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Lab members

The people that make it happen....

Iain Harlow

  Iain Harlow

Post-Doctoral Researcher
Ph.D. from University of Edinburgh, 2011
Email:

I study the processes that underlie human memory: what they are, how they should be described and how they interact to support memory for different tasks. Currently I am using high resolution fMRI to understand how the hippocampus supports the storage and recollection of precise episodic details. I am also interested in how recollection and familiarity should be modelled behaviourally, which is important for several reasons. Firstly, estimates of their contribution to a given task are required for the interpretation of neural and imaging data. Secondly, assessing promising computational models of memory circuits, as well as linking these to broader cognitive models and behaviour, requires detailed, quantitative measures of recollection. Finally, such detailed measures also provide us with a richer understanding of exactly how memory is impacted by factors in the laboratory, or in real life (such as the effects of aging).

 

Justin Knight

  Justin Knight

Post-doctoral Researcher
Ph.D. from University of Georgia, 2012
Email:
Curriculum Vitæ...

I am interested in implementing neuroimaging techniques (EEG and fMRI) in order to inform cognitive theory. My primary research interest is human memory, of which I am interested in exploring how the neural mechanisms that support various types of memory (e.g., prospective, recognition, and relational memory) are similar and distinct. I am additionally interested in elucidating the associative mechanisms that support binding of various contextual features into a mnemonic representation. To this end, I am conducting a variety of neuroimaging and behavioral experiments that are aimed at examining the neural and cognitive processes involved in prospective memory, recognition memory, retrieval-facilitated learning, and free recall.

 

Maureen Ritchey

  Maureen Ritchey

Post-Doctoral Researcher
Ph.D. from Duke University, 2011
Email:
Website: http://dml.ucdavis.edu/mritchey
Curriculum Vitæ...

She uses fMRI methods to link memory representations to patterns of neural activity and to evaluate functional networks spanning the medial temporal lobes and beyond.

 

Mariam Aly

  Mariam Aly

Graduate Student
B.Sc. Psychology (Research Specialist) from University of Toronto, 2008
Email:
Website: http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=jh8ChFcAAAAJ&hl=en
Curriculum Vitæ...

My interest in cognition and the brain started in middle school, when I did a science project on whether being ' left-brained' or ' right-brained' is related to handedness. Since then, my research questions have gotten (a bit) more sophisticated, primarily aimed at elucidating the role of the MTL in memory and perception. My PhD research consists of a set of behavioral, neuroimaging, and patient studies that suggest that perception is not a unitary phenomenon, but is based on qualitatively distinct components. One component is a discrete mental state that either occurs or fails to occur, while the other is a continuously graded strength signal. The former provides specific, detailed information to conscious awareness, while the latter is associated with a feeling of sameness or difference, in the absence of conscious access to detailed information. Outside of doing science, I can usually be found biking, reading, or looking at big trees. I am also particularly fond of hiking, large bodies of water, coffee, and aimless wandering.

 

  Kane Elfman

Visiting Scholar, Graduate Student
BAS & BA from Brain Sciences Institute at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne
Email:

Areas of Interest: My principal research examines the neurocognitive processes underlying encoding and retrieval of long-term memory. I use a combination of cognitive models and computational simulations to examine memory processes in humans and test new predictions.

 

Robin Goodrich

  Robin Goodrich

Graduate Student
B.A. in Psychology from San Francisco State University, 2011
Email:

Robin is interested in the social cognitive neuroscience of human memory and studies these processes using neuroimaging (fMRI) and electrophysiological (EEG) techniques. Her previous work has focused on how essentialist beliefs and categorization of social groups influence perception of and memory for faces using ERPs in order to link observed cognitive phenomena with biological explanations. Moving forward, Robin seeks to elucidate how personal beliefs about social groups can help or hinder perception and memory within the dual process theory of recognition memory, as well as to examine the neural mechanisms underlying these processes. She also has a particular fondness for owls and the color green, and a deeply rooted fear of heights and leprechauns.

 

Josh Koen

  Josh Koen

Graduate Student
B.S. from University of Texas at Arlington, 2007
Email:

Areas of Interest: Dual Process Theories of Recognition Memory, Cognitive Neuroscience, Functions of Medial Temporal Lobe Regions During Encoding, Memory Editing Processes

 

Andrew McCullough

  Andrew McCullough

Graduate Student
B.A. Psychology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2005. M.A. Psychology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2010
Email:

Andrew's primary research interests lie in elucidating the cognitive processes and neuroanatomical substrates that underlie various aspects of episodic memory encoding and retrieval. As a biologist-in-training, his interest in episodic memory developed as a by-product of his many wonderful personal experiences that later began to blend together in his memory. Thus, he changed disciplines and began researching episodic memory. His Masters thesis explored conditions that increase the probability of false memories, as well as the use of metacognitive strategies to reduce memory intrusions. He is currently working on research projects exploring the effects of attention, emotional arousal, and stress on human memory using behavioral and functional neuroimaging methods. His future research will explore a wide range of memory-related phenomena that pique his interest. When hes not in the lab, you'll find Andrew outside - relaxing in a hammock, boating on Lake Berryessa, playing at the coast, or hiking a mountain - and occasionally pretending to be a rock star.

 

Wei-chun Wang

  Wei-chun Wang

Graduate Student
B.S. Psychology and Sociology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2008
Email:
Website: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/grads/wwa

Wei-chun is a fifth year graduate student in the Human Memory Lab studying the role of the medial temporal lobes in explicit and implicit memory processes. In his free time, Wei-chun enjoys living beyond his means.

 

Alyssa Borders

  Alyssa Borders

Junior Specialist, Lab Manager
B.S. in Neuroscience from University of Michigan 2009
Email:

I am interested in factors that modulate the acquisition, consolidation, and retrieval of memory. I believe that the most comprehensive understanding of these processes, including the role of different brain areas and substructures of the MTL, will require a multifaceted approach combining behavioral and neuroimaging methods.

 

Michael Petzold

  Michael Petzold

Undergraduate Research Assistant
B.S. in Psychology from UC Davis (In Progress)
Email:
Curriculum Vitæ...

Michael is interested in the dual process theory of recognition memory, as well as the role of sleep in memory consolidation. He began working for the Human Memory Lab in fall of 2011, where he worked under Andrew McCullough in his investigation of post-encoding stress on memory. Outside of the lab, he can be found painting, restoring old furniture, or backpacking in the Sierra Nevada mountain range.