Daniel Schacter (Principal Investigator)

 

 

Preston Thakral (Lab Associate)

Dr. Preston Thakral is a former postdoctoral fellow of the Schacter lab and isnow the Operating Director and Senior Research Scientist of the Human Neuroscience Laboratory in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Boston College. Before joining the Schacter lab as a postdoctoral fellow, Preston completed his PhD in psychology at Boston College, supervised by Dr. Scott Slotnick, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas at Dallas, working with Dr. Michael Rugg. In his free time, Preston loves to spend time with his cats, Howard and Robin, and his crested gecko, Moonbeam. When not doing science, you can find Preston listening to Metallica.

Aleea Devitt (Lab Associate)

 

 

Tarek Amer (Postdoctoral Fellow)

 

Tarek is a postdoctoral research scientist at Columbia University and Harvard University working with Drs. Lila Davachi and Daniel Schacter. The aim of his research is to elucidate the cognitive control mechanisms that impact episodic memory, specifically, one’s ability to distinguish between overlapping, similar events, and remember the order of everyday life events.

Tarek graduated from the University of Toronto working under the supervision of Dr. Lynn Hasher and Dr. Cheryl Grady. As a graduate student, his work largely focused on the relationship between cognitive control and behavior across the lifespan, and particularly, how the level of cognitive control engagement mediates performance across a variety of tasks.

Adam Bulley (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Adam is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Psychology at Harvard University. In his research, he uses the tools of evolutionary and cognitive psychology to study the mind and human behavior. Specifically, he investigates the evolution, development, and psychological mechanisms of imagination, foresight, decision-making, and emotion. He is currently based at the Schacter Memory Lab as an NHMRC CJ Martin Early Career Fellow. He is also affiliated with the Memory and Imagination in Neurological Disorders (MIND) group led by Professor Muireann Irish at the Brain and Mind Centre, the University of Sydney, as well as the University of Sydney School of Psychology. He was previously based at the University of Queensland School of Psychology, at the Early Cognitive Development Centre and the Centre for Psychology and Evolution. In his research, he has done experimental, cross-sectional, and longitudinal studies with diverse samples including undergraduate students, adult volunteers, young children, and chimpanzees, as well as with large epidemiological, economic, and national datasets.

Johannes Mahr (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Johannes’ research covers episodic memory, imagination, and human communication. His work asks questions like: what is the human mind doing when it claims to remember the past? Why do we remember the past at all? And how do we communicate our memories to others?

More recently, Johannes has become interested in the structure of imagination and its relationship to episodic memory. In this context, he is trying to answer the question of what cognitive mechanisms allow us to ‘mentally travel’ to different possible and actual times.

Merika Sanders (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Merika received her BS from St. Lawrence University, and her MS and PhD from UMass Amherst. Her graduate work tested a theory of how memory is organized in the brain by investigating false memories in older adults and examining visual object processing and recognition memory in healthy subjects using fMRI. Now as a postdoctoral research fellow working with Dr. Daniel Schacter at Harvard University, her research seeks to understand how brain structures well known for their role in memory contribute differentially to imagining the future.

Roni Setton (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Roni grew up in New York and completed her PhD under the supervision of Dr. Nathan Spreng in the Department of Neurology & Neurosurgery at McGill University. Her graduate research investigated brain-behavior associations in healthy aging that may point to adaptive change, especially in the context of autobiographical memory. More broadly, she is interested in how memory interacts with the social world to shape brain function. In her free time, she can be found hiking, baking, or solving crossword puzzles.

Jordanna Wynn (Postdoctoral Fellow)

Jordana completed her PhD at the University of Toronto and the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest with Dr. Jennifer Ryan and Dr. Bradley Buchsbaum. Jordana’s research uses converging techniques including eye movement monitoring and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the role of overt visual attention in memory encoding and retrieval. More broadly, she is interested in exploring how interactions among cognitive and effector systems drive goal directed behavior and how these relationships change with healthy aging. 

 

 

Sarah Kalinowski (Graduate Student)

Sarah is a PhD Candidate in the Psychology Department at Harvard. She received her BS in Biopsychology from Tufts University in 2016 and went on to complete a post-baccalaureate fellowship with the Lab of Brain and Cognition at the NIH. Currently, Sarah’s work uses neuroimaging and behavior to investigate how features of an event or individual shape the way past and future events are experienced and represented over time.

Will Orwig (Graduate Student)

Will's research broadly aims to understand the cognitive and neural mechanisms which underlie creativity. After completing his undergraduate studies at University of Michigan, he spent two years in Medellín, Colombia on a Fulbright Scholarship. Upon returning to the US, he completed a master's degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and went on to work as research coordinator for the Sepulcre Lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. In his current role as PhD student with the Schacter Memory Lab, he seeks to explore questions at the intersection of memory, imagination, and creativity.

Ruben Van Genugten (Graduate Student)

Ruben is a current PhD student conducting memory and social neuroscience research. In this research, he examines the role that memory retrieval plays in other domains, such as imagining the future. He also examines which representations the brain uses to make mental state judgments. He applies natural language processing and machine learning in much of his research.

 

 

Emma Edenbaum (Research Coordinator/Assistant)

Emma Edenbaum recently graduated from Oberlin College with a major in psychology, minors in Jewish studies and religion, and an education studies concentration. In addition to her work as the Research Coordinator and a Research Assistant in the Schacter Lab, she is also a Research Assistant for Harvard University’s Clinical Research Laboratory. She has been published in Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports and PLOS ONE. Her primary research interests include the likeness of nonsuicidal self-injury to addictive and compulsive behaviors, and the differences in memory and episodic prospection following trauma at varying points in individuals’ lives. She hopes to explore these topics especially in the context of self-triggering, alexithymia, and social media exposure.

 

 

Bana Almoussa (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

Bana is an undergraduate student at Harvard College from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is studying Neuroscience with a secondary in Global Health and Health Policy. She is working on the memory’s role in imagining the future project, and is excited to explore how personality and memory intertwine. Outside of academics, Bana is on the leadership board for Harvard UNICEF, directs Harvard’s Artz for Alzheimer’s Program, and volunteers with Project Sunshine. She also has a lot of House pride (go Cabot!) and helps organize events with Cabot’s House Committee. In her free time, she loves listening to music and learning new dances from different cultures.

Leticia Sefia (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

Leticia is a first-year at Harvard College planning to concentrate in Psychology and pursue a secondary field in the classics (with a focus on Latin) while on the pre-medical track. When she is not pursuing her future career in the classroom or working in the lab, she loves to sing in the choir for St. Paul's 5 PM Sunday Masses, associating with her affinity groups (Catholic Students' Association and Nigerian Students' Association), and riding Bluebikes around campus.

Aylin Tanriverdi (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

Aylin is a first-year at Harvard College planning to concentrate in neuroscience on the pre-medical track. She works with Dr. Jordana Wynn, postdoctoral fellow, to study the role of eye movements in memory retrieval and construction. Outside of the classroom and lab, Aylin is involved in Harvard Synapse and other healthcare, public service, and cultural organizations. In her spare time, she enjoys figure skating and playing classical guitar.

Tomas Winegar (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

Tomas is a current undergraduate student studying Cognitive Science and Neuroscience. His interests include the connection of memory to other cognitive and physical processes. Tomas has previously worked at the University of Helsinki on a project investigating the connection between working memory and depression recovery.

Amanda Yang (Undergraduate Research Assistant)

Amanda is a senior at Harvard College concentrating in Psychology with a secondary field in Molecular and Cellular Biology. She began conducting research in the Schacter Memory Lab in 2019 as a Harvard College BLISS fellow. She is currently working on her senior thesis with the aim of specifying the linkages between false memory and divergent creative thinking. Outside of the classroom and lab, Amanda enjoys playing intramural tennis, making arts and crafts, and exploring cities.