Amy Vaughan Van Hecke

Dr. Van Hecke’s specialty is developmental psychology and neuroscience, with an emphasis on social development across the lifespan. Dr. Van Hecke is interested in brain activity, heart rate regulation, social behavior, and mental health in autistic and non-autistic infants, preschoolers, teenagers, and young adults. Her past studies have focused on topics such as the development of eye contact behavior, temperament, and social skills in infancy, and the activation of the brain and regulation of the heart in response to familiar and unfamiliar people in autistic children. Dr. Van Hecke has utilized high-density electroencephalogram (EEG) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI, fMRI, and DTI) to record brain activity and structure in autistic preschoolers, adolescents, and young adults. Her current work involves understanding how randomized controlled trials of anxiety and relationship development interventions, such as the Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills (PEERS®: Laugeson & Frankel, 2010) and the Coping with Uncertainty in Everyday Situations (CUES: Rodgers et al., 2021) program, affects brain structure, brain activity, anxiety, and social behavior in autistic children, adolescents, and young adults. She is particularly interested in how remediating anxiety and social isolation enhances well-being. She also examines how session-to-session psychophysiological measures (heart rate, Respiratory Sinus Arrhythmia, and electrodermal activity) predict treatment outcomes in ASD. Dr. Van Hecke has also completed a series of studies examining how the pandemic is affecting social interactions, and how online social interaction is related to mental health and loneliness in autistic and non-autistic adults. Dr. Van Hecke’s lab has recently completed a new randomized controlled trial of the telehealth version of PEERS® for adolescents and young adults. Finally, Dr. Van Hecke’s lab is interested in learning more about how autism assessment and therapies can be adapted for underserved populations, such as Native American and indigenous families and children in Wisconsin.