Emily Falk

Emily Falk
EducationBrown University
UCLA
Scientific career
FieldsPsychology
Neuroscience
Communication science
WorkplacesUniversity of Pennsylvania (2013-present)
University of Michigan (2010-2013)
Matthew Lieberman
Websitewww.falklab.org

Emily B. Falk is an American psychologist and neuroscientist, and professor of communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, holding secondary appointments in psychology and marketing. She is the author of the 2025 book What We Value: The Neuroscience of Choice and Change.

Biography

Falk received a Sc.B. in neuroscience from Brown University, an M.A. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. Falk was an assistant professor of communication at the University of Michigan and a faculty associate of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, before her appointment at the University of Pennsylvania.

Research

Falk directs the Communication Neuroscience Lab, a research laboratory that takes an interdisciplinary communication neuroscience approach to link neural activity to individual, group, and population behaviors. Specific research lines include predicting behavior change (including changes in sunscreen use, tobacco smoking, and sedentary behavior) following exposure to persuasive messages. Another line of research links neural responses to health messages to population level behavioral outcomes.

Her most cited peer-reviewed research articles are:

Awards and distinctions

Falk has received many awards for her work, including the 2012 National Institutes of Health Director's New Innovator Award, the 2017 International Communication Association (ICA) Early Career Scholar Award (then known as the Young Scholar Award), and the 2020 Social & Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS) Early Career Award.

References

  1. ↑ "Emily Falk, Ph.D. | Annenberg School for Communication". www.asc.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  2. ↑ "Emily Falk | Psychology". psychology.sas.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  3. ↑ "Emily Falk". Marketing Department. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  4. ↑ "What We Value". wwnorton.com. Retrieved 2025-04-22.
  5. ↑ "Emily Falk". www.scn.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 2023-09-09. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  6. ↑ "Emily Falk receives NIH Director's New Innovator Award". Retrieved 2020-10-02.
  7. ↑ "Research – Communication Neuroscience Lab". Archived from the original on 2019-08-20. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  8. ↑ Falk, Emily B.; Berkman, Elliot T.; Mann, Traci; Harrison, Brittany; Lieberman, Matthew D. (2010-06-23). "Predicting persuasion-induced behavior change from the brain". The Journal of Neuroscience. 30 (25): 8421–8424. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0063-10.2010. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 3027351. PMID 20573889.
  9. ↑ Cooper, Nicole; Tompson, Steven; O'Donnell, Matthew B.; Vettel, Jean M.; Bassett, Danielle S.; Falk, Emily B. (April 2018). "Associations between coherent neural activity in the brain's value system during antfgooismoking messages and reductions in smoking". Health Psychology. 37 (4): 375–384. doi:10.1037/hea0000574. ISSN 1930-7810. PMC 5880700. PMID 29446965.
  10. ↑ Cooper, Nicole; Tompson, Steve; O'Donnell, Matthew Brook; Falk, Emily B. (2015). "Brain Activity in Self- and Value-Related Regions in Response to Online Antismoking Messages Predicts Behavior Change". Journal of Media Psychology. 27 (3): 93–109. doi:10.1027/1864-1105/a000146. ISSN 1864-1105. PMC 5650074. PMID 29057013.
  11. ↑ Strecher, Victor J.; Resnicow, Kenneth; An, Lawrence; Taylor, Shelley E.; Lieberman, Matthew D.; Kang, Yoona; Tinney, Francis; Cascio, Christopher N.; O’Donnell, Matthew Brook (2015-02-17). "Self-affirmation alters the brain's response to health messages and subsequent behavior change". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 112 (7): 1977–1982. Bibcode:2015PNAS..112.1977F. doi:10.1073/pnas.1500247112. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 4343089. PMID 25646442.
  12. ↑ "Neuroimaging predicts influence of anti-smoking media campaign". News-Medical.net. 2019-01-09. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  13. ↑ "Brain scans predict best anti-smoking images". Futurity. 2015-10-30. Archived from the original on 2020-10-30. Retrieved 2019-08-10.
  14. ↑ Bayer, Joseph B.; Ellison, Nicole B.; Schoenebeck, Sarita Y.; Falk, Emily B. (2016-07-02). "Sharing the small moments: Ephemeral social interaction on Snapchat". Information, Communication & Society. 19 (7): 956–977. doi:10.1080/1369118X.2015.1084349. ISSN 1369-118X. S2CID 143325476.
  15. ↑ "Sharing the small moments: Ephemeral social interaction on Snapchat - Emily B. Falk - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  16. ↑ Falk, Emily B.; Berkman, Elliot T.; Mann, Traci; Harrison, Brittany; Lieberman, Matthew D. (2010-06-23). "Predicting persuasion-induced behavior change from the brain". The Journal of Neuroscience. 30 (25): 8421–8424. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0063-10.2010. ISSN 0270-6474. PMC 3027351. PMID 20573889.
  17. ↑ "Predicting persuasion-induced behavior change from the brain - Emily B. Falk - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  18. ↑ Falk, Emily B.; Berkman, Elliot T.; Lieberman, Matthew D. (2012-05-01). "From neural responses to population behavior: Neural focus group predicts population-level media effects". Psychological Science. 23 (5): 439–445. doi:10.1177/0956797611434964. ISSN 0956-7976. PMC 3725133. PMID 22510393.
  19. ↑ "From neural responses to population behavior: Neural focus group predicts population-level media effects - Emily B. Falk - Google Scholar Citations". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2021-04-07.
  20. ↑ "NIH Director's New Innovator Award Recipients: 2012 Awardees". National Institutes of Health. 18 September 2018. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  21. ↑ "DARPA YFA Class of 2015" (PDF). Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  22. ↑ "ICA Early Career Scholar Award". International Communication Association. Retrieved 2020-01-07.
  23. ↑ "SANS Awards". Social Affective Neuroscience Society. Retrieved 2020-01-07.