Abigail Marsh’s area of expertise includes social and affective neuroscience, particularly understanding emotions such as empathy and how they relate to aggression, altruism, violence and psychopathy. Her research is aimed at understanding aspects of human social interactions, emotional functioning, and empathy using cognitive neuroscience methods, with a particular focus on emotion and nonverbal communication.

Professor Marsh’s research includes studies with adolescents and adults that incorporate neuroimaging, cognitive and behavioral testing, and pharmacology techniques.

Professor Marsh received her B.A. from Dartmouth College in 1999 and Ph.D. from Harvard University in 2004. In her undergraduate and graduate work, she used experimental laboratory research in healthy adults. During her post-doctoral fellowship in the Mood & Anxiety Program at the National Institute of Mental Health from 2004 to 2008, she conducted neuroimaging, pharmacological, genetic, and neurocognitive research with both healthy adults and adolescents and with adolescents with conduct problems.