whalen, P. J. (2011). Valence resolution of facial expressions using an emotional oddball task. Emotion, 11(6), 1425-1433.

Neta, M. & Whalen, P. J. (2011). Individual differences in neural activity during a facial expression vs. identity working memory task. NeuroImage, 56(3), 1685-1692.

Neta, M., & Whalen, P. J. (2010). The primacy of negative interpretations when resolving the valence of ambiguous facial expressions. Psychological Science, 21(7), 901-907.

Kim, M. J., Loucks, R. A., Neta, M., Davis, F. C., Oler, J. A., Mazzulla, E. C., & Whalen, P. J. (2010). Behind the mask: The influence of mask-type on amygdala response to fearful faces. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience. Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 5(4): 363-368.

Neta, M., Norris, C. J., & Whalen, P. J. (2009). Corrugator muscle responses to surprised facial expressions are associated with individual differences in positivity-negativity bias. Emotion, 9(5), 640-648.

Bar, M. & Neta, M. (2008). The proactive brain: Using little information to make predictive judgments. Journal of Consumer Behavior, 7(4-5), 319-330.

Gronau, N., Neta, M., & Bar, M. (2008). Integrated contextual representation for objects’ identities and their locations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20(3), 371-388.

Greene, D.J., Barnea, A., Herzberg, K., Rassis, A., Neta, M., Raz, A., & Zaidel, E. (2007). Measuring attention in the hemispheres: The Lateralized Attention Network Test (LANT). Brain & Cognition, 66(1), 21-31.

Bar, M. & Neta, M. (2007). Visual elements of subjective preference modulate amygdala activation. Neuropsychologia, 45, 2191-2200.

Bar, M. & Neta, M. (2006). Humans prefer curved visual objects. Psychological Science, 17(8), 645-648.

Bar, M., Neta, M., & Linz, H. (2006). Very first impressions. Emotion, 6, 269-278.

Manuscripts in preparation or review

Gratton, C. Dworetsky, A., Seitzman, B. A., Adeyemo, B., Petersen, S. E., & Neta, M. (revise-resubmit). The architecture of the cingulo-opercular network reveals two distinct sub-systems. (+equal contribution) https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.09.16.508254v1.full.pdf

Pierce, J.E., & Neta, M. (revise-resubmit). Segregation of three resting-state brain networks predicts reappraisal success across the lifespan. 

Kupka, G., Humphries, A., Harp, N. R., Nelson, T. D., & Neta, M. (revise-resubmit). Objective measures of physical activity as a compensatory mechanism of emotion regulation.

Pierce, J. E., Harp, N. R., Gross, J. J., & Neta, M. (under review). Valence bias arises from both positive and negative responses to ambiguous stimuli.

Pierce, J. E., Chan, L., & Neta, M. (under review). A novel measure of affective flexibility predicts better reappraisal in children. Preprint available: https://psyarxiv.com/agvm5/ 

Buchanan, E. M., Cuccolo, K., …Neta, M., … Lewis, S. C. (under review). Measuring the semantic priming effect across many languages. Stage 2 Registered Report at Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/q4fjy

Heyman, T., Pronizius, E., ...Neta, M., ... Buchanan, E.M. (under review). Crowdsourcing multiverse analyses to explore the impact of different data-processing and analysis decisions: A tutorial. https://osf.io/zgq5j/