OUR TEAM
R. Nathan Spreng, PhD
Principal Investigator
James McGill Professor of Neurology and Neurosurgery
The Laboratory of Brain and Cognition is directed by Dr. Nathan Spreng, a Full Professor in the Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery at McGill University. The lab examines large-scale brain network dynamics and their role in cognition. Currently, we investigate attention, memory, cognitive control, and social cognition, and the interacting brain networks that support them. We are also actively involved in the development and implementation of multivariate and network-based statistical approaches to assess brain structure, connectivity and activity. In doing so, we aim to better understand the properties of brain networks underlying cognitive processes as they change across the lifespan in health and disease.
Core Collaborator
Gary Turner, PhD, C.Psych
Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at York University
Dr. Turner's program of research investigates how age-related brain changes impact cognitive and real-world functioning (including financial decision-making) both in normal aging and brain disease. A core objective of this work is to leverage neuroscience discoveries to guide the design of more effective interventions toward sustaining cognitive and brain health, ultimately helping older adults live healthier, longer. His work is funded by the National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Research Associate
Alfie Wearn, PhD
Research Associate
Research interests:
Structural and functional brain changes in pre-symptomatic Alzheimer's disease, neuromodulatory systems, quantitative MRI, longitudinal modelling.
Current project:
Functional alterations in neuromodulatory systems in older age and early neurodegenerative disease.
Personal hobbies:
Summer: Hiking & camping, jumping in lakes, birdwatching.
Winter: Playing games, cooking good food, planning for summer.
Postdoctoral Researchers
Veronica Diveica, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Semantic cognition, conceptual representation, cognitive control, social cognition, and functional brain networks.
Current project: 1) The neurocognitive bases of goal-directed access to prior knowledge; 2) The behavioural and neural correlates of wise reasoning; 3) The effects of perceived survival value on conceptual representation and processing.
Personal hobbies: Reading, travelling, and squirrel watching.
Paulina Skolasinska, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Functional and structural neuroimaging, brain networks, healthy aging and conversion to Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive control and memory, behavioural interventions.
Current project: Controllability of brain networks in younger and older adults; Variability of dynamic functional connectivity following an intervention in older adults.
Personal hobbies: Trying new things and visiting new places, animal facts, martial arts, cooking; baking; eating, video and board games.
Runhao Lu, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Kate Onuska, PhD
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research interests: Cognitive Neuroscience, Multimodal Neuroimaging, Functional brain networks, Attention and cognitive control, Domain-general cognition.
Current project: Using multimodal neuroimaging techniques (fMRI, MEG, and intracranial EEG) to investigate how interactions between subcortical region (e.g., thalamus) and cortical networks support higher-order cognition in humans.
Personal hobbies: Classical guitar, Concerts, Travelling, Exploring new cuisines, Mindfulness.
Research interests: Molecular imaging, cognitive resilience, brain aging.
Current project: Presynaptic neuromodulatory mechanisms underlying diverging cognitive aging trajectories.
Personal hobbies: Running; skiing; Strava’ing; listening to (and sometimes making) music and having a good time!
Graduate Students
Shanny Foo
PhD candidate in Neuroscience
Research interests: Functional and structural neuroimaging, longitudinal modelling, big data analysis, multivariate statistics, dementia, aging, social cognition, clinical populations.
Current project: Longitudinal modelling of disease progression and social cognitive functioning for early detection of genetic frontotemporal dementia.
Personal hobbies: Inventive baking, vegetarian foodie, travelling, cat custodian, making pretty plots, reading, coffee, puzzles, curious wandering.
Miriam Taza
PhD candidate in Neuroscience
Research interests: Network neuroscience, functional and structural neuroimaging, blood-brain-barrier, Alzheimer’s disease, healthy aging, consciousness.
Current project: Studying the role of the basal forebrain in healthy aging and Alzheimer's Disease. Specifically, I investigate the relationship between multi-modal neuroimaging data (structural/functional MRI, H-MRS, PET) and cognitive/behaviour measures.
Personal hobbies: Cooking, photography, reading/writing philosophy, plant caring, playing strategy boardgames, consuming coffee.
Emily Davidson
PhD candidate in Neuroscience
Research interests: Network neuroscience and functional connectivity, cooperation and competition of networks. More broadly, cognitive science and philosophical approaches to the mind and brain.
Current project: An investigation into the temporal dynamics of anticorrelated networks in the human brain.
Personal hobbies: Martial arts, SCUBA diving, strategy games (always looking for new chess opponents!). I also mix a mean drink.
Patrick Hewan
PhD student in Clinical Neuropsychology
York University
(Supervisor: Gary Turner, PhD, CPsych)
Research interests: Aging and decision-making, functional and structural neuroimaging, brain networks, neuropsychological disease, emotions and their neural correlates, how music impacts the brain and music therapy.
Current project: We are trying to understand how decision-making changes across the lifespan and in neuropsychological disease by looking at exploration vs. exploitation style decisions and their neural underpinnings. We are combining comprehensive structural and functional MRI, with a large battery of decision-making tasks, with the goal of understanding the brain structures and networks that are involved in decision-making and how they change throughout life and in diseases like Alzheimer’s.
Personal hobbies: Jazz and classical piano, photography, computer programming, tennis, swimming, reading, drinking coffee.
Kayla Williams
PhD student in Clinical Neuropsychology
York University
(Supervisor: Gary Turner, PhD, CPsych)
Research interests: Internally-directed cognition, affective cognition, decision-making, memory, emotional disorders, brain-behaviour relationships.
Current project: Investigating the effect of motivation and apathy on explore-exploit decision-making and memory in the context of healthy aging.
Personal hobbies: Full-time kitty mama; coffee enthusiast; avid puzzler; fun seeker.
Adam Hull
PhD candidate in Neuroscience
Research interests: Brain dynamics, brain rhythms, cognition, prediction.
Current project: Using MEG to detect and localize rhythmic synchronizations of neuronal groups and understand how they relate to cognition.
Personal hobbies: Reading, listening to music, thinking, and lately swimming.
Jonah Miller-Smith
MSc students in Neuroscience
Research interests: Computational neuroscience, neuroimaging, experimental & novel diagnosis techniques for neurological disorders
Current project: (1) Exploring the underlying brain architecture behind economic decision making & financial exploitation. (2) Building a comprehensive database with behavioural-cognitive, neuropsychological, and neuroanatomical data for researchers to use.
Personal hobbies: Guitar, board games, software engineering, surfing, cooking, learning & developing new hobbies!
Research Assistant
Noémie Gagnon
Research Assistant
Research interests: Social cognition, neurodegenerative disorders, neuropsychological assessment, neuroimaging and language processing.
Current project: Building a comprehensive database with behavioural-cognitive, neuropsychological, and neuroanatomical data for researchers to use.
Personal hobbies: Cycling, running, hiking, exploring the arts, and discovering new music.
Undergraduate Students & Volunteers
Anaelle Wicquart
Undergraduate Research Student
Research interests: Memory changes and their neural correlates, cognitive biases, neurological conditions and their implications on the self.
Current project: Using a combination of neuropsychological and neuroimaging data to study how exploration and exploitation behaviors change as we age.
Personal hobbies: Crochet, pilates and barre, reading, cafe hopping, avid matcha enthusiast.
Sabrina Granata
Volunteer
Research interests: Autobiographical and implicit memory, neurodegenerative diseases, multilingualism processing, and synesthesia.
Current project: Observing changes in decision making between older and younger adults using neuroimaging and neuropsychological tasks.
Personal hobbies: Going for walks, skating, and reading.
Eunice Doan
Undergraduate Research Student
eunice.doan@mail.mcgill.ca
Research interests: Cognitive neuroscience, language processing, neuroimaging, bilingualism, and multilingualism.
Current project: Developing computational and statistical methods to assess inter-subject correlations in MEG during natural viewing.
Personal hobbies: Reading, piano, learning new languages, walking, and swimming.
LBC Alumni
Postdoctoral Fellows
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Colleen Hughes, PhD
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Taylor Schmitz, PhD
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Michael A. Ferguson, PhD
Graduate Students
RA / Undergraduate Students
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Weina Yao
Visiting PhD student
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Jing Zhou, PhD
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Daniel O'Sullivan, MSc
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Giulia Baracchini, PhD
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Manesh Girn, PhD
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Aïda B. Fall
Visiting PhD student -
Alexander Bailey
Visiting PhD student -
Jamie Snytte
Visiting PhD student -
Laetitia Mwilambwe-Tshilobo, PhD
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Roni Setton, PhD
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Amber Lockrow, MA
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Anne Laurita, PhD
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Elizabeth DuPre, MA
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Ting Ting Liu
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Ethan Yan
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Nathalie Prenevost
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Corina Lazarenco
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Yigu Zhou
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Sophie Hübner (Visiting student)
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Eliana Muszynski