Alexandra Paxton

Alexandra Paxton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of Connecticut. She directs the Dyscord Lab, where she investigates communication and social interaction through the lens of complex dynamical systems. Her research leverages data-rich methods to analyze movement, language, and emotion in naturalistic contexts, with additional focus on ethical implications of human-derived data and big data theory-building in psychology.

Dr. Paxton holds a Ph.D. in Cognitive and Information Sciences from the University of California, Merced (2015).

Her research explores how context modulates interpersonal behavior, using dynamics-focused approaches to study multimodal coordination (e.g., gesture-speech synchronization) across diverse settings. Key interests include:

• Modeling interaction as a coupled system influenced by conversational constraints and environmental factors.
• Developing computational tools for analyzing linguistic and movement coordination.
• Ethical frameworks for naturally occurring data in psychological science.

Her publications (2020-2024) predominantly analyze interpersonal dynamics using recurrence quantification, linguistic alignment, and dynamical systems modeling. Recent work emphasizes real-world applications—such as videoconferencing, autism communication patterns, and driving behavior—reflecting a consistent trend toward ecologically valid, interdisciplinary research bridging psychology, data science, and ethics.

She leads the Dyscord Lab, which prioritizes open science practices and high-dimensional data analysis to understand social coordination. Dr. Paxton also serves in editorial roles at PLOS ONE, Cognitive Processing, and Behavior Research Methods.