Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Michael Mack, PhD
Assistant Professor Department of Psychology Ph.D., Vanderbilt University (2011) View CV |
Want to join the team?We are actively recruiting talented students to join the lab through the Psychology Graduate Program. We are also looking for motivated undergraduates or recent grads interested in research experience. Contact Dr. Mack for more details. |
Lab Manager
Melisa Gumus
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2018
Melisa majored in Neuroscience and Mathematics at University of Toronto. Her managerial position includes running day-to-day activities in the lab and coordinating with the study participants and ensuring that the Mack Lab operates smoothly. Additionally, in her research project, she uses computational models and analyses of DTI data to investigate how individual differences in white matter tracts influence learning ability. She believes that math can solve anything, even the complexity of the human brain. She is starting her graduate studies at Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto in the fall.
melisa.gumus@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2018
Melisa majored in Neuroscience and Mathematics at University of Toronto. Her managerial position includes running day-to-day activities in the lab and coordinating with the study participants and ensuring that the Mack Lab operates smoothly. Additionally, in her research project, she uses computational models and analyses of DTI data to investigate how individual differences in white matter tracts influence learning ability. She believes that math can solve anything, even the complexity of the human brain. She is starting her graduate studies at Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto in the fall.
melisa.gumus@mail.utoronto.ca
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Anna Blumenthal
BA in Psychology, Minors in Classical Studies & Philosophy, Drew University
MS in Cognitive Science University of Trento & SISSA, Italy
PhD in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario
Anna is a new postdoc, co-supervised by Meg and Michael Mack. She grew up in Colorado and New Jersey, and did her graduate work in cognitive neuroscience in northern Italy and then in Ontario at Western. Broadly, She is interested in how the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe structures contribute to perception, learning, and memory. At UofT, she is excited to combine neuroimaging and computational modeling to understand the link between episodic and semantic memory in the developing brain. In her free time, she loves going hiking and camping with Alfred (the handsome fellow in the photo), reading fantasy/sci-fi, and traveling.
blumenthal.anna@gmail.com
BA in Psychology, Minors in Classical Studies & Philosophy, Drew University
MS in Cognitive Science University of Trento & SISSA, Italy
PhD in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario
Anna is a new postdoc, co-supervised by Meg and Michael Mack. She grew up in Colorado and New Jersey, and did her graduate work in cognitive neuroscience in northern Italy and then in Ontario at Western. Broadly, She is interested in how the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe structures contribute to perception, learning, and memory. At UofT, she is excited to combine neuroimaging and computational modeling to understand the link between episodic and semantic memory in the developing brain. In her free time, she loves going hiking and camping with Alfred (the handsome fellow in the photo), reading fantasy/sci-fi, and traveling.
blumenthal.anna@gmail.com
Research Assistants
Marlie Tandoc
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2018
Summer 2018 University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA) recipient
Marlie is a recent graduate of University of Toronto’s Psychology Research Specialist program. She is interested in how the brain organizes our experiences into meaningful concepts and memories, as well as the role of attention in these processes. Expanding on her undergraduate thesis, she will be using fMRI to investigate how different learning contexts can change how we build conceptual knowledge at a representational level, and how this influences our subsequent decision making. Her goal is to attend graduate school for cognitive neuroscience to pursue her love for learning how we learn.
marlie.tandoc@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2018
Summer 2018 University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA) recipient
Marlie is a recent graduate of University of Toronto’s Psychology Research Specialist program. She is interested in how the brain organizes our experiences into meaningful concepts and memories, as well as the role of attention in these processes. Expanding on her undergraduate thesis, she will be using fMRI to investigate how different learning contexts can change how we build conceptual knowledge at a representational level, and how this influences our subsequent decision making. Her goal is to attend graduate school for cognitive neuroscience to pursue her love for learning how we learn.
marlie.tandoc@mail.utoronto.ca
Jason Chow
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2018
Jason is a recent psychology graduate focusing on perception's effect on learning and memory. Using a variety of stimuli, he is exploring how people develop and use categories. Particularly, he has been developing a new stimulus set using 3D modeling techniques to allow careful control over the features presented during experiments. Another method that he has explored is object substitution masking to control how much information participants can draw from stimulus. He is starting his PhD studies in Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt University in the fall.
jaso.chow@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2018
Jason is a recent psychology graduate focusing on perception's effect on learning and memory. Using a variety of stimuli, he is exploring how people develop and use categories. Particularly, he has been developing a new stimulus set using 3D modeling techniques to allow careful control over the features presented during experiments. Another method that he has explored is object substitution masking to control how much information participants can draw from stimulus. He is starting his PhD studies in Psychological Sciences at Vanderbilt University in the fall.
jaso.chow@mail.utoronto.ca
Aaron Rambhajan
University of Toronto, 5th Year Undergraduate
Aaron is in his last year studying Psychology, Art History, and Computer Science. He is passionate about decision-making, especially as it pertains to how real-world information modulates behaviour. Under Dr. Mack, he has been investigating the dimensions of real-world information processing by targeting the rapid visual object understanding mechanisms underlying human categorization. He intends to begin graduate school this coming fall.
aaron.rambhajan@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, 5th Year Undergraduate
Aaron is in his last year studying Psychology, Art History, and Computer Science. He is passionate about decision-making, especially as it pertains to how real-world information modulates behaviour. Under Dr. Mack, he has been investigating the dimensions of real-world information processing by targeting the rapid visual object understanding mechanisms underlying human categorization. He intends to begin graduate school this coming fall.
aaron.rambhajan@mail.utoronto.ca
Teresa Zhu
University of Toronto, 3rd Year Undergraduate
Summer 2018 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) recipient
Teresa is in her third year studying Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Toronto. She is particularly interested in learning and cognition, and has been fortunate to receive an NSERC USRA to pursue research in this area with the Mack Lab. The project on which she is working investigates the relationship between white matter integrity and performance on visual category learning tasks. With her interests, Teresa is incredibly excited at the opportunity to study neural changes that occur in learning using DWI and computational models.
teresa.zhu@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, 3rd Year Undergraduate
Summer 2018 NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) recipient
Teresa is in her third year studying Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Toronto. She is particularly interested in learning and cognition, and has been fortunate to receive an NSERC USRA to pursue research in this area with the Mack Lab. The project on which she is working investigates the relationship between white matter integrity and performance on visual category learning tasks. With her interests, Teresa is incredibly excited at the opportunity to study neural changes that occur in learning using DWI and computational models.
teresa.zhu@mail.utoronto.ca
Belinda Hoang
University of Toronto, 2nd Year Undergraduate
Summer 2018 ROP299 Student
Belinda is currently in her second year of her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and planning to major in Neuroscience and Psychology. This summer, she will be part of the Mack Lab as a ROP student, studying the interactions between attention and memory during category learning.
belinda.hoang@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, 2nd Year Undergraduate
Summer 2018 ROP299 Student
Belinda is currently in her second year of her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto and planning to major in Neuroscience and Psychology. This summer, she will be part of the Mack Lab as a ROP student, studying the interactions between attention and memory during category learning.
belinda.hoang@mail.utoronto.ca
Brad Dalgleish
University of Toronto, 3rd Year Undergraduate
Summer 2018 ROP399 Student
Brad is a third year student specializing in Psychology. His future career ambition involves working with children and adolescents with learning disorders like ADHD. The research opportunities at the Mack Lab are particularly relevant with their focus on memory and attention which are important factors implicated in many learning disorders. In his spare time, Brad enjoys building websites, reading good books, and going for long hikes.
brad.dalgleish@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, 3rd Year Undergraduate
Summer 2018 ROP399 Student
Brad is a third year student specializing in Psychology. His future career ambition involves working with children and adolescents with learning disorders like ADHD. The research opportunities at the Mack Lab are particularly relevant with their focus on memory and attention which are important factors implicated in many learning disorders. In his spare time, Brad enjoys building websites, reading good books, and going for long hikes.
brad.dalgleish@mail.utoronto.ca
Chanel Fu
University of Toronto, 2nd Year Undergraduate
Chanel is a Research Assistant at the Mack Lab and in her second year of study at the University of Toronto. She is planning on studying Neuroscience, Psychology, and Mathematics. Her interests at the Mack Lab include the relationship between white matter and visual learning tasks as well as the processes of visual and auditory categorization. Outside of the lab, Chanel spends her time pursuing music and the exploring the outdoors.
chanel.fu@mail.utoronto.ca
University of Toronto, 2nd Year Undergraduate
Chanel is a Research Assistant at the Mack Lab and in her second year of study at the University of Toronto. She is planning on studying Neuroscience, Psychology, and Mathematics. Her interests at the Mack Lab include the relationship between white matter and visual learning tasks as well as the processes of visual and auditory categorization. Outside of the lab, Chanel spends her time pursuing music and the exploring the outdoors.
chanel.fu@mail.utoronto.ca
Kevin Kadak
Wilfrid Laurier University, 4th Year Undergraduate
Kevin is entering his 4th year of a Psychology and Communications double major at Wilfrid Laurier University. He hopes to pursue Neuroscience on a graduate level and plans to use his experience in the Mack Lab to further understand the computational branch of its research. In the lab, Kevin will be helping study developmental differences in the Hippocampus and how structural variance come to affect the way individuals conceptualize information. He spends his free time over the summer playing ball hockey, learning how to program, and bicycling.
kada4470@mylaurier.ca
Wilfrid Laurier University, 4th Year Undergraduate
Kevin is entering his 4th year of a Psychology and Communications double major at Wilfrid Laurier University. He hopes to pursue Neuroscience on a graduate level and plans to use his experience in the Mack Lab to further understand the computational branch of its research. In the lab, Kevin will be helping study developmental differences in the Hippocampus and how structural variance come to affect the way individuals conceptualize information. He spends his free time over the summer playing ball hockey, learning how to program, and bicycling.
kada4470@mylaurier.ca
Josh Seltzer
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2017
Josh recently completed his undergraduate degree, specializing in computer science and cognitive science. He is primarily interested in the intersection of cognitive neuroscience with developments in artificial intelligence / deep learning, and is looking to incorporate insights between the two fields to consolidate our understanding of cognition. His research also touches on pedagogical practices, environmental science, and altered states of consciousness. Josh's other hobbies include hiking, soccer, writing, gaming, and exploring new countries and cultures!
seltzerj@cdf.toronto.edu
University of Toronto, Graduated with Hon. B.Sc. in 2017
Josh recently completed his undergraduate degree, specializing in computer science and cognitive science. He is primarily interested in the intersection of cognitive neuroscience with developments in artificial intelligence / deep learning, and is looking to incorporate insights between the two fields to consolidate our understanding of cognition. His research also touches on pedagogical practices, environmental science, and altered states of consciousness. Josh's other hobbies include hiking, soccer, writing, gaming, and exploring new countries and cultures!
seltzerj@cdf.toronto.edu
Lab Alumni
- Ian Mahoney - Now law student at Osgoode Law School, York University
- Phil Johnston - Now PhD student in Psychology at University of Toronto
- Elliane Croce
