Sara Jane Webb, PhD

Personal Statement

My research focuses on understanding the development of neural circuits that contributing to and underlie social development. Our lab uses a number of different tools: primarily electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs), but also eye tracking, cardiophysiology (EKG), neuroimaging, and behavioral measures to study how infants, children, and adults perceive, attend and learn about their social environment. Our projects also focus on the development and validation of biomarkers that may be used to understand the course of development and treatment response in children with disruption in social and communication function such as autism spectrum disorder, 16p11.2 deletion syndrome, and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Education

Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Illinois, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science, 2001
Clinical Electrophysiology, University of Washington, Center on Human Development & Disability, 2001-2004
PhD, Child Psychology, University of Minnesota, Institute of Child Development, 1996-2001
BA, Psychology, Yale University, 1992-1996

Department Affiliations

Other Affiliations

Seattle Children’s Research Institute
Center on Child Health, Behavior, & Development

Recent Publications

Longitudinal predictors of internalizing and externalizing behaviors in autism: Examining relationships with ritualistic behavior and social diagnostic features.
(2026 Sep 16)
Dev Psychopathol
Surmacz M, Coffman MM, Faja S, Nadwodny N, Dawson G, Jeste SS, Kleinhans N, Chawarska K, Webb SJ, Shic F, Naples A, Sugar C, Dziura J, McPartland JC

Excitation/inhibition balance subtypes in autism and their genetic, neural, and clinical profiles.
(2026 Sep 12)
J Neural Transm (Vienna)
Arutiunian V, Sullivan CAW, Santhosh M, Neuhaus E, Borland H, Bernier RA, Bookheimer SY, Dapretto M, Jack A, Jeste S, McPartland JC, Naples A, Van Horn JD, Pelphrey KA, Webb SJ, Gupta AR

EEG resting-state gamma power as a potential biomarker of excitation / inhibition imbalance in autism: Evidence from the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials.
(2026 Sep 10)
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol 113(): 113864
Arutiunian V, Sugar CA, Naples A, Santhosh M, Levin AR, Borland H, Benton J, Bernier RA, Chawarska K, Dawson G, Dziura J, Hellemann G, Faja S, Jeste S, Kleinhans N, Sabatos-DeVito M, Şentürk D, Shic F, McPartland JC, Webb SJ

Sex and Cognitive Ability-Based Stratification of Social Attention in Autism.
(2026 Aug 30)
Autism Res
Griffin JW, Shic F, Naples A, Dommer K, Dawson G, Faja S, Jeste S, Kleinhans N, Dziura J, Sugar C, Senturk D, Hellemann G, Webb SJ, McPartland JC, Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials

Sex differences in early brain development in a multi-site ASD likelihood cohort.
(2026)
Front Comput Neurosci 20(): 1868455
Blanco-Gomez G, Scorah J, O'Reilly C, van Noordt S, Leno VC, Webb SJ, Elsabbagh M

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