Lab Members
Principal investigator
Current Graduate Students
Nathaniel Allen
Ph.D. Student - Rising 2nd Year
B.S. Neuropsychology, Florida Tech
Natalia Khodayari
Ph.D. Candidate - Rising 5th Year
M.A., Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University; B.S., Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, UC Davis
nkhodayari [at] jhu (dot) eduResearch Interests: Attention, Memory, and Perception; Behavior, EEG, individual differences
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Adrian Li
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Working memory, Attention, Perception
Wech Ring
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Joshua Seewald
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Working Memory, Language Processing, Neurodegenerative Diseases
Srijan Velamuri
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Previous Graduate Students (Featured Alumni since 2024)
Michelle DiBartolo
Current Position: Director of User Research at The Knot Worldwide
PhD, Psychological & Brain Sciences
Tara Ghazi Ph.D.
Ph.D.
B.A., Cognitive Science; M.A., Psychological & Brain Sciences
143 Ames Hall410-516-5649
[email protected]
Research Interests: Broadly, I'm interested in understanding how different information structures may impact what we humans pay attention to and remember in the short-term. My research in the Courtney Lab has employed both EEG and Behavioral methods to study differences in human behavior and the neural activity underlying behavior. ~ Before coming to Hopkins to pursue a PhD, Tara studied at the University of California, Berkeley, where she received her B.A. in Cognitive Science. She also spent time as a student researcher at the University of Cambridge, England. Her past behavioral research explored the relationship between viewing physical gesture and memory of episodic events.
Caroline Montojo
Current Position: Director, Brain Initiatives at the Kavli Foundation
PhD, Psychological and Brain Sciences - Johns Hopkins University
Kitty Xu
Current Position: Quantitative User Experience Researcher, Pinterest
PhD, Neuroscience & Cognitive Psychology - Johns Hopkins University
Previous Postdoctoral Researchers (Featured Alumni)
Brian Anderson Ph.D.
Current Position: Associate Professor, Texas A&M University
PhD, Psychological & Brain Sciences - Johns Hopkins University
Research Interests: Learning & Attention
Kara Blacker Ph.D.
Current Position: Research Psychologist at the Naval Medical Research Unit
Research Interests: fMRI, EEG, Cognitive Training, Gaming
Chase Figley Ph.D.
Current Position: Associate Professor of Neuroscience, University of Manitoba
Thomas Hinault Ph.D.
Current Position: Principal Investigator at NIMH, Caen, France
Ph.D.
Research Interests: Cognitive control; Cognitive aging; Arithmetic processing; Functional neuroimaging (EEG, MEG, fMRI).
Akiko Ikkai Ph.D.
Current Position: Research Scientist at Apple
Previous Research Scientists (Alumni from 2024)
Leon (“Leo”) Gmeindl Ph.D.
Alumni
Ph.D.
Research Interests: Leo received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Cognition & Perception Psychology, with a specialization in Cognitive Neuroscience. He joined Hopkins as a postdoc and then staff Research Scientist in the Courtney and Yantis laboratories. He has conducted research on working memory, attention, and perception in healthy young adults, and in multiple sclerosis and aging populations, using behavioral and neuroimaging methods.
Previous Lab Managers (Featured Alumni since 2024)
Eunice Awuah
After leaving JHU, Eunice obtained a PhD in Molecular Nutrition from Cornell University
BA, Neuroscience - Johns Hopkins University
Eda Incekara
Alumni
Neuroscience B.S.
[email protected]Research Interests: working memory, cognitive aging, neurodegenerative diseases
Travis Kroeker
After leaving JHU, Travis went on to pursue a Master's Degree in Human-Machine sciences
B.S. Neuroscience
Sooyeon Park
Lab Manager/ Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Memory & attention, neurodegenerative diseases, cognitive impairments, and phantom limb pain
Previous Research Assistants (Recent Alumni since 2024)
Rishi Bachani
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Attention, Working Memory, Perception
Daniela Barrio
Current Position: MHS, Mental Health - Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
BA, Psychology & Public Health - Johns Hopkins University
Nicholas Doupsas
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Memory, attention, higher cognition, decision making
Aura Elias
After graduating, Aura began a gap year before continuing on to Medical School
BS, Neuroscience - Johns Hopkins University
Research Interests: Neurodegenerative diseases, memory and memory loss, mindfulness, and developmental disorders.
Myranda Gormley
After graduating, Myranda continued on to Medical School
Research Interests: Cognition, attention & memory, psychopharmacology, neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases.
Madeline Halpern
Current Position: MS, Biomedical Sciences - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
BS, Neuroscience - Johns Hopkins University
Huixin Huang
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Working memory, emotion, computational psychiatry
Nora Jandhyala
After graduating, Nora began Medical School
Neuroscience B.S.
[email protected]Research Interests:
Soowan Jeong
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Research Interests: Effects of stress on working memory
Kevin Justus
Post-Baccalaureate Student
Research Interests:
Adina Mosa
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Cognitive impairments, social brain, decision making, attention
Daniella Needleman
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: attention, working memory, EEG
Sooyeon Park
Lab Manager/ Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Memory & attention, neurodegenerative diseases, cognitive impairments, and phantom limb pain
Aaron Patterson
Undergraduate Research Assistant
B.S. Biology and Psychology, Howard University
Phillip Sumardi
After graduating, Phillip begin his gap year before continuing on to Medical School
Research Interests: Plasticity, time perception, cognitive impairments, neurodegenerative disorders
Lucas Watling
[email protected]Research Interests: sleep, memory, addiction, multi-sensory integration, stress, anxiety and depression, and neurodegenerative diseases
Previous Postbaccalaureate Scholars (Recent Alumni since 2024)
Aaron Patterson
Undergraduate Research Assistant
B.S. Biology and Psychology, Howard University
Alumni
Christopher Ackerman
PhD, Johns Hopkins University
Rishi Bachani
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Attention, Working Memory, Perception
Nicholas Doupsas
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Memory, attention, higher cognition, decision making
Cody Elias
Current Position: Senior Health Care Consultant, Booz Allen Hamilton
BA, Cognitive Science - Johns Hopkins University
Leon (“Leo”) Gmeindl Ph.D.
Alumni
Ph.D.
Research Interests: Leo received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in Cognition & Perception Psychology, with a specialization in Cognitive Neuroscience. He joined Hopkins as a postdoc and then staff Research Scientist in the Courtney and Yantis laboratories. He has conducted research on working memory, attention, and perception in healthy young adults, and in multiple sclerosis and aging populations, using behavioral and neuroimaging methods.
Brendan Hurst
Akiko Ikkai
Current Role: User Experience Researcher, Apple
PhD, Psychology - New York University
Leon Li
Rita Loiotile
PhD, Psychological and Brain Sciences - Johns Hopkins University
Adina Mosa
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Cognitive impairments, social brain, decision making, attention
Daniella Needleman
Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: attention, working memory, EEG
Sooyeon Park
Lab Manager/ Undergraduate Research Assistant
[email protected]Research Interests: Memory & attention, neurodegenerative diseases, cognitive impairments, and phantom limb pain