Riley received her BS in Psychology from Illinois College, her MS in Experimental Psychology from Western Illinois University, and her PhD from Southern Illinois University. She is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory for Social Connectedness and Health. Her research uses genetically informed methods to understand how social behaviors, such as prosocial behaviors, develop. She is particularly interested in the impact of social relationships on social behaviors as well as individual differences, like genes, temperament, or personality, that might influence associations between social experiences and social behaviors.