***I will be accepting graduate students for Fall 2025***

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Assistant Professor
Director of the Social Psychology and Affective Neuroscience in Health (SPANH) Laboratory (webpage coming soon)

Department of Psychology
North Dakota State University
Office: 134D8 Minard Hall
Email: anna.finley@ndsu.edu

Google Scholar//ResearchGate//OSF//ORCID

Research Interests

My research aims to understand how cognitive and affective processes are connected and how they relate to well-being across the lifespan and across a variety of sociocultural factors in diverse populations. My lab uses multiple psychophysiological and neuroscientific methods, including facial electromyography (fEMG), electrocardiography (ECG), and electroencepholography (EEG). My three main lines of research are summarized below with links to relevant citations. Please see my Google Scholar for a full list of my publications.

Affective Neuroscience of Loneliness

Loneliness, or feeling socially isolated, is recognized as a social determinant of health, and is associated with declines in physical and mental health. My research aims to understand how loneliness negatively impacts health by understanding the neural processes underlying shifts in emotional and social processing. I am particularly interested in expanding this line of work into rural and tribal communities in North Dakota.

• Finley, A. J. & Schaefer, S. M. (2022). Affective neuroscience of loneliness: Potential mechanisms underlying the association between perceived social isolation, health, and wellbeing. Journal of Psychiatry and Brain Sciences, 7:e220011. DOI: 10.20900/jpbs.20220011
• Huang, C., Butterworth,  J. W., Finley, A. J., Angus, D. J., Sedikides, C., & Kelley, N. J. (2023). There is a party in my head and no one is invited: Resting-state electrocortical activity and solitude. Journal of Personality. DOI: 10.1111/jopy.12876

Cognitive and Affective Processes and Well-being

I am broadly interested in understanding individual differences in affective and cognitive processes influence well-being. Lately, I have been examining:

   1) How resting EEG metrics, especially the aperiodic exponent, vary with age and how this relates to cognitive functioning;

• Finley, A. J., Angus, D. J., van Reekum, C. M., Davidson, R. J., & Schaefer, S. M. (2022). Periodic and aperiodic contributions to theta-beta ratios across adulthood. Psychophysiology. DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14113
• Finley, A. J., Angus, D. J., Knight, E. L., van Reekum, C. M., Lachman, M. E., Davidson, R. J., & Schaefer, S. M. (2024). Resting EEG periodic and aperiodic components predict cognitive decline over 10 years. Journal of Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1332-23.2024

   2) How sociocultural differences in emotion expression and regulation influences health;

• Finley, A. J., Baldwin, C. L., Hebbring, T. M., van Reekum, C. M., Thayer, J. F., Davidson, R. J., & Schaefer, S. M. (in press). Racial differences in suppressing and expressing negative emotions relate to cardiovascular health in the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) Study. Psychosomatic Medicine. Pre-print available at https://psyarxiv.com/7au2v/

   3) How individual differences in responses to stress and negative affect relate to physical health and well-being.

• Abercrombie, H. C., Barnes, A. L., Nord, E., Gresham, L., Finley, A. J., Higgins, E., Grupe, D. W., Rosenkranz, M. A., Davidson, R. J., & Schaefer, S. M. (2023). Inverse associations between stress induced cortisol elevations and negative emotional reactivity to stress. Stress, 26, 2174780. DOI: 10.1080/10253890.2023.2174780.
• Finley, A. J., Crowell, A., & Schmeichel, B.J. (2018). Self-affirmation enhances processing of negative stimuli among threat-prone individuals. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 13, 569-577. DOI: 10.1093/scan/nsy036

Aftereffects of Self-Control

My oldest line of research examines the aftereffects of self-control on emotional and cognitive processes. I have participated in two multisite replications of the ego depletion effect, examined how exerting self-control shifts positive emotional reactivity, and have examined individual differences in self-control in perceptions of visceral states and distress with age.

• Finley, A. J., & Schmeichel, B. J. (2019). Aftereffects of self-control on positive emotional reactivity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 45, 1011-1027. Post-print available at: https://psyarxiv.com/9ks3v/
• Kelley, N. J., Finley, A. J., & Schmechel, B. J. (2019). Aftereffects of self-control: The reward responsivity hypothesis. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience, 19, 600-618. Post- print available at: https://psyarxiv.com/u6kqr
• Baldwin, C. L., Finley, A. J., Garrison, K. E., Crowell, A., & Schmeichel, B. J. (2019). Higher trait self-control is associated with less intense visceral states. Self and Identity, 18, 576-588. DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2018.1495666. Post-print available at: psyarxiv.com/vgr45/
• Butterworth, J., Finley, A. J., Baldwin, C. L., & Kelley, N. J. (2022). Self-control mediates age- related decreases in psychological distress. Personality and Individual Differences, 184, 111137. DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.111137