People

Melissa is a member of the class of 2020 with a major in Cognitive Neuroscience and a minor in Art History. She is interested in how our brains process everyday information in order to guide future decisions and behavior. She plans to apply to medical school to eventually pursue a career as a pediatrician.

Shuhao is a member of the class of 2021 with majors in PNP & CompSci. They are interested in studying how different brain functions unify and construct modelings of mind/brain functions using mathematical and computational tools. After graduation, they plan to apply to graduate programs in some subarea of cognitive science.

Priscilla is a member of the class of 2019. She is interested in how people remember events and how different factors can lead people to recall events differently. She plans to apply to either medical school or grad school post-undergrad. The end goal at present is to become a pediatrician, but she is keeping her options open.

Rachel Membreno is a member of the class of 2024 with a major in Psychology. She is interested in understanding the relationship between memory and aging. In her free, she enjoys learning how to play the piano and cooking.

Varun is a member of the class of 2019, with majors in PNP and Accounting. They are interested in computational psychology and how we may mimic neural activity and psychological responses using computer models. After WashU, Varun plans to take a year off to do research, volunteering, or both, before applying to medical school. They hope to specialize in psychiatry.

Meredith is a member of the class of 2023. Her major is Psychology-Neuroscience-Philosophy on the Cognitive Neuroscience track and she is minoring in Religious Studies and Global Health. Meredith is interested in how the brain segments events and what factors affect event segmentation. Her hobbies include reading, sailing, and trying to learn how to cook.

M.S. Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (2012)

B.S. Molecular Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (2011)

Sarah is the lab manager for the Dynamic Cognition Lab. She is broadly interested in how memory declines with age. Sarah also manages the Complex Memory Lab. When not in one of her two labs, she can be found baking, cycling, hiking, catering to the whims of her two dogs, or trying her best not to kill her plants.

Ceresa Munjak-Khoury is a member of the class of 2024 with a major in Cognitive Neuroscience and minors in Music and Anthropology. She is interested in studying the mechanisms by which we perceive and organize events from the world around us and how we can represent these computationally. In her free time she enjoys playing the French horn, volleyball, reading, and trying new coffee places.

Katie is a member of the class of 2019 and is majoring in Psychology, with minors in Linguistics and Anthropology. They are interested in cognition, the neurological processes behind why people do the things they do, and understanding what augments and inhibits memory creation and recall. Katie plans to enter a workplace where their interest in human behavior can be utilized to make other's lives better (ideally in a non-profit setting), and is still undecided about returning to school for an advanced degree later on.

B.S. Computer Science, University of Science (2019)

Tan is a first-year graduate student. He is interested in combining computational, behavioral, and neural perspectives as a basis for analyzing and understanding event perception and memory. When he's not in the lab, he likes to read and play sports.

Vi is a member of the class of 2025 with intended majors in Cognitive Neuroscience and Computer Science. She is interested in exploring the underlying neural mechanisms of cognition and modeling these mechanisms computationally. Music is what keeps Vi moving through work and study, but during her free time, she likes motorbiking, experiencing new food, and talking away with her friends.

Audrey is a member of the class of 2021, studying in the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology program. She's still exploring research interests, but hopes to eventually go to graduate school and spend her life trying to better the lives of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Allie is a member of the class of 2023 with a major in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology and minors in Music and Anthropology. She is interested in how people process visual stimuli and how to effectively create graphs in a way that guides viewers to their proper conclusions. In the future, she plans to apply to the WUSTL Occupational Therapy master's program. When she's not in the lab, she enjoys riding horses, playing clarinet, reading science fiction, cuddling with her cat, and procrastinating on TikTok.

Joe is a member of the class of 2023 with double majors in Computer Science and Philosophy, Neuroscience & Psychology. He is interested in mental perception, information processing, and computational modeling of mind and behavior. He is also interested in Human-Computer Interaction and human factors in technology. In his free time, he loves traveling, cycling, music, and movies.

William Papper was a sophomore obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology and Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis during his time in the lab. He had previously worked as a data scientist at RetailMeNot and as an app developer at the MIT Media Lab. On the side, he ran a healthcare startup called MediMeld and was a part of IDEA Labs at the Washington University School of Medicine.

B.A. Cognitive Science, Carleton College (2020)

Daniel is a research assistant in the lab. He is interested in investigating the effects of event segmentation on memory in younger and older adults. In a couple years, he plans to attend a graduate program in cognitive science or neuroscience. In his spare time, he plays keyboard & saxophone, rides his bike, and collects quarters.

Ph.D. Psychology, Specialization: Neuroscience
- Temple University, 2013

M.A. Psychology
- Marist College, 2007

B.A. Psychology
- Marist College, 2007

Lauren was a postdoctoral fellow in the lab. She spent time conducting studies examining the role of event perception on spatial navigation in younger and older adults, and explored approaches to improve event memory in those same populations. She has since accepted a tenure track position at SUNY Stony Brook.

Madeleine is a member of the class of 2019, with a major in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology & minors in Writing and Spanish. She is interested in the brain as it ages and the accompanying physiological and psychological changes, as well as specific dysfunction in neural circuits that induces disease and disorders. She is still determining whether to take a research or medical path post-graduation. She might combine the two and pursue an MD-PhD!

Ph.D. Cognitive/Human Factors, Kansas State University (2021)

M.S. Experimental Psychology, Kansas State University (2019)

B.S. Psychology, Mississippi State University (2015)

Maverick is a postdoctoral scholar in the lab. He is interested in studying how we make sense of the world, how our understanding of the world influences what we attend to, perceive, and later remember, and how these processes change across the lifespan. Maverick enjoys watching documentaries, learning Python and R, fishing, drinking coffee, and eating good food.

Ashwin is a member of the class of 2024 with a double major in Philosophy-Neuroscience-Philosophy and History and a minor in Legal Studies. He is interested in the relationship between event segmentation and memory, specifically how memory is related to position within events. When not in the lab, he enjoys reading, listening to music, and thrifting.

Degrees:
Ph.D. in Psychological Science, University of Liege (Belgium) 2013

David is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab since 2017. He is working on studies examining memory for everyday activities.

Matt is a member of the class of 2020 with majors in Psychology and Political Science. He is interested in group conflict, the development of racial and political identities, and how these group identities influence moral judgements. He plans to apply to graduate programs in social psychology, with a specific focus in political psychology.

Zachary is a member of the class of 2023. His major is Psychological & Brain Sciences and he is minoring in Computer Science and Writing. Zach is interested in how the brain creates event models, particularly in the context of film perception. In his free time, Zach enjoys watching TV and film, exploring the St. Louis food scene, and cheering on his beloved Baltimore sports teams.

B.A. Economics and Psychology, Cornell University (2019)

Sophie is interested in using a combination of computational modeling, neuroimaging, and behavior experiments to better understand how people extract useful information in this noisy, ambiguous, and dynamic world.

In her free time, she like reading, watching more YouTube than she would like to admit, and engaging in online debates.

Ph.D Washington University in St. Louis, 2007
M.A. Washington University in St. Louis, 2003
B.A. University of Utah, 1999

Khena was a graduate student in the Dynamic Cognition Lab. She studied attention, event perception, and memory.

Khena currently directs the Attention, Memory, and Perception lab at Cornell University.

B.A. Psychology, University of Chicago (2023)

Lucy is a research technician in the lab, where she investigates event segmentation and memory, with a focus on the integration of behavioral and neural data using fMRI techniques. Her research interests lie in how the interplay between memory and event representations shape our unique conscious experiences. When she is not doing research, Lucy can be found taking long walks or tending to her pet fish.

Cameron is a member of the class of 2025 with an intended major in Biology. He is interested in the underlying mechanisms of human cognition and memory as well as event segmentation interventions. He plans to apply to medical school after graduation. In his free time, Cameron enjoys basketball, tennis, cooking, and spending time with family.

Postdoctoral Scholar, University of California, Davis (2021-2023)

Ph.D. Cognitive Psychology, Johns Hopkins University (2021)

M.A. Cognitive Psychology, Johns Hopkins University (2018)

M.S. Electrical & Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University (2016)

M.S. Physics, BITS-Pilani, India (2013)

B.E. Electronics & Communications Engineering, BITS-Pilani, India (2013)

Bio coming soon.

Shreyas is a member of the class of 2025 with intended majors in biology and computer science. He hopes to eventually study how the brain responds to musical stimuli. Outside of research, Shreyas's hobbies include street/funkstyle dance, especially popping and locking.

Ph.D Psychology
- Washington University in St. Louis

Chris Wahlheim is a post-doctoral fellow affiliated with the lab since 2013. While in the lab, Chris worked with Jeff Zacks on projects investigating change detection in everyday naturalistic events.

Chris has recently accepted a position as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina-Greensboro in Greensboro, NC where he directs the Memory and Cognition Lab.

Michael is a member of the class of 2021, with majors in Cognitive Neuroscience and CS. They are interested in understanding the computational mechanisms the brain implements to form a reliable representation of the world. After graduation, they plan to take a few years off after graduation to do research before applying to a graduate program in cognitive neuroscience.

Jon is a member of the class of 2019, with majors in PNP and Political Science. He is interested in how our categorization of cognitive mechanisms affect the way we understand their functions especially as it relates to episodic memory and future planning. Jon plans on taking a couple years off after graduation to get a better sense of what he wants to study going forward.

Sophia is a member of the class of 2024 with majors in Psychological & Brain Sciences and Computer Science. She's interested in the neural coding of decision making and using computer science to model the way humans think and act. Upon graduation, she plans on applying to medical school. She loves skateboarding, fashion, and going on photoshoots.