Dr. Tracey Shors is a Distinguished Professor in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology and the Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University. She has ~150 scientific publications and has recently written a popular book Everyday Trauma. Her research program studies how our brains ruminate on trauma-related memories and how this process can interfere with our everyday lives, while making still more memories. Dr. Shors is also focused on identifying effective tools for reducing repetitive thoughts that reinforce our everyday traumas. Her brain fitness program, known as MAP Train My Brain combines “mental and physical” training with silent meditation and aerobic exercise to decrease trauma-related and repetitive thoughts, as well as symptoms of depression and anxiety. By understanding how and why our brain tend to ruminate, while training them with new mental and physical skills, we are better equipped to leave our pasts behind and live in a brighter future.
POPULAR PRESS BOOK
EVERYDAY TRAUMA: Remapping the Brain’s Response to Stress, Anxiety and Painful Memories for a Better Life. – author of nonfiction book published by Macmillan and Flatiron Press; New York, 2021.
RECENT SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS
Demmin, D., Silverstein S.M., T. J. Shors (2022) Mental and Physical (MAP) Training with meditation and aerobic exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic reduces stress and improves well-being in teachers. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 23 https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.847301
Millon, E.M., Lehrer, P. & Shors, T.J. (2021). Meditation and Aerobic Exercise Enhance Mental Health Outcomes and Pattern Separation Learning Without Changing Heart Rate Variability in Women with HIV. Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback. 2022 Mar;47(1):27-42. doi: 10.1007/s10484-021-09530-2. PMID: 35040014; PMCID: PMC8763305.
Millon, E.M. & Shors, T.J. (2021). How mental health relates to everyday stress, rumination, trauma and interoception in women living with HIV: A factor analytic study, Learning and Motivation 73, 101680.
Millon, E.M., Haddad, A.E., Han Yan M. Chang, M.S., Najafizadeh, L., Shors, T.J. (2021). Human neural responses associated with the subjective passing of time. Submitted.
Lavadera, P., Millon, E.M., Shors, T.J. (2020). MAP Train My Brain: Meditation combined with aerobic exercise reduces stress and rumination while enhancing quality of life in medical students. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 26, 418-423. http://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2019.0281
Millon, E.M. & Shors, T.J. (2019). Taking neurogenesis out of the lab and into the world with MAP Train My Brain. Behavioural Brain Research, 376 (112154). doi: 10.1016/j.bbr.2019.112154
Millon, E.M., Chang, H.Y.M., Shors, T.J. (2018). Stressful life memories relate to ruminative thoughts in women with sexual violence history, irrespective of PTSD. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 9 (311). doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00311
Shors, T.J., Chang, H.Y.M., Millon, E.M. (2018). MAP Training My Brain: Meditation plus aerobic exercise lessens trauma of sexual violence more than either activity alone. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 12 (211). doi:10.3389/fnins.2018.00211
RECENT AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS
Office for Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance in 2019 – honored for dedication to survivors of sexual trauma by Rutgers University Student Affairs.
Center for Great Expectations Humanitarian of the Year Award 2019 – presented to Professor Shors for her research and ongoing service to underrepresented women in the state of New Jersey.
Over and Above Award 2020 – presented to Professor Shors from Violence Prevention and Victim Assistance (VPVA), which provides “services designed to raise awareness of and respond to the impact of interpersonal violence and other crimes.”
Horsley Gantt Medal 2021 presented to Professor Shors by the Pavlovian Society for the “noble pursuit of truth.”