People
Lab Members and Information
- Ph.D Students
- Master's Students
- Postdoctoral Fellows
- Lab Manager
- Undergraduate Honor Students
- Undergraduate Research Assistants
- Lab Alumni
Principal Investigator
Angela Gutchess is a psychology professor at Brandeis University as well as a visiting scientist at the Martinos Center at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown. Her research interests include studying the interactions among aging, culture and cognition using behavioral and fMRI methods. The courses she teaches at Brandeis include Introduction to Psychology, Research Methods and Laboratory in Psychology, Social Neuroscience and Culture, and Human Memory. When not working, she enjoys volunteering through Boston Cares and traveling.
gutchess [at] brandeis [dot] edu || Current CV
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Ph.D. Students

Margeaux Auslander is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the lab. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a minor in philosophy. Her work focuses on how a sense of control influences cognitive performance in older adults. In her limited free time, Margeaux enjoys spending time with family and friends.
mvaus [at] brandeis [dot] edu || Current CV
Brittany Cassidy is a fifth-year Ph.D. student in the Brain, Body, and Behavior program. In 2007, she received a bachelor's degree in psychology from Boston University and completed a statistics minor. In 2009, she completed a research assistantship at Massachusetts General Hospital where she implemented fMRI studies of social processing in schizophrenia patients. Her current research focuses on how young and older adults integrate appearance-derived and behavioral information when forming and remembering first impressions. In her free time, Brittany enjoys watching "Top Chef" and reading memoirs.
bcassidy [at] brandeis [dot] edu || Current CV
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Master's Students

Laura Ligouri is a graduate student in the Psychology Department at Brandeis University. Laura is currently investigating cross-cultural variation in emotional memory and the potential contribution of trauma across Israeli and US cultures. Future research will seek to understand the ways in which violent, protracted conflict systematically affects the cognitive underpinnings of culture, focusing upon Israeli and Palestinian participants living within the Occupied Territories. Her work is founded upon a background in Anthropology and Peace, Conflict, and Coexistence studies assessing the efficacy of theatrical efforts oriented towards peacebuilding within the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
lligouri [at] brandeis [dot] edu
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Postdoctoral Fellows
Jonathan Jackson is a postdoctoral fellow in the Aging, Culture, and Cognition lab. His research focuses on the individual and cultural effect of self- and other-focus on memorial and attentional processes. In particular, Jonathan Is interested in understanding how these effects interact with each other, as well as in healthy aging and Alzheimer disease. Through conjunctive exploration of behavior and neuroscience, he hopes to determine specific mechanisms by which memory can be improved. In his free time he enjoys his family, photography, gardening, baking, and ironing.
jdjack [at] brandeis [dot] edu || Current CV
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Lab Manager
Pete Millar is the manager of the ACC lab. He graduated from Tufts University in 2010 with a B.S. in Psychology and a minor in Chinese Studies. In the Cognitive Aging & Memory Lab at Tufts, he completed an honors thesis which explored compensation techniques for age-related decision biases. Now he is excited to continue investigating new lines of aging research in the ACC lab. In his free time he enjoys biking, record collecting, and science fiction.
pmillar [at] brandeis [dot] edu
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Undergraduate Honors Students
Jung Park is a fourth-year undergrad at Brandeis University double majoring in Psychology and Neuroscience. He loves working with children and plans on becoming a psychiatrist specializing in adolescents. Outside the lab, he participates in varsity track and various clubs. He can always be found playing his guitar or listening to music.
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Undergraduate Research Assistants
Kyra Borenstein is a junior studying Psychology and Anthropology at Brandeis University. After Brandeis, she intends to pursue a PhD in Psychology. While not in the lab or class, she does volunteer tutoring, is a TA for Intro to Psych, and plays on the Women's Ultimate Frisbee team.
Jenny Crawford is a junior studying Neuroscience and Psychology at Brandeis University. After Brandeis, she plans to attend medical school with the hope of ultimately studying neurodegenerative disease in a clinical setting. In her free time, Jenny enjoys to cook, travel, spend time with friends and family, and play the cello.
Kathryn Flaherty is a third-year studying Neuroscience and possibly either Biology, Psychology, or Sociology at Brandeis University. She hopes to attend graduate school and earn a Ph.D. When she's not in the lab or studying she performs at poetry slams, plays flute, and serves on the e-board for Brandeis's Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance.
Lauryn Garner is a junior studying Psychology at Brandeis University. She hopes to continue to graduate school for Clinical Psychology and pursue a PhD in the field. Lauryn also enjoys spending time with friends, traveling, reading, making pottery, running, and serving as a coordinator for Waltham Group's Hunger and Homelessness program.
Cindy Luu is a sophomore double-majoring in Neuroscience and Biology and minoring in Anthropology. She hopes to attend medical school in the future and become a neurologist. On her free time, Cindy enjoys listening to music, spending time with her friends, and exploring Boston.
Wei Yee Mooi is a junior interested in studying Computer Science, History, or Psychology. As of right now, Wei Yee is unclear as to what career path she will take and hopes to explore her interests during her time at Brandeis. She likes to listen to music, watch movies with friends, and play video games.
Liz Zharovsky is a junior studying Neuroscience, Psychology, and Russian at Brandeis University. Outside of the lab, she loves to play tennis and volleyball, listen to music, serve on Russian Club E-Board, and hang out with her friends. She hopes to one day go to medical school and become a neurologist, possibly a pediatric neurologist.
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Lab Alumni
Ph.D.
- Hyeon-Nyeon Lee (2012) "How Group Identification Contributes to Group-Reference Effect with Age: A Multidimensional Group Identification Perspective"
- Nicole Rosa (2013) "Effects of Self-Esteem, Gender, and Alzheimer’s Disease on Self-Referencing in Memory"
Master's Degrees
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Megan Limbert (2008) "Aging Affects Memory for Valenced Character Information."
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Sarah Serbun (2009) "Memory for Object Details in Self- and Other-Referencing."
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Sarah Huff (2012)
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Chad Nussinow (2012)
Postdoctoral Fellows
- Eric Leshikar (2011-2013)
- Jennifer Coleman (2008-2009) is a Ph.D. student in Counseling Psychology at VCU.
- Joanne Shih (2010-2012)
Undergraduate Honors Students
- Ro'ee Gilron (2009), 'The Encoding of First Impressions into Memory: Contributions of ACC and dmPFC." Highest Honors in Neuroscience & Reis and Sowul Family Prize in Neuroscience.
- Allie Indeck (2009), "Can Cultural Priming in American-Jews Parallel Bicultural Differences in Cognitive Processes?" Highest Honors in Psychology & Elliot Aronson ’54 Prize for Excellence in Psychological Research. Currently a graduate student at the Yale School of Nursing.
- Ayala Hamami (2010)
- Maya Siegel (2010)
- Aliza Schwartz (2011)
- Joseph Polex Wolf (2011)
- Jessie Nusbaum (2012)
- Gabe Colton (2013), Department of Neuroscience
- Lauren Grewal (2013)
- Alexander Sheehan (2013)
- Abby Vigderman (2013)
- Liat Zabludovsky (2013)
- Avi Aizenman
- Tanvi Bahuguna
- Raquel Bubar is a graduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science
- Deborah Chamama
- Brian Dahlben
- Nasia Frattaroli
- Tali Friedland
- Becca Glanz
- Allen Gold
- Gina Gotthilf
- Christine Hosey is a graduate student at the University of Chicago.
- Manon Ironside (Eckerd College)
- Trent Judis (Lab Rotator from the Neuroscience Master's program)
- Sapir Karli
- Todd Kirkland
- Rebekah Lafontant
- Rozi Levi
- Leah Levy
- Alina Liu
- Shirley Lo
- Karan Malik
- Ariel Milan-Polisar
- Olivia Pobiel
- Shanny Shmuel
- Becky Sokal
- Akash Vadalia
- Rachel Zisman