Eleanor Palser, PhD
Assistant Professor
Director of Pediatric Behavioral Health
Contact
Biography
Eleanor completed her PhD in Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UCL), then a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Affective Neuroscience at UCSF. Her primary research interests are understanding emotional differences in neurodevelopmental conditions, particularly autism. Through this work she hopes to inform understanding of both the core features of these conditions, but also frequently co-occurring mental health challenges, such as anxiety. She advocates for adopting a strength-based approach to understanding and supporting neurodevelopmental conditions, and has received grant funding to research creativity and empathy in dyslexia. On the side, she has written op-eds and commentaries on DEI issues in academia, with particular interest in supporting those from non-traditional academic backgrounds.
As the Director for the Pediatric Behavioral Health emphasis at PAU, she teaches courses on child and adolescent development and developmental psychopathology.
Education
- Postdoc in Clinical Affective Neuroscience, UCSF
- PhD in Clinical Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, UK
- MSc in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, Durham University, UK
- BSc in Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, UK
Areas of Expertise
Teaching Interest Areas: Child development; Developmental psychopathology; affective science; gender
Research Interest Areas: Lifespan development, neurodevelopmental conditions, emotion, empathy
Publications
- Zhang, B. Y., Gocheva, G. V., Tyler, A., Wallman‐Jones, A., Shabash, M., Han, J., ... & Palser, E. R. (2025). A sunny disposition and a big heart: Thematic analysis of parent‐reported socio‐emotional strengths in dyslexia. Dyslexia, 31(3), e70010.
- Palser, E. R., Morris, N. A., Veziris, C. R., Holley, S. R., Wallman-Jones, A., Roy, A. R., ... & Sturm, V. E. (2025). Role of left lateral prefrontal cortex in positive emotion regulation: Insights from dyslexia. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 1-17.
- Palser, E. R., Zhang, B. Y., Han, J., Martinez-Arroyo, A. I., Gerenza, A. K., Watson-Pereira, C., ... & Sturm, V. E. (2025). Awe proneness links RSA and trait creativity in dyslexia. Journal of Creativity, 100109.
- Palser, E. R., Lazerwitz, M., & Fotopoulou, A. (2022). Gender and geographical disparity in editorial boards of journals in psychology and neuroscience. Nature Neuroscience, 25(3), 272-279.
- Palser, E. R., Galvez-Pol, A., Palmer, C. E., Hannah, R., Fotopoulou, A., Pellicano, E., & Kilner, J. M. (2021). Reduced differentiation of emotion-associated bodily sensations in autism. Autism, 25(5), 1321-1334.