Heather L. Urry, Ph.D.
Heather L. Urry, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology, Tufts University

I am a clinical psychologist by training with specializations in affective neuroscience and psychophysiology. I direct the Emotion, Brain, & Behavior Laboratory at Tufts University, where my research delineates the neural and psychological mechanisms of emotion regulation — including how emotion and emotion-regulatory processes affect task performance under stress, and how emotion regulation shapes our forecasts about our own future feelings. My lab combines psychophysiology, fMRI, eye tracking, and behavioral methods to study these questions, and I have a strong interest in transparent, open science and improving research practices in psychology.

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21

Years at Tufts

12

Ph.D. Students Mentored

10,000+

Miles Run

9

Years Coding in R

Experience

  1. Professor

    Tufts University, Department of Psychology
    Director, Emotion, Brain, & Behavior Laboratory.

  2. Associate Professor (with tenure)

    Tufts University, Department of Psychology

  3. Assistant Professor

    Tufts University, Department of Psychology

  4. Assistant Scientist

    University of Wisconsin—Madison, Department of Psychology

  5. Postdoctoral Fellow

    University of Wisconsin—Madison, Department of Psychology
    Institutional NRSA Training Grant, NIMH T32-MH18931. PI: Richard J. Davidson, Ph.D.

Education

  1. Ph.D., Psychology (Clinical)

    University of Arizona
    Dissertation: Effortful inhibition of affective responses to pictures: Effects on central and peripheral physiology. Committee Chair: John J. B. Allen, Ph.D.

  2. M.A., Psychology (Clinical)

    University of Arizona
    Thesis: Nonverbal synchrony and therapeutic alliance as predictors of outcome in the brief, behavioral treatment of insomnia. Committee Chair: Varda Shoham, Ph.D.

  3. B.S., Psychology

    University of Arizona
Research Interests & Methods
Research Interests
Emotion Regulation
Affective Neuroscience
Performance Under Stress
Affective Forecasting
Open & Reproducible Science
Methods
Psychophysiology (EDA, ECG, EMG)
fMRI
Eye Tracking & Pupillometry
Behavioral & Online Data Collection
Selected Publications

  • Urry, H. L., Plonski, P. E., Patel, P., Cathern, M. D., Taylor, H. A., & Brunyé, T. T. (2026). Urgent, Hurry Up!!! Perceived Time Pressure Affects Fine Motor Performance via Subjective Distress in U.S. Adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. doi:10.1037/xhp0001386

  • Patel, P., & Urry, H. L. (2025). Everything is Going to be Okay: Emotion Regulation and Immune Neglect in Affective Forecasting. Cognition and Emotion, 1–11. doi:10.1080/02699931.2025.2511974

  • Plonski, P. E., Patel, P., Ossenfort, K. L., Taylor, H. A., Brunyé, T. T., & Urry, H. L. (2025). How Much Time to Figure Out How to Get Where? Route Planning and Subjective Stress Under Time Pressure. PLoS ONE, 20(1), e0316382. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0316382

  • Rasmussen, R., Levari, D. E., Akhtar, M., Crittle, C. S., Gately, M., Pagan, J., Brennen, A., Cashman, D., Wulff, A. N., Norton, M. I., Sommers, S. R., & Urry, H. L. (2022). White (but not Black) Americans continue to see racism as a zero-sum game; White conservatives (but not moderates or liberals) see themselves as losing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17(6), 1800–1810. doi:10.1177/17456916221082111

  • Wang, K., et al. (2021). A multi-country test of brief reappraisal interventions on emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nature Human Behaviour, 5(8), 1089–1110. doi:10.1038/s41562-021-01173-x

  • Urry, H. L., Crittle, C. S., Floerke, V. A., Leonard, M. Z., Perry, C. S., et al. (2021). Don’t ditch the laptop just yet: A direct replication of Mueller and Oppenheimer’s (2014) Study 1 plus mini meta-analyses across similar studies. Psychological Science, 32, 326–339. doi:10.1177/0956797620965541

  • Urry, H. L., & Gross, J. J. (2010). Emotion regulation in older age. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 19, 352–357.

  • Urry, H. L., Nitschke, J. B., Dolski, I., Jackson, D. C., Dalton, K. M., Mueller, C. J., Rosenkranz, M. A., Ryff, C. D., Singer, B. H., & Davidson, R. J. (2004). Making a life worth living: Neural correlates of well-being. Psychological Science, 15, 367–372.

60+ publications total — download full CV for the complete list.

Teaching & Mentoring

Recipient of the Faculty Teaching and Mentoring Award (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts, 2022) and the Outstanding Faculty Contribution to Graduate Education award (Graduate Student Council, Tufts, 2019).

Recent courses

  • Introduction to Psychology
  • Emotion
  • Experimental Psychology with Laboratory
  • Rigorous and Reproducible Research Practices
  • Coding for Psychology (new preparation, Fall 2026)
  • Seminar in Affective Neuroscience

Mentoring

I direct the Emotion, Brain, & Behavior Laboratory, where I’ve mentored 3 postdoctoral researchers, 12 Ph.D. students, and 15+ undergraduate honors thesis students. I also advise roughly 70 psychology majors and pre-majors, and served as Director of Graduate Studies for the Department of Psychology (2021–2025).