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Department of Psychology

Faculty

Kimberly Andrews Espy   
Office: 303 Canfield Admin
(402) 472-2851
kespy2@unl.edu

link to DCN lab


Trained as a Clinical Neuroscientist, Dr. Espy is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and serves as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Her research focuses on identifying the antecedents of learning, attention, and behavioral disorders in medically at-risk populations, including those born prematurely, those exposed to substances of abuse during pregnancy, and those exposed to toxicants in their environment. Of particular interest is the normative development of emergent executive control skills in young children and infants, and its intersection with attention and emotion. In collaboration with colleagues at Georgia State University, the University of Aberdeen, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, Dr. Espy is exploring the comparative parallels in executive control in young children and primates, and the relation of executive control to everyday behavior and to academic outcomes, such as mathematics. In her work, she utilizes developmental cognitive neuroscience paradigms to investigate cognitive development, and its perturbations, in young children, infants, and neonates. Finally, Dr. Espy has an overarching interest in advanced multivariate statistics in general, and growth modeling in particular.

In 2001, Dr. Espy received the Rita G. Rudel Award for Pediatric Neuropsychology and Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience. In 2005, she received the Early Career Award from Division 40 (Clinical Neuropsychology) of the American Psychological Association, and also was selected as a Fellow of the same division. Her work currently is funded by The National Institutes of Health / National Institute on Drug Abuse, The National Institute of Mental Health, and the National Institute of Child Health and Development. She serves on the editorial board of Developmental Neuropsychology and Assessment, and is an ad-hoc reviewer for many journals. In 2009, Dr. Espy completed her term chairing the NIH study section, Child Psychopathology and Developmental Disabilities.

 

Representative Publications

Recent Peer Reviewed Journal Articles

Espy, K.A., Fang, H., Charak, D., Minich, N. & Taylor, H.G. (2009). Growth mixture modeling of academic achievement in children of varying birth weight risk. Neuropsychology, 23, 460-474.

Nelson, M.M., & Espy, K.A. (2009). Low-level lead exposure and contingency-based responding in preschoolers: An exploratory study. Developmental Neuropsychology, 34, 494-506.

Chacko, A., Wakschlag, L., Hill, C., Danis, B., & Espy, K.A. (2009). Viewing preschool disruptive behavior disorders and ADHD through a developmental lens: What we know and what we need to know. Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 18, 627-644.

Taylor, H.G., Espy, K.A., & Anderson, P.J. (2009). Mathematics Deficiencies in Children with Very Low Birth Weight or Very Preterm Birth. Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews, 15, 52-59.

Fang, H., Espy, K.A., Rizzo, M., Stopp, C., Wiebe, S., & Stroup, W. (in press). Using Integrated Approach to Identify Growth Patterns in Longitudinal Designs with Inflated Missing Data. International Journal of Information Technology and Decision Making.

Fang, H., Rizzo,M., Wang, H., Espy, K.A., Wang, Z. (in press). A new non-liner classifier with a penalized signed fuzzy measure using effective genetic algorithm. Pattern Recognition

Wiebe, S.A., Espy, K.A., Stopp, C., Huggenvik, J., Gilbert, D., & Jameson, T. (2009). Genetics of self regulation across development: D2 dopamine receptor genotype and prenatal tobacco exposure. Developmental Psychology, 45, 31-44.

Kiselev, S., Espy, K.A., Sheffield, T. (2009). Age-related differences in reaction time task performance in young children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 102, 150-166.

Bull, R.B., Espy, K.A., & Wiebe, S.W. (2008). Short-term memory, working memory and executive functioning in preschoolers: Longitudinal predictors of mathematical achievement. Developmental Neuropsychology, 33, 205-228.

Fang, H., Brooks,G. P., Rizzo,M.L., Espy, K.A., & Barcikowski, R.S. (2009). Power of models in longitudinal study: Findings from a full-crossed simulation design. Journal of Experimental Education, 77, 215-254.

Fang, H., Brooks, G. P., Rizzo, M. L., Espy, K. A., & Barcikowski, R. S. (in press). A Monte Carlo power analysis of traditional repeated measures and hierarchical multivariate linear models in longitudinal data analysis. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 7,.

Wiebe, S.A., Espy, K.A., & Charak, D. (2008). Using confirmatory factor analysis to understand executive control in preschool children: I. Latent structure. Developmental Psychology, 44, 575-587.

Espy, K.A., Senn, T.E., Charak, D., Tyler, J. & Wiebe, S. (2007). Perinatal pH and Neuropsychological Outcomes at age 3 years in children born preterm: An Exploratory Study. Developmental Neuropsychology, 32, 669-682.

Espy, K.A., Bull, R.B., Martin, J. & Stroup, W. (2006). Measuring the development of executive control with the Shape School. Psychological Assessment, 18, 373-381.

Espy, K.A. & Bull, R.B. (2005). Inhibitory processes in young children and individual variation in short-term memory. Developmental Neuropsychology, 28, 669-688.

Crawford, J.S., Espy, K.A., Isquith, P.K. & Gioia, G.G. (2005). Assessment of Executive Functions in Preschool Aged Children. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disability Research Reviews, 11, 100-104.

Espy, K.A. & Cwik, M.F. (2004). The Development of a Trail Making Test in Young Children: The TRAILS-P. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 18, 411-422.

Espy, K.A., Molfese, V.J., Molfese, D.L., & Modglin, A. (2004). Development of Auditory Event-Related Potentials in Young Children and Relations to Word-Level Reading Abilities at Age 8 Years. Annals of Dyslexia, 54, 9-38.

Espy, K.A., McDiarmid, M.D., Cwik, M.F., Senn, T.E., Hamby, A., & Stalets, M.M. (2004). The contributions of executive functions to emergent mathematic skills in preschool children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 465-486.

Senn, T.E., Espy, K.A., & Kaufmann, P.M. (2004). Using path analysis to understand executive function organization. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 445-464.

Isquith, P.K., Gioia, G., & Espy, K.A. (2004). Executive functions preschool children: Examination through everyday behavior. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 403-422.

Espy, K.A. (2004). Introduction to the Special Issue: Using Developmental, Cognitive, and Neuroscience Approaches to Understand Executive Control in Young Children. Developmental Neuropsychology, 26, 379-384.

Bull, R., Espy, K.A., & Senn, T.E. (2004). A Comparison of Performance on the Towers of London & Hanoi in Young Children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45, 743-754.
 

Research Funding Sources

Extramural Funding

"Executive Function Development in Preschool Children". National Institutes of Health, 2R01 MH065668, PI: K.A. Espy.

"Prenatal Smoking & Substrates of Disruptive Behavior in Early Life", National Institutes of Health, R01 DA023653, MPI: K.A. Espy, & L. Wakschlag.

"Prenatal Tobacco Exposure, Self Regulation, & Externalizing Behaviors in Early Childhood", National Institute of Health R21 DA024769, PI: S. Wiebe.

"Prenatal Tobacco Exposure: Perinatal & Genetic Risks". National Institutes of Health, 1R01 DA014661; PI: K.A. Espy. (completed)

"Early School Progress in <1000g Birthweight Children". National Institutes of Health. R01 HD050309, PI: H.G. Taylor.

"The Emergence of Cognitive Control". National Institutes of Health, 5P01 HD038051, PI: D. Washburn.

"Domain Specific Tasks of Executive Function" National Institutes of Health , U01 DS05-02, PI: J. Kramer.

"Identifying the Biological Underpinnings of Political Temperament", The National Science Foundation, PI: J. Hibbing