Lab Members

 

DR. MEREDITH LANSKA is a visiting scholar who received her PhD in Cognitive Psychology from Binghamton University in 2015. Her research examined the attribution of fluency—ease of processing—on recognition memory judgments. Fluency creates a sense of familiarity that is attributed to a feeling of “oldness” on a recognition memory test. Her research illuminates that the attribution of processing fluency on a recognition memory test is not a simplistic process, as it is frequently thought of, but is actually quite sophisticated. After graduate school, she conducted research in the technology industry while also teaching at colleges in the Bay Area. Since she has always been preoccupied with the way we make sense of this world, she is currently back visiting her first lab to continue to investigate how memory helps us navigate our environment and gives rise to a cohesive experience.

 

SARAH BRAUER, the lab manager, is a graduate student interested in the mechanistic and neurological underpinnings of conscious and unconscious processes, especially how exploration of these processes may be useful for the development of more effective psychopathological interventions.  For most recent research publication, click here.

 

ARIEL HUH is a graduate interested in indirect cognitive control and the differences between social pain and physical pain.

 

LATOYA WRIGHT-WILSON is a graduate student who is interested in unconscious processes and in neural networks.  She is especially interested in episodic memory.  For most recent research publication, click here. 

 

TALA ELSABBAGH is a graduate student interested in the interactions between conscious and unconscious processes, especially in how they are involved in voluntary versus involuntary behavior.  For most recent research publication, click here.

 

FANQI KONG is a graduate student who is interested in human cognition and visual intelligence. Fanqi is also interested in the effects of unattended stimuli on cognition, consciousness, and neural processing.

 

NATALIA WIECZOREK is a graduate student interested in which neural pathways are associated with the conscious field, how conscious contents influence action selection, and the role of external stimuli and encapsulation in adaptive action selection. 

 

SONIA PATHAK is a graduate student interested in attention, unconscious behavior, and learning. She is especially interested in the mechanistic underpinnings of neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD.

 

CLAYTON TAYLOR is a graduate student interested in cognitive psychology and neuroscience.  He is particularly interested in the role of urges, and other metacognitions, in conscious action selection. 

 

BELLA BENZAKEN is a graduate student interested in the neural mechanisms of consciousness, neuroplasticity, and music’s influence on brain processes, specifically memory, emotion and executive functioning. 

 

DIVYA SHETTIGAR is an undergraduate interested in the conscious and unconscious processes that influence human behavior.  She is interested also in clinical psychology and social psychology.

 

JESUS MARIA LOPEZ CARRENO is an undergraduate student interested in how neural circuitry gives rise to the conscious field and how the immediate context influences voluntary action selection.

 

VANNESA VALLE is a graduate student whose primary mentor is Prof. Mark Geisler.  Vannesa is interested in the role of alpha rhythms in cognitive control.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FOR LAB ALUMNI, CLICK HERE.