White, Tara

Tara L White

Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Research)

Overview

Brief Bio

Tara White is an Assistant Professor (Research) and the founding director of the Laboratory of Affective Neuroscience at Brown. Her scholarly work focuses on three areas: dignity neuroscience, the human neuroscience of emotion and drug effects in the human brain. Her work in dignity science represents a new line of inquiry linking neuroscience and human rights relevant to agency, uniqueness, unconditionality, freedom from want/poverty, freedom from fear, and protections of vulnerable populations. Her studies on emotion focus on structural, functional, and neurometabolic mechanisms of agency, emotional flexibility, fearlessness, risk-taking, and affiliation. Her work in neuropharmacology seeks to illuminate between-person differences in neural, mood, neuroendocrine and behavioral responses to monoaminergic drugs, with special focus on psychostimulants (d-amphetamine, methamphetamine, Adderall).

Dr. White received her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Cornell University. She carried out her postdoctoral training in human behavioral psychopharmacology at The University of Chicago and in alcohol and addiction research at Brown University. She was an International Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall and the British Academy, and is a Life Fellow at Clare Hall, University of Cambridge, England U.K. She is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) for ‘sustained and outstanding distinguished contributions to psychological science.’

Brown Affiliations

Behavioral and Social Sciences

Research Areas

On the Web

Study maps extroversion types in the brain’s anatomy

White Lab

NBC Television Interview on Glutamate

Five Questions With: Tara White

Designing Your Own Academic Journey

Publications Visualize it

White, Tara L., Gonsalves, Meghan A., Cohen, Ronald A., Harris, Ashley D., Monnig, Mollie A., Walsh, Edward G., Nitenson, Adam Z., Porges, Eric C., Lamb, Damon G., Woods, Adam J., Borja, Cara B. "The neurobiology of wellness: 1H-MRS correlates of agency, flexibility and neuroaffective reserves in healthy young adults." NeuroImage, vol. 225, 2021, pp. 117509.

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White, Tara L., Gonsalves, Meghan A. "Imaging Fast-Acting Drug Effects in Humans Using 1H-MRS." ACS Chemical Neuroscience, vol. 11, no. 17, 2020, pp. 2485-2488.

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Ersche, Karen D., Lim, Tsen Vei, Murley, Alexander G., Rua, Catarina, Vaghi, Matilde M., White, Tara L., Williams, Guy B., Robbins, Trevor W. "Reduced glutamate turnover in the putamen is linked with automatic habits in human cocaine addiction." Biological Psychiatry, 2020.

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Weyandt LL, White TL, Gudmundsdottir BG, Nitenson AZ, Rathkey ES, De Leon KA, Bjorn SA. "Neurocognitive, Autonomic, and Mood Effects of Adderall: A Pilot Study of Healthy College Students." Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland), vol. 6, no. 3, 2018.

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White TL, Monnig MA, Walsh EG, Nitenson AZ, Harris AD, Cohen RA, Porges EC, Woods AJ, Lamb DG, Boyd CA, Fekir S. "Psychostimulant drug effects on glutamate, Glx, and creatine in the anterior cingulate cortex and subjective response in healthy humans." Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 43, no. 7, 2018, pp. 1498-1509.

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White TL. "Beyond Sensation Seeking: A Conceptual Framework for Individual Differences in Psychostimulant Drug Effects in Healthy Humans." Current opinion in behavioral sciences, vol. 13, 2017, pp. 63-70.

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Grodin EN, White TL. "The neuroanatomical delineation of agentic and affiliative extraversion." Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci, 2015.

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Childs, Emma, White, Tara L., de Wit, Harriet. "Personality traits modulate emotional and physiological responses to stress." Behavioural Pharmacology, 2014, pp. 1.

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Clark, Uraina S., Cohen, Ronald A., Sweet, Lawrence H., Gongvatana, Assawin, Devlin, Kathryn N., Hana, George N., Westbrook, Michelle L., Mulligan, Richard C., Jerskey, Beth A., White, Tara L., Navia, Bradford, Tashima, Karen T. "Effects of HIV and early life stress on amygdala morphometry and neurocognitive function." Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society, vol. 18, no. 4, 2012, pp. 657-668.

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White TL, Lejuez CW, de Wit H. "Test-retest characteristics of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART)." Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, vol. 16, no. 6, 2008, pp. 565-70.

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White TL, Lejuez CW, de Wit H. "Personality and gender differences in effects of d-amphetamine on risk taking." Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, vol. 15, no. 6, 2007, pp. 599-609.

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White TL, Grover VK, de Wit H. "Cortisol effects of D-amphetamine relate to traits of fearlessness and aggression but not anxiety in healthy humans." Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, vol. 85, no. 1, 2006, pp. 123-31.

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White TL, Lott DC, de Wit H. "Personality and the subjective effects of acute amphetamine in healthy volunteers." Neuropsychopharmacology, vol. 31, no. 5, 2006, pp. 1064-74.

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Gendle MH, White TL, Strawderman M, Mactutus CF, Booze RM, Levitsky DA, Strupp BJ. "Enduring effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on selective attention and reactivity to errors: evidence from an animal model." Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 118, no. 2, 2004, pp. 290-7.

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White TL, Justice AJ, de Wit H. "Differential subjective effects of D-amphetamine by gender, hormone levels and menstrual cycle phase." Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, vol. 73, no. 4, 2002, pp. 729-41.

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Morrone, J.V., Depue, R.A., Scherer, A.J., & White, T.L. "Film-induced incentive motivation and positive activation in relation to agentic and affiliative components of extraversion." Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 199-216., 2000.

Full Text

White TL, Depue RA. "Differential association of traits of fear and anxiety with norepinephrine- and dark-induced pupil reactivity." Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 863-877., 1999.

PubMed

White, T.L., Leichtman, M.D., & Ceci, S.J. "The good, the bad, and the ugly: Accuracy, inaccuracy, and elaboration in preschoolers’ reports about a past event." Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, S37-S54., vol. 11, 1997, pp. S37-S54.

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Research

Research Overview

Dr. Tara White is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Brown. Dr. White has strong research interests in the biological bases of personality and temperament, and differences between people in effects of alcohol and drugs on mood, behavior, and brain function. Her research is conducted at the Brown University 3 tesla MRI facility in Sidney Frank Hall and the Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies.

Research Statement

Neural basis of emotion, personality, and drug effects in humans.

Role of monoamine systems in emotion, behavior and cognition.

Individual differences in emotion, drug and alcohol effects.

Funded Research

CURRENT GRANTS

Research

Carney Institute for Brain Science Innovation Award. “Using ¹H MRS to Understand Emotion” Tara White, Principal Investigator. 11/01/19 – 10/30/20. $132,000 total costs.

Hubert and Richard Hanlon Trust Foundation. “The Stress Factor: Understanding the Role of Norepinephrine in Alcohol Use Disorder” Tara White, Multi-PI. 01/01/20 – 12/31/23. $300,000 total costs. $270,000 direct costs.

NIH P01 AA019072 “Alcohol and HIV: Biobehavioral Interactions and Intervention” Type: P01 Alcohol Research Center (P. Monti, PI). Tara White, Co-Investigator and Site PI for Neuroimaging at Brown for RC 1. 10/1/15 – 9/30/19. $329,450 annual total RC1 costs ($204,627 direct costs).

NIMH K-award 1IK2CX001774 “Noradrenergic biomarkers in PTSD: precision medicine & mechanisms”
Type: Career Development Award (Hendrickson, R., PI, University of Washington School of Medicine). Tara White, Consultant. August 2017. Funded. 6/1/18 – 5/31/23.

Training / Trainees

NIGMS R25 GM125500 “Brown University Postbaccalaureate Research Education Program”
Type: Post baccalaureate Training (Aizenman, C., PI). Tara White, Faculty Trainer. January 2017. Funded. 1/1/18-12/31/22. $223,088 FY total costs.

COMPLETED GRANTS

British Academy, “Legal toxins: Characterizing the effect of New Psychoactive Substances on Brain Health” Type: International Visiting Fellowship. Tara White, Principal Investigator. 8/15/18 – 3/15/19. £22,000 direct costs. £33,000 total costs.

University of Cambridge, “Legal toxins: Characterizing the effect of New Psychoactive Substances on Brain Health.” Type: Clare Hall Visiting Fellowship. Tara White, Principal Investigator. 8/15/18 – 3/15/19.

Rhode Island Neuroscience Collaborative (RINC) Research Award “Neurocognitive and Physiological Effects of Prescription Stimulants in College Students”. Tara White, Co-Principal Investigator (Brown); Lisa Weyandt, co-Principal Investigator (URI). 7/1/14 – 12/30/17. $50,000 direct costs.

Xi (Rossi) Luo (PI). CFAR developmental grant. “Integrated Analytics to Unravel the Complex Effects of HIV and Alcoholism on the Brain” Tara White, Co-Investigator. $40,000 direct costs.

NIH K23 MH096628. “Effects of early-life stress on brain dysfunction in HIV positive adults: An fMRI study” Uraina Clark, Principal Investigator. Tara White, K23 Mentor. 07/1/12 – 06/30/17.

Brown Institute for Brain Sciences (BIBS) Pilot Research Award “Collaboration on Imaging Pharmacogenetics and Monoamines”. Tara White, Principal Investigator. 5/1/13 – 5/30/15. $30,000 direct costs.

NIH P01 AA019072 “Alcohol and HIV: Biobehavioral Interactions and Intervention” Type: P01 Alcohol Research Center (P. Monti, PI). Tara White, Co-Investigator for Research Component 2; Executive Committee for P01 Renewal. 09/30/10 – 09/29/15. $1,484,315 annual total costs.

NIH P01 AA019072, “Imaging Functional Alcohol Effects in HIV” (P. Monti, PI). Tara White, Pilot Project Leader. 09/30/10 – 09/29/15. $10,000 direct costs.

NIH R21 DA029189 “Imaging Individual Differences in Methamphetamine Effects” Tara White, Principal Investigator. 07/01/11 – 12/30/14. $150,000 annual direct costs. $445,500 total costs.

NIH S10 OD016366. “Brain Science Compute Cluster” Type: NIH Shared Instrumentation Grant (J. Donoghue, PI). Tara White, Co-Investigator. 6/15/13 – 5/14/14. $599,598 direct costs.

Foundation for Alcohol Research (ABMRF) “Imaging Biphasic Alcohol Effects in Heavy Drinkers” Tara White, Principal Investigator. 07/01/10 – 9/1/13. $50,000 annual direct costs.

NIH R01 DA020725 “Imaging Individual Differences in Amphetamine Effects” Tara White, Principal Investigator. 8/15/07 – 5/31/13. $235,000 annual direct costs.

Lifespan/Tufts/Brown Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) “Imaging Functional Alcohol Effects in HIV” Tara White, Principal Investigator. 07/01/09 – 06/30/12. $40,000 direct costs.

National Science Foundation (NSF). “Acquisition of a 3T MRI System” Type: BCS Major Research Instrumentation grant (J. Sanes, PI). Tara White, Co-Investigator. 7/1/05 – 6/30/07.

NIH R21 DA018942 “Effect of Mood on Impulsivity Among Adolescent Smokers” (C. Gwaltney, PI). Tara White, Co-Investigator. 9/30/04 – 8/31/06. $137,500 annual direct costs.

NIH I/START DA017178. “Imaging Individual Differences in Amphetamine Effects” Type: Imaging – Science Track Award for Research Transition (I/START). Tara White, Principal Investigator. 9/10/03 – 4/30/06. $150,000 direct costs.

Brown University. “Imaging Individual Differences in Amphetamine Effects” Type: CAAS Research Excellence Award. Tara White, Principal Investigator. 5/1/03 – 11/30/04. $15,227 direct costs.

Ittleson Foundation. “Amphetamine effects on emotion and behavior assessed by fMRI” Tara White, Principal Investigator. 8/1/03 – 7/31/04. $13,230 direct costs.

Scholarly Work

Depue, R.A. & White, T.L. (2010). Personality: Neurobehavioural Foundation and Pharmacological Protocols. In I. Stolerman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Psychopharmacology †, Vol. 2, Part 16, 988-994. Springer.

White, T.L. (2010). Imaging Substance Use and Misuse: Psychostimulants. In R. Cohen and L. Sweet (Eds.), Brain Imaging in Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Neuroscience ¥. Springer.

Baskin-Sommers, A., White, T.L., & Sommers, I. (2008). Neurobiology of Addiction. In G.L. Fisher and N.A. Roget (Eds.). Encyclopedia of Substance Abuse, Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery. ISBN# 9781412950848. SAGE Publications, Newbury Park, CA.

White, T.L., Lejuez, C.W., & de Wit, H. (2008). Test-retest characteristics of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology†, 16(6):565-70.

White, T.L., Lejuez, C.W., & de Wit, H. (2007). Personality and gender differences in effects of d-amphetamine on risk-taking. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 15(6):599-609.

White, T.L., Grover, V.K., & de Wit, H. (2006). Cortisol effects of D-amphetamine relate to traits of fearlessness and aggression but not anxiety in healthy humans. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior, 85:123-131.

White, T.L., Lott, D., & de Wit, H. (2006). Personality and the subjective effects of acute amphetamine in healthy volunteers. Neuropsychopharmacology, 31(5):1064-74.

Gendle, M.H., White, T.L., Strawderman, M.S., Mactutus, C.F., Booze, R.M., Levitsky, D.A., & Strupp, B.J. (2004). Enduring effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on selective attention and reactivity to errors: Evidence from an animal model. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118 (2): 290-7.

White, T.L., Justice, A.J.H., & de Wit, H. (2002). Differential subjective effects of d-amphetamine by gender, hormone levels and menstrual cycle phase. Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 73(4):729-41.

Morrone, J.V., Depue, R.A., Scherer, A.J., & White, T.L. (2000). Film-induced incentive motivation and positive activation in relation to agentic and affiliative components of extraversion. Personality and Individual Differences, 29, 199-216.

White, T.L. & Depue, R.A. (1999). Differential association of traits of fear and anxiety with norepinephrine- and dark-induced pupil reactivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77, 863-877.

White, T.L., Leichtman, M.D., & Ceci, S.J. (1997). The good, the bad, and the ugly: Accuracy, inaccuracy, and elaboration in preschoolers' reports about a past event. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 11, S37-S54.

Bronfenbrenner, U., McClelland, P., Wethington, E., Moen, P., Ceci, S.J. with Hembrooke, H., Morris, P.A., & White, T.L. (1996). The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next. New York: The Free Press.

White, T.L., & Wethington, E. (1996). Youth: Changing beliefs and behaviors. In U. Bronfenbrenner, P. McClelland, E. Wethington, P. Moen, S.J. Ceci with H. Hembrooke, P.A. Morris, & T.L. White, The State of Americans: This Generation and the Next. (pp.1-29). New York: The Free Press.

Background

Education and Training

Year	Degree	Institution
1998	PhD	Cornell University

Honors and Awards

2019 Fellow, Association for Psychological Science (APS)

2019 Life Fellow, University of Cambridge (Clare Hall)

2018 British Academy International Visiting Fellow, University of Cambridge

2018 International Visiting Fellow, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge

2004 NIDA Early Career Investigator Award, “Frontiers in Addiction Research”

2002 NIDA Director's Travel Award, National Institute on Drug Abuse

2000-02 NIH Postdoctoral T32 Fellow, NIDA (DA00725509), The University of Chicago

1994-97 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship (NSF)

1994 Jacob K. Javits’ Fellowship, US Dept Education (awarded; declined)

1993-94 Sage Fellowship, Cornell University

1993-94 Olin Fellowship, Cornell University

1993 Valedictorian, Cornell University

Affiliations Visualize it

Collaborators

Name	Title
Borkan, Jeffrey	Assistant Dean for Primary Care-Population Health, Professor of Family Medicine, Professor of Medical Science
Cohen, Ronald	Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Sweet, Lawrence	Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior
Swift, Robert	Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences
Walsh, Edward	Associate Professor of Brain Science (Research)
Worden, Michael	Associate Professor of Neuroscience (Research), Associate Professor of Brain Science (Research)

Affiliations

Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, Brown University
Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University
Carney Institute for Brain Science, Brown University
Faculty trainer, Brown University Neuroscience Graduate Program
Brown University Contemplative Studies Program
Brown University School of Public Health

Researchers@Brown

Researchers@Brown

Tara L White

Assistant Professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences (Research)

Overview

Brown Affiliations

Research Areas

On the Web

Publications Visualize it

Research

Research Overview

Research Statement

Funded Research

Scholarly Work

Background

Education and Training

Honors and Awards

Affiliations Visualize it

Collaborators

Affiliations

Teaching

Teaching Overview

Teaching