Kendra Seaman

Professional Preparation

Ph.D. - Applied Experimental Psychology
Catholic University of America - 2015

MA - Psychology
Catholic University of America - 2010

BA - Psychology
University of Kansas - 2002

BA - Biology
University of Kansas - 2002

Research Areas

Social Influences on Decision Making

Emerging research from my lab and others suggests that older adults may weigh social factors more than younger adults. In a recent naturalistic experience-sampling study, we found that older adults were better than younger adults at regulating their spontaneous desires in the presence of others who were enacting those desires (Castrellon et al., 2023 Psychol Aging). This emerging research suggests that social influences on decision making vary across adulthood.

Influence of Decision Features

The vast majority of decision making research has focused on examining monetary decisions.However, real-world decision making often requires that individuals weigh the costs and benefits across a variety of domains. Thus, my colleagues designed a set of discounting tasks to test how different types of costs and rewards influence choice behavior. We found significant age differences in choice behavior depending on the type of cost and the reward domain (Seaman, Gorlick, et al., 2016 Psychol Aging), which suggests older adults may be more motivated than younger adults to obtain social and health rewards immediately. This suggests that focusing on abstract monetary rewards may limit our ability to quantify age differences in domain-general decision making.

Temporal Discounting and Aging

Several theories of adult development predict a link between age and temporal discounting, or the devaluation of future rewards. However, the empirical literature on this topic has been mixed. Thus, with colleagues from Duke and the University of Basel, I conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of temporal discounting across adulthood. Across 37 studies (N = 104, 737), we found no sizeable relationship between adult age and temporal discounting (Seaman et al., 2022). In conducting the review, we observed that studies use a variety of delay durations, ranging from days to years. Working with the founding members of my new lab, we decided to conduct a follow-up study systematically manipulating delay duration. Here, we found that, at short to moderate time delays, older adults discounted less than younger adults. However, at very long delays (5 and 10 years), older adults discounted at similar rates to younger adults (Leverett et al., 2021). This suggests that observed age differences in temporal discounting may be methodological and that delay length may moderate the relationship between age and discounting.

Uncertainty, Risk, and Expected Value

Emerging research suggests that some age-related deficits in decision making may be linked to how individuals represent expected value. My work in this area has examined how the probability and variance of outcomes can influence this representation in older adults. We have observed that older adults have a tendency to accept more positively-skewed financial risks (with a small chance of a large win) than other types of equivalent gambles (Seaman, Leong, et al, 2017 Cogn Affect Behav Neurosci) and this age-related positive-skew bias is related to age differences in the recruitment of the lateral prefrontal cortex.

Dopamine and Aging

Using PET imaging, my colleagues and I have explored adult age differences in dopamine D2/3receptor binding potential across several cortical and subcortical brain regions. Using partial-volume-corrected PET data, which increases binding-potential estimates and reduces estimated age effects on binding potential, we showed that the rate and pattern of decline in dopamine receptor availability were regionally heterogeneous (Seaman et al., 2019 Hum Brain Mapp). These results did not align with existing theories of adult brain development, suggesting that these theories may need to be modified to better account for dopaminergic system aging.

Publications

Partial-volume correction increases estimated dopamine D2-like receptor binding potential and reduces adult age differences - Journal Article

The Preserved Role of Emotion Prediction Errors Across Adulthood 2026 - Journal Article

Decision-Making in the Aging Brain: An Update of the Evidence Base for the “Affect-Integration-Motivation” Framework 2026 - Book Chapter

The preserved role of emotion prediction errors across adulthood 2026 - Journal Article

Continuing momentum: The future of Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging (SRNDNA) 2026 - Other

Continuing momentum: the future of Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging (SRNDNA) 2026 - Journal Article

Human vs AI Emotion Classification of Faces Expanded 2026 - Other

Political partisanship and perceived partisan threat relate to simple trust decisions 2026 - Journal Article

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Appointments

Associate Professor
University of Texas at Dallas [2025–Present]

Assistant Professor
University of Texas at Dallas [2019–2025]

Postdoctoral Research
Duke University [2017–2019]

Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Yale University [2015–2017]

Projects

Affective forecasting and temporal discounting across adulthood

2026/09–2027/08 Colleen Frank, Wash U
Karolina Lempert, Adelphi U
Kendra Seaman, UT Dallas
The tendency to devalue delayed rewards in favor of more immediate rewards, known as temporal discounting, has serious implications for health behavior and outcomes. Developing strategies to reduce temporal discounting is therefore crucial. However, existing interventions have not been successful in either healthy older adults or those suffering from neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease. This project seeks to address this critical knowledge gap by investigating another potential strategy for reducing temporal discounting––affective forecasting. This strategy is promising because it relies on psychological and brain mechanisms that are preserved in older age. This project will yield critical insights into the relationships between affective forecasting and temporal discounting and how age impacts these processes.

Funded by NIA Grant # 1R21AG098256.

Helping at a cost: Examining age effects on personal safety decisions

2025/06 Kendra Seaman, UT Dallas
Loreen Tisdall, University of Basel
This research project investigates how age influences personal safety decisions in dynamic social situations, aiming to identify the psychological mechanisms underlying age-related differences in intervention behavior. To address this research question, we employ an online experimental paradigm using vignettes that simulate real-time bystander scenarios. These vignettes are designed to track participants’ decisions at multiple stages, capturing both their willingness to intervene and their chosen decision pathways over time. This research is expected to make both empirical and methodological contributions. It will generate a richly annotated lifespan dataset, support theory-driven investigations into age effects on decision making, and inform real-world debates related to prosocial behavior and public safety.

Funded by Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft Basel to LT.

Monetary and Medical Decisions for the Self and Others Across Adulthood

2025/01 Colleen Frank, UT Dallas
Thorsten Pachur, Technical University of Munich
Kendra Seaman, UT Dallas
Risky decision making is often studied using financial decisions. However, people also make other types of important decisions—such as health-related and medical decisions. Previous studies show that people systematically differ in how they make decisions for choices that elicit a great deal of affect (i.e., emotion) and those that don’t—a finding known as the ‘affect gap’ of risky choice (Pachur et al., 2014). Recent work finds that this affect gap is similar for older adults (Frank & Pachur, 2025). However, because older adults are at the greatest risk for having others make decisions for them, we examine how the affect gap changes when making decisions for oneself compared to another person (i.e., acquaintances vs. loved ones), and how this varies across adulthood.

Effect of Ambiguity on Probabilistic, Temporal and Effort Discounting Across Adulthood

2023/06 Galston Wong, UT Dallas
Kendra Seaman, UT Dallas
Many real-world decisions contain some degree of ambiguity, where the information provided about the cost (e.g. how long it will take, how much effort is required, or the likelihood the outcome will be realized) is vague or unknown (Ellsberg, 1961). While many studies have investigated ambiguous risks, few studies have looked at decisions for ambiguous time delays and ambiguous effort. Even less is known about how aging may influence such ambiguity preferences. This project seeks to address two main research aims. First, it will examine how one individual’s ambiguity preferences may differ across decision domains of probability, time, and effort. Secondly, it will examine how aging influences these ambiguity preferences across the three decision domains. Ultimately, this project seeks to address the lack of research examining the effects of aging and ambiguity preferences, beyond the scope of probabilistic decision making.

FACES Expanded

2023/01 Sera Gonzalez, UT Dallas
BoKyung Park, UT Dallas
Brittany Cassidy, UNC-Greensboro
Kendra Seaman, UT Dallas
Psychology and neuroscience research often lack representation of different racial groups in editing, writing, and participation (Roberts et al., 2020; Abiodun, 2019). With some notable exceptions, this underrepresentation also extends to the stimuli used in lab-based studies. Several years ago, Natalie Ebner and her colleagues at The Max Planck Institute for Human Development created a database of facial expression stimuli that included younger, middle-aged, and older adults (FACES). Expanding the age range of facial stimuli has greatly facilitated the study of emotion, motivation, and cognition across the adult lifespan. However, this stimulus set is limited to white men and women. In this project, we aim to build on this work by creating a new FACES–Expanded (FACES-X) dataset featuring images of canonical emotional expressions from young, middle-aged, and older individuals who are African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian. Additionally, these stimuli can be used to improve neuropsychological assessments in research on Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD). The resulting validated database will support the development of race-matched assessments, reduce diagnostic bias, and advance health equity in ADRD research.

This study is funded by an internal BBS Pilot Grant to KLS, NIA Diversity supplement to SG, startup funding from BP, and a BvB Dallas Foundation grant to KLS.

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Presentations

Social Media for Researchers Webinar

2024/03–2024/03 UT Dallas Office of Research and Innovation

Transparency and Reproducibility using Open Science

2023/09–2023/09 Center for Vital Longevity's Science Luncheon Series

Motivation and Decision Making in Aging

2018/12–2018/12 Presentation to the National Institute on Aging's Research Centers Collaborative Network (RCCN) Workshop "Achieving and Sustaining Behavior Change to Benefit Older Adults" in December 2018.

News Articles

Kendra Seaman: Discovering the Science Behind Aging and Cognition

Peer Pressure Susceptibility Lasts into Adulthood

UTD Profile of research article.

Study May Offer New Clues on Aging, Financial Trustworthiness

Researchers Aim To Make Sense of Risky Financial Behavior in Older Adults

The other essential pandemic office Trump eliminated.

Article in Slate Magazine March 18, 2020.

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Affiliations

Co-Director, Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging

2021/08–2027/08
SRNDNA combines multiple scientific disciplines to focus on the study of decision making across the life course. The network’s focus over the next five years will be on strengthening the connection between basic research and clinical research, with a focus on Alzheimer’s Disease and related dementias (ADRD). The network focuses on growth, development, and sustainability through scientific meetings, conferences, methods workshops, small grant competitions, and other awards.

Funding

Affective forecasting and temporal discounting across adulthood

$275,000 - The National Institute on Aging [2026/09–2027/08]

The proposed research addresses a critical public health need by testing a novel strategy to reduce temporal discounting, a form of impatience linked to poor health behaviors and outcomes. The proposed research will yield critical insights into the relationships between affective forecasting and temporal discounting and how age impacts these processes. These findings will establish a foundation for research to compare the affective forecasting with other evidence-based interventions, assess its impact on health-related behaviors, and examine its applicability in clinical populations.

Building Inclusive Assessment Tools: Expanding Culturally Representative Facial Stimuli for Equitable Neuropsychological Assessment in ADRD Research

35,725 - BvB Dallas [2026/01–2026/12]

This research project will expand the Diverse FACES database to create a comprehensive stimulus set of facial expressions from underrepresented racial and ethnic minority populations, addressing critical gaps in neuropsychological assessment tools used in Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) research.

Psychological Mechanisms of Skewed Decision Making Across Adulthood

$560,915 - National Science Foundation [2021/09–2024/08]

Each year, 1 out of every 18 older adults is the victim of financial fraud, resulting in estimated losses of $37 billion. These older adults are likely targeted because of this age group’s growing size, affluence, and power. Thus, it is important to understand why older adults sometimes make decisions that are different than younger adults because these age-related differences in decision making have enormous social and economic consequences. Our overall goal is to identify the psychological mechanisms that underlie age differences in risky decision making over the adult life span. This mechanistic focus will generate critical insight about aging and decision making that will guide the development of interventions to improve decision strategies in vulnerable older adults. This project will also seek to increase financial literacy in the general public by developing accessible educational materials appropriate for the adult general public.

Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging

$1, 810, 628 - National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Aging [2022/06–2027/03]

As the proportion of older adults in the population continues to expand, magnifying the relative impact of their decisions, it is increasingly imperative to better understand changes in decision making across the life span before and throughout all stages of significant cognitive impairment related to Alzheimers Disease and related dementias. Increasing interdisciplinary research combining psychology, neuroscience/neurology, medicine, and economics has tremendous potential for increasing translation of science for real-world impact to better understand and alleviate the burden of Alzheimers Disease and related dementias. The long-term goal of this network is to conduct integrative and multidisciplinary research that contributes directly to interventions aimed at improving health and well being in the daily lives of aging adults.