Silton Named SPR Fellow
One of eight members worldwide selected for the 2026 class of Fellows
Rebecca L. Silton, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Psychology at Loyola University Chicago’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been named a Fellow of the Society for Psychophysiological Research (SPR), an international organization dedicated to studying the relationship between psychological processes and the body’s physiological responses.
Silton is one of eight members worldwide selected for the 2026 class of Fellows. The distinction recognizes members who have made substantial, sustained contributions to both psychophysiological research and the society. Silton formerly served as Secretary of SPR and chaired the Women in Science Education Committee.
“Dr. Silton’s recognition reflects her sustained contributions to research and her commitment to advancing our understanding of human well-being,” said Peter J. Schraeder, PhD, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Her work explores how positive emotions can strengthen individuals and communities, bringing valuable insights to questions that affect people’s lives.”
“I feel incredibly honored to be named an SPR Fellow,” said Silton. “As an international interdisciplinary academic society, SPR provides a generative context for the exchange of innovative scientific information and psychophysiological methods. I am grateful to have been mentored by many SPR members over the past two decades. These impactful collaborative relationships with other scientists sharpen my methodological expertise that I apply to advance knowledge regarding the body’s physiological responses associated with positive emotions and well-being.”
Silton is the founding director of the Wellbeing and Emotion Lab (WELL Lab) at Loyola, where researchers study how to optimize positive emotions to promote well-being and vitality for individuals and their communities. The lab explores embodied positive emotions and how they can bolster resilience, restoration, and revitalization across the lifespan.
An affective neuroscientist, Silton also aims to advance neuroscience-informed interventions that promote healthy patterns of emotional functioning and brain changes associated with positive health and well-being outcomes.
Founded in 1960, SPR supports research into the relationship between psychological and physiological processes through its scientific journal, Psychophysiology, and annual meetings where researchers share findings, discuss methods, and explore new directions in the field.
Silton earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Macalester College and her PhD in clinical and community psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She completed her clinical internship at the University of Washington and a postdoctoral fellowship at Seattle Children’s Hospital before joining Loyola.
Learn more about Silton and her research at the WELL Lab.
About the College of Arts and Sciences
Founded in 1870, the College of Arts and Sciences is the oldest and largest of Loyola University Chicago’s 13 schools and colleges, serving as the academic home for nearly 8,000 students (roughly 50 percent of Loyola’s total student population). It is academically diverse with twenty academic departments that span an array of intellectual pursuits, ranging from the natural sciences and computational sciences to the humanities, the social sciences, and the fine and performing arts. It is also highly interdisciplinary with thirty-one interdisciplinary programs and seven interdisciplinary centers, including the mission-centric Jesuit Heritage Research Center and the Hank Center for the Catholic Intellectual Heritage. The College is home to over 450 full-time, award-winning faculty, who are committed to teaching and research excellence. They teach nearly 2,000 classes each semester, including 88 percent of all Core Curriculum classes taken by undergraduate students across the university. They also contribute to eleven doctoral programs whose graduates have helped propel Loyola starting in 2025 to R-1 research status (the highest research status a university can achieve). Our students and faculty are engaged internationally at Loyola Rome in Italy, as well as at dozens of university-sponsored study abroad and research sites around the world. Home to the departments that anchor the university’s Core Curriculum, the College seeks to prepare all of Loyola’s students to think critically, to engage the world of the 21st century at ever-deepening levels, and to become caring and compassionate individuals. Our faculty, staff, and students view service to others not just as one option among many, but as a constitutive dimension of their very being. In the truest sense of the Jesuit ideal, our graduates strive to be “individuals for others.”