Amy Winecoff

Amy Winecoff

Washington, District of Columbia, United States
2K followers 500+ connections

Join to view profile

Activity

Join now to see all activity

Experience

  • Center for Democracy & Technology Graphic

    Center for Democracy & Technology

    Washington DC

  • -

    Washington DC-Baltimore Area

  • -

  • -

    Boston, Massachusetts, United States

  • -

    Greater Boston Area

  • -

    Greater Boston Area

  • -

    Cambridge, MA

  • -

    Annandale-On-Hudson, NY

Education

  • Duke University Graphic

    Duke University

    -

    Activities and Societies: Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience Fellow (Summer 2011), James B. Duke Graduate Fellowship Award (2009-2013), National Science Foundation Honorable Mention (2008 & 2009)

  • -

    Activities and Societies: Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude, Valedictorian

Publications

  • Users in the Loop: A Psychologically-Informed Approach to Similar Item Retrieval

    Thirteenth ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys’19),

    Recommender systems (RS) often leverage information about the similarity between items' features to make recommendations. Yet, many commonly used similarity functions make mathematical assumptions such as symmetry (i.e., Sim(a,b) = Sim(b,a)) that are inconsistent with how humans make similarity judgments. Moreover, most algorithm validations either do not directly measure users' behavior or fail to comply with methodological standards for psychological research. RS that are developed and…

    Recommender systems (RS) often leverage information about the similarity between items' features to make recommendations. Yet, many commonly used similarity functions make mathematical assumptions such as symmetry (i.e., Sim(a,b) = Sim(b,a)) that are inconsistent with how humans make similarity judgments. Moreover, most algorithm validations either do not directly measure users' behavior or fail to comply with methodological standards for psychological research. RS that are developed and evaluated without regard to users' psychology may fail to meet users' needs. To provide recommendations that do meet the needs of users, we must: 1) develop similarity functions that account for known properties of human cognition, and 2) rigorously evaluate the performance of these functions using methodologically sound user testing. Here, we develop a framework for evaluating users' judgments of similarity that is informed by best practices in psychological research methods. Employing users' fashion item similarity judgments collected using our framework, we demonstrate that a psychologically-informed similarity function (i.e., Tversky contrast model) outperforms a psychologically-naive similarity function (i.e., Jaccard similarity) in predicting users' similarity judgments.

    See publication

  • Brief report: A health belief model approach to men's assessment of a novel long-acting contraceptive

    Cogent Medicine

    We investigated predictors of men’s attitudes towards and intent to use VasalgelTM, a long-acting reversible male contraceptive under development. The health belief model (HBM), with additional constructs of interpersonal factors and social norms, provided the framework. Heterosexual men (N = 146) living in Upstate New York (age: M = 24, range = 18–48) completed a survey assessing attitudes, intent, and other psychosocial characteristics. Overall men had positive attitudes towards VasalgelTM…

    We investigated predictors of men’s attitudes towards and intent to use VasalgelTM, a long-acting reversible male contraceptive under development. The health belief model (HBM), with additional constructs of interpersonal factors and social norms, provided the framework. Heterosexual men (N = 146) living in Upstate New York (age: M = 24, range = 18–48) completed a survey assessing attitudes, intent, and other psychosocial characteristics. Overall men had positive attitudes towards VasalgelTM, and reported intent to use. The HBM predicted attitudes towards and intent to use VasalgelTM, and including perceived norms and interpersonal fac-tors significantly improved the model for intent to use but not attitudes. Results indicate positive response to VasalgelTM and the utility of theory-based model

    See publication

  • Cognitive control and neuroeconomics

    The Wiley Handbook of Cognitive Control

  • The functional significance of shyness in anorexia nervosa

    European Eating Disorders Review

    The defining features of anorexia nervosa (AN) include disordered eating and disturbance in the experience of their bodies; however, many women with AN also demonstrate higher harm avoidance (HA), lower novelty seeking, and challenges with interpersonal functioning. The current study explored whether HA and novelty seeking could explain variation in disordered eating and social functioning in healthy control women ( n = 18), weight-restored women with a history of AN (n = 17), and women…

    The defining features of anorexia nervosa (AN) include disordered eating and disturbance in the experience of their bodies; however, many women with AN also demonstrate higher harm avoidance (HA), lower novelty seeking, and challenges with interpersonal functioning. The current study explored whether HA and novelty seeking could explain variation in disordered eating and social functioning in healthy control women ( n = 18), weight-restored women with a history of AN (n = 17), and women currently-ill with AN (AN; n=17). Our results indicated that clinical participants (AN+weight-restored women) reported poorer social skills than healthy control participants. Moreover, the relationship between eating disorder symptoms and social skill deficits was mediated by HA. Follow-up analyses indicated that only the ‘shyness with strangers’ factor of HA independently mediated this relationship. Collectively, our results suggest a better understanding of shyness in many individuals with eating disorders could inform models of interpersonal functioning in AN.

    See publication

  • Ventromedial prefrontal cortex encodes emotional value

    Journal of Neuroscience

    The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a critical role in processing appetitive stimuli. Recent investigations have shown that reward value signals in the vmPFC can be altered by emotion regulation processes; however, to what extent the processing of positive emotion relies on neural regions implicated in reward processing is unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of emotion regulation on the valuation of emotionally evocative images. Two independent experimental samples of human…

    The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) plays a critical role in processing appetitive stimuli. Recent investigations have shown that reward value signals in the vmPFC can be altered by emotion regulation processes; however, to what extent the processing of positive emotion relies on neural regions implicated in reward processing is unclear. Here, we investigated the effects of emotion regulation on the valuation of emotionally evocative images. Two independent experimental samples of human participants performed a cognitive reap- praisal task while undergoing fMRI. The experience of positive emotions activated the vmPFC, whereas the regulation of positive emotions led to relative decreases in vmPFC activation. During the experience of positive emotions, vmPFC activation tracked partici- pants’ own subjective ratings of the valence of stimuli. Furthermore, vmPFC activation also tracked normative valence ratings of the stimuli when participants were asked to experience their emotions, but not when asked to regulate them. A separate analysis of the predictive power of vmPFC on behavior indicated that even after accounting for normative stimulus ratings and condition, increased signal in the vmPFC was associated with more positive valence ratings. These results suggest that the vmPFC encodes a domain-general value signal that tracks the value of not only external rewards, but also emotional stimuli.

    See publication

  • Cognitive and neural contributors to emotion regulation in aging

    Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

    Older adults, compared to younger adults, focus on emotional well-being. While the lifespan trajectory of emotional processing and its regulation has been characterized behaviorally, few studies have investigated the underlying neural mechanisms. Here, older adults (range: 59–73 years) and younger adults (range: 19–33 years) participated in a cognitive reappraisal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. On each trial, participants viewed positive, negative or neutral…

    Older adults, compared to younger adults, focus on emotional well-being. While the lifespan trajectory of emotional processing and its regulation has been characterized behaviorally, few studies have investigated the underlying neural mechanisms. Here, older adults (range: 59–73 years) and younger adults (range: 19–33 years) participated in a cognitive reappraisal task during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. On each trial, participants viewed positive, negative or neutral pictures and either naturally experienced the image (’Experience’ condition) or attempted to detach themselves from the image (’Reappraise’ condition). Across both age groups, cognitive reappraisal activated prefrontal regions similar to those reported in prior studies of emotion regulation, while emotional experience activated the bilateral amygdala. Psychophysiological inter- action analyses revealed that the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and amygdala demonstrated greater inverse connectivity during the ’Reappraise’ condition relative to the ’Experience’ condition. The only regions exhibiting significant age differences were the left IFG and the left superior temporal gyrus, for which greater regulation-related activation was observed in younger adults. Controlling for age, increased performance on measures of cognition predicted greater regulation-related decreases in amygdala activation. Thus, while older and younger adults use similar brain structures for emotion regulation and experience, the functional efficacy of those structures depends on underlying cognitive ability.

    See publication

More activity by Amy

View Amy’s full profile

  • See who you know in common
  • Get introduced
  • Contact Amy directly
Join to view full profile

Other similar profiles

Explore more posts

Explore collaborative articles

We’re unlocking community knowledge in a new way. Experts add insights directly into each article, started with the help of AI.

Explore More

Others named Amy Winecoff

3 others named Amy Winecoff are on LinkedIn

See others named Amy Winecoff

Add new skills with these courses

See all courses