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cmkelsey@illinois.edu

Research Areas

Developmental Psychology
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Assistant Professor
The Study of Early Experiences on Development (SEED) Lab

Research Interests

My research focuses on understanding how infants and young children grow and develop. I am especially interested in how the brain changes during the first years of life and how early experiences help shape who we become. The work in my lab centers on three main goals:

  1. Mapping development: We study how neural, neurovascular, and behavioral development unfold over time.
  2. Understanding differences: We explore how the brain supports individual differences in social, emotional, and cognitive development.
  3. Accounting for early experiences: We investigate how early environments shape brain and cognitive development.

We use a variety of tools—including behavioral assessments, neuroimaging, eye tracking, and biospecimen collection—to build a comprehensive picture of early development. This combination of approaches allows us to ask questions about how children learn and grow and to work toward discoveries that can make a meaningful difference in children’s lives.

Education

BS, The Pennsylvania State University

MS, The College of William and Mary, Mentor Dr. Danielle Dallaire

PhD, The University of Virginia; Mentors Drs. Tobias Grossmann and Amrisha Vaish

Postdoctoral Researcher, Boston Children's Hospital; Mentor: Dr. Charles Nelson, III
 

Recent Publications

For an up-to-date list of publications, please visit Dr. Kelsey’s Google Scholar Page

Symbols: + Authors contributed equally; * Undergraduate or graduate student mentee author

Allison, O., Kelsey, C., Grossmann, T. (2025). Social smiling and laughter are linked to enhanced functional brain connectivity in young infants’ default mode network. Developmental Psychobiology, 67, e70088. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.70088

Yücel, M., Luke, R., Mesquita, R., von Lühmann, A., … Kelsey, C., … (2025). FRESH: fNIRS reproducibility study hub. Communications Biology, 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-025-08412-1

Portlock, T. +, Shama, T. +, Kakon, S.H.+, Hartjen, B. +, Pook, C. +, Wilson, B.C.+, Ho, D., Shennon, I., Engelstad, A.M., Di Lorenzo, R., Greaves, G., Rahman, N., Kelsey, C., Gluckman, P.D., O’Sullivan, J.M., Haque, R., Forrester, T., & Nelson, C.A. (2025). Interconnected pathways link faecal microbiota plasma lipids and brain activity to childhood malnutrition related cognition. Nature Communications, 16. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-55798-3

Freitag, E. *, Kelsey, C., de Mendonça Filho, E. J., Pokhvisneva, I., Patel, S., Silveira, P. P., Bosquet Enlow, M. +, & Nelson, C.A. + (2025). The association between temperament and polygenic score for psychopathology from infancy to middle childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14140

Kelsey, C., Kamenetskiy, A., Mulligan, K., Tiras, C. *, Kent, M. *, Bayet, L., Richards, J., Bosquet Enlow, M. +, & Nelson, C.A.+ (2025). Forming connections: Functional brain connectivity is associated with executive functioning abilities in early childhood. Developmental Science, e13604. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13604

Sacks, D.D., Wang, Y. Abron, A., Mulligan, K., Kelsey, C., Xie, W., Nelson, C.A., Bosquet Enlow, M. (2025). EEG frontal alpha asymmetry mediates the association between maternal and child internalizing symptoms in early childhood. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.14129