Brain and Cognition Lab

I am interested in understanding the organizing principles of the brain systems that support adaptive human cognition and behavior. Current research in the lab investigates the proactive and dynamic mechanisms through which the brain prioritizes and selects useful information from the sensory stream and from memories at various time scales to generate experience and behavior. We investigate the building blocks of the flexible regulatory systems that scaffold healthy cognition and collaborate with others to understand how they develop over the lifespan and break down in psychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders.

Research group

Research in the Brain & Cognition Lab combines behavioral methods (psychophysics, eye tracking, motion capture, virtual reality) with advanced techniques to investigate the human brain (magnetic resonance imaging, magneto- and electro-encephalography, intracranial neurophysiology, brain stimulation). We enjoy designing tasks that help integrate psychological domains often studied in isolation (e.g., attention, timing, working memory, long-term memory) to examine the fine-grained modulation of brain processing in the service of adaptive behavior within dynamic environments. We puzzle over how various time-evolving neuronal signals are selected, routed, and integrated to create our cohesive unfolding experience and actions. The putative role of rhythmic brain activity in these processes is of particular interest.

Members of the Brain & Cognition Lab come from around the globe and are currently based both at Yale University and the University of Oxford. Our funding comes from the Wu Tsai Institute, Wellcome Trust, National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), Medical Research Council (MRC), European Commission Marie Skłodowska actions, and James S. McDonnell Foundation (JSMF). Students and research fellows in the lab also hold competitive studentships and fellowships from various sources.

Personal biography

I grew up in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and completed my university education in the United States. I obtained my PhD (1993) and carried out postdoctoral research at Yale University, supervised by Gregory McCarthy, before joining Marsel Mesulam’s group at Harvard Medical School and then Northwestern University as a research fellow. I maintain active collaborations with both of my mentors. In 1994, I moved to the University of Oxford, where I remained until 2023. I started at Oxford as a McDonnell-Pew Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience and a Junior Research Fellow (JRF) at New College (1994-96). I held the first JRF in the area of Psychology at Oxford. In 1996, I became a Tutorial Fellow in Experimental Psychology at New College, as its first female science fellow, and rose through the ranks from Lecturer to Professor in the Department of Experimental Psychology. In 2014, I became the inaugural Chair of Translational Cognitive Neuroscience at Oxford, a post held jointly between the Departments of Psychiatry and Experimental Psychology. At Oxford, among other roles, I served as Delegate for the Oxford University Press (2005-15), Director of the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (2010-23), Head of the Department of Experimental Psychology (2016-21), and Head of the interdepartmental Neuroscience Committee (2016-21). I moved to Yale University in 2023 as Wu Tsai Professor in the Psychology Department and Director of the Center for Neurocognition and Behavior at the Wu Tsai Institute.

Recognitions

I am a fellow of the British Academy, a member of the Academia Europaea, and an international fellow of the National Academy of Sciences. My scientific contributions have been recognized by the MRC Suffrage Science Award (2016), Broadbent Prize from the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (2019), and C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Award for Cognitive Science (2022). My dedication to mentoring has been recognized by a Lifetime Mentor Award from the Association for Psychological Science (APS, 2022).

Interests

As a scientific researcher, I am passionate about innovating new ways of understanding the human brain and bringing cutting-edge and rigorous fundamental cognitive neuroscience to translational and clinical research for societal benefit.

As a scientific citizen, I am committed to keeping curiosity and science alive in the world. I share my wonder and delight in discovering the nature of things with those around me. I am dedicated to educating, training, and mentoring – helping individuals forge career paths that bring them meaning and fulfillment.

I believe in giving back. I have enjoyed various service and leadership roles over the years. In my current role, I aspire to establish new initiatives to help connect the various academic disciplines concerned with understanding the human mind/brain and to spark multidirectional conversations among academic researchers; experts from technology, business, communication, education, and policy sectors; and members of the public.