Principal Investigator: Daniel L. Schacter
Lab Associates
Aleea Devitt, PhD
Dr. Aleea Devitt is a former postdoctoral fellow of the Schacter Lab. She is now a Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Aleea completed her PhD in psychology at The University of Auckland, New Zealand, supervised by Dr. Donna Rose Addis and Dr. Lynette Tippett. Aleea’s research examines the links between the past and the future: how we use memory to imagine future events, and in turn how imagination alters memory. She also explores how healthy aging influences our ability to remember the past and imagine the future.
Email Aleea Devitt: aldevitt@gmail.com
Learn more about Aleea’s work through her website and Google Scholar.
Preston Thakral, PhD
Dr. Preston Thakral is a former postdoctoral fellow of the Schacter lab and is now 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.
Email Preston Thakral: thakralp@bc.edu
Learn more about Preston’s work through his website and Google Scholar.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Adam Bulley, PhD
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.
Email Adam Bulley: adam_bulley@fas.harvard.edu
Learn more about Adam’s work through his website and Google Scholar.
Johannes Mahr, PhD
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.
Email Johannes Mahr: jmahr@fas.harvard.edu
Learn more about Johannes’ work through his website and Google Scholar.
Merika Sanders, PhD
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.
Email Merika Sanders: merikasanders@fas.harvard.edu
Learn more about Merika’s work through her Google Scholar.
Roni Setton, PhD
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.
Email Roni Setton: rsetton@fas.harvard.edu
Learn more about Roni’s work through her Google Scholar.
Graduate Students
Sarah Kalinowski, PhD Candidate
William Orwig, PhD Candidate
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.
Email William Orwig: williamorwig@g.harvard.edu
Learn more about Will’s work through his website and Google Scholar.
Jenna Wilson, PhD Student
Jenna is interested in how the brain constructs our memories, experiences, and imaginings. She graduated from Emory University with a BS in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and a minor in Philosophy. Then, she received her Master of Research in Neuroscience from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Afterwards, she completed a post-baccalaureate fellowship in the Laboratory of Brain and Cognition at the National Institutes of Health. As a PhD student in the Schacter Memory Lab, she explores how different factors, such as time and emotion, affect mnemonic and prospective processes.
Outside of the lab, she enjoys weightlifting, playing sports, hiking, birding, and wildlife photography.
Lab Manager and Visiting Researchers
Christopher J. Sokol, BA
Christopher Sokol recently graduated from Merrimack College with a major in Psychology and a minor in Religious and Theological Studies. He was invited to attend the Eastern Psychological Association’s annual conference to present his poster. His undergraduate research projects examined the relationship between emotion regulation, mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and perceptions around mTBIs using electroencephalogram (EEG). Previously, he has interned for McLean Hospital under the supervision of Dr. Daniel G. Dillon in the Motivated Learning and Memory Laboratory. In his current role as Lab Manager and Research Assistant he plans to investigate questions surrounding memory using neuroimaging.
In his free time you can find him playing soccer, playing baseball, cooking, reading, and being outside.
Valerio Santangelo, PhD
Valerio Santangelo is currently a Fulbright Research Scholar in the Schacter’s Memory Lab. Since 2015, Valerio has been an Associate Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Functional Neuroimaging at the University of Perugia, Italy. In 2005, he completed his PhD in Cognitive Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome. From 2006-2007, he was a visiting researcher at the Department of Experimental Psychology, Oxford University, UK, and then he was appointed as Assistant Professor with tenure at the Deptartment of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia. Valerio has studied attention and memory using a variety of experimental methods, including psychophysical measures, computational modeling, and fMRI. In a recent line of research, he started studying a rare population of individuals with Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory, known as HSAM, also in collaboration with the Schacter Lab.
Email Valerio Santengelo: valerio.santangelo@unipg.it
Learn more about Valerio’s work through his Google Scholar.
Andreea Zaman, PhD Candidate
Andreea is a PhD researcher at King’s College London in Cognitive Science. Her research combines philosophical approaches, empirical testing, and computational methods to study episodic memory and autonoetic consciousness. In her research, she seeks to answer the following question: what do we experience when we remember past events and imagine future events from our lives? Characterizing our experience during remembering and future thinking is crucial to the process of aging, and in clinical populations like those with Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia, PTSD, et cetera.
In her spare time, she enjoys jigsaw puzzles, reading epic fiction, and taking her dog, Ralphie, on walks and hikes.
Email Andreea Zaman: andreea.zaman@kcl.ac.uk
Learn more about Andreea’s work through her ResearchGate.
Research Assistants and Support
Adrián Medina
Adrián is a master’s student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education studying Human Development & Education with a focus on child development & mental health. Previously, Adrián worked in Harvard’s Department of Psychology as Research Project Manager and Research Coordinator working on two studies that were clinically and developmentally oriented on families coming from varied backgrounds relating to experiences of poverty and violence exposure. They are interested in examining the impact of trauma on neurodevelopment in youths as it relates to affective and cognitive processes. Adrián hopes to pursue a career as a physician scientist by enrolling in an MD-PhD program to eventually specialize in child/adolescent psychiatry, psychiatric epidemiology, and affective neuroscience.
Margaret Wargo
Margaret Wargo is an undergraduate studying clinical psychology and biology at Tufts University (2024). Their interests include interdsciplinary cognitive psychology with an emphasis on social justice and the neurobiological basis of memory and emotional regulation. When not in the lab, they work with fabric and metal in their arts studio.
Mary Buntrock
Mary’s background has been working with small businesses, helping to foster a good work environment and relationship with the community. She is pleased to be a part of the Schacter Memory Lab and to be able to assist with their impactful work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and English. In her spare time, she enjoys scuba diving, reading, and long walks!
Affiliated Researchers and Alumni
Affiliated Researchers
Lab Alumni
Emma Edenbaum, Florida State University
Tarek Amer, University of Victoria
Rajenda Badgaiyan, SUNY Buffalo
Jonathan Beier, University of Maryland
Jeffrey Bowers, University of Bristol
Alexis Carpenter, Wayfair
Jon Chamberlain, Harvard University
Peter Chiu, University of Cincinnati
Elizabeth Chua, Brooklyn College
Zhou Chu
Tim Curran, University of Colorado
Haley Dodds, Skidmore College
Chad Dodson, University of Virginia
Molly Evans, University of Massachusetts Boston
Samantha Fitzsimmons Schoenberger, Grinnell College
T. Shamindra Fernando, Children’s Hospital
Lissa Galluccio, Cambridge Public Schools
Rachel Garoff Eaton, Murrysville, Pennsylvania
Kathy Gerlach, Arena AI
Adrian Gilmore, Washington University in St. Louis
Kelly Giovanello, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Scott Guerin, Google
Ethan Harris, Yale University
Lana Israel, Muzology
Helen Jing, Opendoor
Chris Moore, Princeton University
Regina Musicaro, Yale University
Dana Osowiecki, Nursing Placement Homecare, Providence
Benton Pierce, Texas A&M University
Steve Prince, US Environmental Protection Agency
Carrie Racine, University of California, San Francisco
Clifford Robbins, Boston University
Michael Rotte, Novartis
Daniel Sacchietti, Brown University
R. Nathan Spreng, McGill University
Dale Stevens, York University
Ruben Van Genugten, Northeastern University
Dahua Wang, Beijing Normal University
Amy Wiseman, University of Texas, Austin
Alana Wong, Sanofi Genzyme
Jordana Wynn, University of Victoria
Sadie Zacharek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Affiliated Alumni Researchers
Donna Addis, University of Toronto
Elissa Aminoff, Fordham University
Shahar Arzy, Hadassah Hebrew University Medical School
Roger Beaty, Penn State University
Nadia Brashier, Purdue University
Roland Benoit, Max Planck Institute, Leipzig
Andrew Budson, Boston University
Karen Campbell, Brock University
Barbara Church, Georgia State University
Elizabeth Chua, Brooklyn College
Ian Dobbins, Washington University in St. Louis
Chad Dodson, University of Virginia
Felipe De Brigard, Duke University
Arne Ekstrom, University of Arizona
Brendan Gaessar, University at Albany
Elizabeth Kensinger, Boston College
Wilma Koutstaal, University of Minnesota
Kevin Madore, Stanford University
Anat Maril, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jason Mitchell, Harvard University
Ken Norman, Princeton University
Kevin Ochsner, Columbia University
Jessica Payne, University of Notre Dame
Jon Simons, University of Cambridge
Scott Slotnick, Boston College
Peggy St. Jacques, University of Alberta
Karl Szpunar, Toronto Metropolitan University
Mascots
Annie Jones Sanders, DoG
Annie received her dogtorate in Pavlovian conditioning from the University of Sitanstay. Outside of her time as an emotional consultant, she enjoys researching the nutritional value of local flora, measuring the parabola of slobber at various velocities, and lecturing on the value of canine obstinance in shaping human behavior.
Binny Kalinowski, PhD
Binny received her doctorate from UC-Purrvine, achieving the remarkable feat of being the first to ever earn a PhD with a single brain cell. Her research aims to identify the maximum amount of food a kitten can healthily consume, boldly using herself as a case study. Binny’s debut book, The Seven Bins of Memory, was released to rave reviews such as, “This is not the book I meant to order…”, and she looks forward to a prolific career in the Schacter Lab.
Fela Orwig, BS
Animal Behavior, 2021
Fur Tufts University
Fela is a visiting scholar from University of Bern, Switzerland. Her research interests include napping on the floor during lab meetings, distracting undergraduate research assistants from their work, and being a good girl.
Golden J. Kiwi, PhD
Treat Science
Dr. Kiwi is a domestically renowned expert in the discovery and consumption of treats. His research focuses on locating the hidden position of treats, identifying optimal treat ingestion processes, and analyzing the effects of treats on feline sensation. In his free time, Dr. Kiwi can be found chasing flies, staring at nothing, or waking up his human research associates.
Howard & Robin Thakral, PhD
Drs. Howard and Robin Thakral specialize in the science of Dactylis glomerata (also known as ‘cat grass’) and its effects on the brain. They employ cognitive neuroscience methods such as PET and CAT scan. Their long-term goal is to contribute to effective evidence-based policy change in the hopes of increasing the availability of Dactylis glomerata for all feline species.
Mama Kalinowski, PhD
Mama’s work seeks to characterize the optimal conditions for feline world domination, and she was the first to identify a negative correlation between feline tail length and success of overthrowing human society. Following her doctorate from Purrdue University, Mama has joined the Schacter Lab as a specialist in MRI analysis, where she intends to probe whether global signal regression will allow her to take over the globe.
Would you like to work with us?
Join as Researcher
For undergraduate research assistant positions, please email our Lab Manager at cjsokol@fas.harvard.edu.
Join as Participant
We are always looking for research participants! Please don’t hesitate to reach out with the contact information below. You may also call (617) 495-3856.
Are you healthy, mentally active, and over the age of 65?
If so, you may be interested in participating in our ongoing behavioral and/or fMRI experiments that explore the effects of aging on cognition.
Contact our Lab Manager Christopher Sokol at cjsokol@fas.harvard.edu for more information.
Are you 18-30 years old, right-handed, healthy, and an English speaker?
If so, you may be interested in participating in our ongoing fMRI research studies on imagination in cognition.
Contact our Lab Manager Christopher Sokol at cjsokol@fas.harvard.edu for more information.
Connect with us!
