Mia Jovanova

Mia Jovanova

(she/her) PhD Candidate

University of Pennsylvania


I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Communication Neuroscience Lab at the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2023. Previously, I worked at the Health Communication lab at Cornell University, where I graduated from in 2017.

I am interested in what digital technologies, like smartphones and wearables, can reveal about health behaviors; and how we can use digital technologies to improve well-being.

Exciting news! Following graduation, I will be joining the SaxeLab at MIT as a visiting scientist, and I will be a scientific director of the CSS Health Lab at the University of St. Gallen and ETH Zurich in Switzerland.

Interests
  • Health psychology
  • Social influence
  • Behavior change
  • Social neuroscience
  • Longitudinal mobile sampling
  • Machine learning
  • Person-specific models
Education

  • PhD in Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 2023 expected

  • MA in Communication, University of Pennsylvania, 2018

  • BSc in Communication, Cornell University, 2017

Publications & Preprints

Jovanova, M, Cosme, D, Dore, B, Kang, Y, Stanoi, O, Cooper, N, Helion C, Lomax S, McGowan, S, Boyd, Z, Bassett, D.S, Mucha, P.J, Ochsner K.N, Lydon-Staley, D.M, Falk, E.B (2022). Psychological distance intervention reminders reduce alcohol consumption frequency in daily life.

Preprint

McGowan A. L, Sayed F, Boyd, Z.M,, Jovanova, M, Kang, Yoona, Speer Megan, Cosme, Danielle, Peter Mucha, Bassett, D.S, Oschner, K. N, Falk, E.B, Lydon-Staley D. M. (2022). Dense sampling approaches for psychiatry research: Adventures with scanners and smartphones.

Preprint

Zhou D, Kang, Y, Cosme, D, Jovanova, M, He X, Mahadevan A, Stanoi, O, Brynildsen J. K, Cooper, N, Cornblath E, Parkes L, Mucha P, Ochsner K.N, Lydon-Staley D. M., Falk E, Bassett D. S. (2022). Mindfulness promotes control of brain network dynamics for self-regulation and discontinues the past from the present. In press at PNAS.

Preprint

Jovanova, M, Falk, E.B, Parelman,J, Pandey, P, O'Donnell, M B, Kang, Y, Bassett, D.S, Lydon-Staley D. M. (2022). Brain system integration and message consistent health behavior change. Health Psychology(41/9).

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Scholz, C, Jovanova, M, Baek, E, Falk, E.B (2021). Media content sharing as a value-based decision. Current Opinion in Psychology 31.

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Langrock, I, Jovanova, M (2021). Gender gaps in Communication's Open Science Movement. Under review (November 21, 2022). Available at SSRN: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4283210.

Preprint

McGowan A. L, Parkes L, He X, Stanoi, O, Kang, Y, Lomax S, Jovanova, M, Mucha P. J, Ochsner K N., Falk, E. B, Bassett D. S., Lydon-Staley D. M. (2021). Controllability of structural brain networks and the waxing and waning of negative affect in daily life. Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science, 1(1).

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Sayed F, McGowan A L, Jovanova, M, Cosme, D, Kang, Y, Stanoi, O, Mucha P, Falk, E. B (2021). Momentary associations between affect and alcohol use in the daily lives of college students.

Preprint

Jovanova, M, Skurka, C, Byrne, S, Kalaji, M, Greiner Safi, A, Porticella, N, Mathios, A, Avery, R, Dorf, M, Niederdeppe, J (2021). Should graphic warning labels proposed for cigarette packages sold in the United States mention the Food and Drug Administration?. Nicotine Tobacco Research 23(2).

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Kang., Y, O’Cosme, D, Ahn. J, Strecher, V, Lydon-Staley, D, Corbani, F, Jovanova, M, Stanoi, O, Lomax S, Ochsner, K, Mucha P, Bassett D, Falk. E (2020). Alcohol cue reactivity in the ventral striatum and daily purpose in life moderate the relationship between alcohol craving and consumption in college students. Addiction 117(12).

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Conferences

Jovanova, M, Pandey, P, Schwarze, A, Dore, B, Kang, Y, Cosme, D, Bassett, D. B, Mucha P, Ochsner, K, Lydon-Staley, D, Falk, E.B (2022). A person-specific approach to study health behavior: proof of concept with alcohol use. Talk submitted to the Annual International Communication Association Conference, Toronto, Canada, May 2023.

Jovanova, M, Cosme, D, Stanoi, O, Dore, B, Cooper, N, Kang, Y, Helion C, Mucha P, Bassett, D.B, Ochsner, K, Falk, E.B (2022). Decoding how the brain tracks peer drinking behavior in social groups. Talk presented at the Annual International Communication Association Conference, Paris, France, May 2022.

Pre-registration Slides Scripts in Python

Langrock, I, Jovanova, M (2022). Open science, equal citations? Investigating gendered citation practices within open science and communication research. Talk presented at the Annual International Communication Association Conference, Paris, France, May 2022.

Preprint Pre-registration

Jovanova, M, Stanoi, O, Scholz, C, Lydon-Staley, D.M, Kang, Y, Cooper, N, Cosme, D, Doré,B, Mucha, P.J, Ochsner, K, Bassett, D.S, Falk, E.B (2021). Brain responses to peers moderate peer influence effects on drinking. Talk presented at the International Communication Association, Communication Science & Biology Division, virtual conference.

Jovanova, M, Stanoi,O, Scholz, C, Lydon-Staley, D.M, Cooper, N, Doré,B, Kang, Y, Cosme, D, Bassett, D.S, Mucha P, Ochsner, K, Falk, E. B (2021). Mentalizing and reward brain responses and social influence on drinking. Talk and poster presented at the Social Affective Neuroscience Society, virtual conference.

Jovanova, M, Stanoi, O, Scholz, C, Lydon-Staley, D.M, Kang, Y, Cosme, D, Dore, B, Mucha, P.J, Ochsner, K, Bassett, D.S, Falk, E. B (2021). Social network position and susceptibility to conversational influence on drinking . Talk presented at the International Communication Association, Health Communication Division, virtual conference.

Preprint

Stanoi, O, Jovanova, M, Speer M, E, Dore, B, Lydon-Staley, D, M, Bassett D S, Mucha P, Falk, E.B, Ochsner, K (2021). Social outcomes of emotion regulation. Talk presented to the Society for Affective Science, virtual conference.

Jovanova, M, Falk, E.B, Parelman,J, Pandey, P, O'Donnell, M B, Kang, Y, Bassett, D.S, Lydon-Staley D. M. (2020). Brain system integration and message consistent health behavior change [Top paper award*]. Talk presented at the International Communication Association, Communication and Biology Interest Group, virtual conference.

PDF Paper profile

Jovanova, M, Dore, B, Lydon-Staley, D, Stanoi, O, Cooper, N, Kang,Y, Helion. C, Mucha P, Oschner, K, Bassett. D. B, Falk, E.B (2020). A smartphone-based intervention: Using cognitive distance to reduce drinking. Talk presented at the International Communication Association, Health Communication Division, virtual conference.

Jovanova, M, Lydon-Staley,D, Parelman J, O’Donnell,M.B, Pandey,P, Kang, Y, Bassett D, Falk,E.B (2019). Functional connectivity between salience and self-related networks is associated with message-consistent health behavior change. Poster presented at annual meeting of the Social Affective Neuroscience Society, Miami, United States.

Jovanova, M, Scholz, C, Baek, E, Falk, E.B (2019). Neural mechanisms of health information propagation on social media. Poster presented at the annual meeting of the European Health Psychology Society, Dubrovnik, Croatia.

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