[{"content":"Associate Professor\nDepartment of Psychology\nPh.D. in Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 2011\nM.Sc. in Computer Science, Michigan State, 2005\nB.Sc. in Computer Science, Michigan State, 2003\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/michael-mack/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"Associate Professor\nDepartment of Psychology\nPh.D. in Psychology, Vanderbilt University, 2011\nM.Sc. in Computer Science, Michigan State, 2005\nB.Sc. in Computer Science, Michigan State, 2003\n","title":"Dr. Michael Mack","type":"members"},{"content":"B.A. Honours in Psychology, Dalhousie University\nCate is interested in understanding the neural mechanisms that support learning and memory, how these processes change across development, and how adverse experiences may influence developmental outcomes. She is also interested in clinical psychology and the ways in which disruptions to typical development can impact psychological functioning and well-being. Outside of the lab, Cate enjoys baking for her friends and family, spending time outside, and reading.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/cate-brandt/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"B.A. Honours in Psychology, Dalhousie University\nCate is interested in understanding the neural mechanisms that support learning and memory, how these processes change across development, and how adverse experiences may influence developmental outcomes. She is also interested in clinical psychology and the ways in which disruptions to typical development can impact psychological functioning and well-being. Outside of the lab, Cate enjoys baking for her friends and family, spending time outside, and reading.\n","title":"Cate Brandt","type":"members"},{"content":"Hon. B.A. in Psychology, Western University\nM.Sc. in Cognitive, Developmental, and Brain Sciences, Western University\nPh.D. Student, University of Toronto\nMaddie completed her master\u0026rsquo;s at Western University studying individual differences in concept learning. Her research interests center on how people learn and use conceptual knowledge, the mechanisms that support memory updating and creation, and how prior knowledge is applied to new situations. Outside of research, she enjoys being active, searching for the best iced coffee in the city, and experimenting with new recipes.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/maddie-bloomberg/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"Hon. B.A. in Psychology, Western University\nM.Sc. in Cognitive, Developmental, and Brain Sciences, Western University\nPh.D. Student, University of Toronto\nMaddie completed her master’s at Western University studying individual differences in concept learning. Her research interests center on how people learn and use conceptual knowledge, the mechanisms that support memory updating and creation, and how prior knowledge is applied to new situations. Outside of research, she enjoys being active, searching for the best iced coffee in the city, and experimenting with new recipes.\n","title":"Maddie Bloomberg","type":"members"},{"content":"B.Sc., Computer Science and Cognitive Science, University of Toronto\nPh.D. Student, University of Toronto\nEwan is interested in how hippocampal mechanisms shape memory, and in turn, how memory shapes behaviour and perception. He completed his bachelor’s in computer science \u0026amp; cognitive science at UofT where he researched the impact of GenAI use on human creativity and dorsal-ventral stream emergence in ANNs. Outside of academics, he loves to make music and explore the world on his bicycle!\npersonal website\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/ewan-jordan/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"B.Sc., Computer Science and Cognitive Science, University of Toronto\nPh.D. Student, University of Toronto\nEwan is interested in how hippocampal mechanisms shape memory, and in turn, how memory shapes behaviour and perception. He completed his bachelor’s in computer science \u0026 cognitive science at UofT where he researched the impact of GenAI use on human creativity and dorsal-ventral stream emergence in ANNs. Outside of academics, he loves to make music and explore the world on his bicycle!\n","title":"Ewan Jordan","type":"members"},{"content":"University of Toronto Psychology Research Specialist, Bioethics and Sociology Minor\nLinda was a thesis student in the MackLab and continues working on her project as a research assistant. She is currently a lab manager with the Duncan and Finn labs. She is passionate about cognitive neuroscience research, and is currently working on projects investigating semantic memory updating during category exception learning and the psychophysiological signatures of insight. She has additional interests in understanding how neurological and psychiatric disorders impact cognitive functioning. Outside of the lab, she enjoys bouldering, practicing ballet, playing guitar, and listening to live music.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/linda-he/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"University of Toronto Psychology Research Specialist, Bioethics and Sociology Minor\nLinda was a thesis student in the MackLab and continues working on her project as a research assistant. She is currently a lab manager with the Duncan and Finn labs. She is passionate about cognitive neuroscience research, and is currently working on projects investigating semantic memory updating during category exception learning and the psychophysiological signatures of insight. She has additional interests in understanding how neurological and psychiatric disorders impact cognitive functioning. Outside of the lab, she enjoys bouldering, practicing ballet, playing guitar, and listening to live music.\n","title":"Linda He","type":"members"},{"content":"University of Toronto Psychology Research Specialist, Computer Science Minor\nMohan is an honours thesis student in the Mack Lab. She is particularly interested in the underlying mechanisms of human memory and learning. She is currently working on a project investigating how attentional processes unfold during learning by tracking eye movements. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, discovering new recipes, and exploring matcha desserts around Toronto.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/mohan-yuan/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"University of Toronto Psychology Research Specialist, Computer Science Minor\nMohan is an honours thesis student in the Mack Lab. She is particularly interested in the underlying mechanisms of human memory and learning. She is currently working on a project investigating how attentional processes unfold during learning by tracking eye movements. In her free time, she enjoys drawing, discovering new recipes, and exploring matcha desserts around Toronto.\n","title":"Mohan Yuan","type":"members"},{"content":"University of Toronto Psychology Research Specialist, Cognitive Science Major\nSangje is a fourth-year student in the Psychology Research Specialist and Cognitive Science Major programs. He is interested in learning about the cognitive processes that allow adults and children to navigate through the conceptually and perceptually complex world. Outside of the lab, Sangje enjoys to read, travel, and go thrifting!\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/sangje-park/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"University of Toronto Psychology Research Specialist, Cognitive Science Major\nSangje is a fourth-year student in the Psychology Research Specialist and Cognitive Science Major programs. He is interested in learning about the cognitive processes that allow adults and children to navigate through the conceptually and perceptually complex world. Outside of the lab, Sangje enjoys to read, travel, and go thrifting!\n","title":"Sangje Park","type":"members"},{"content":" Graduate Students # Dory (Yongzhen) Xie, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Researcher, NICT/Osaka University Melisa Gumus, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley Emily Heffernan, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto Mateja Perovic, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, CAMH Gaeun Son, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Sungshin Women’s University Juliana Adema Postdoctoral Fellows # Anna Blumenthal, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Marist University Sagana Vijayarajah, Ph.D. – Senior Manager, Lung Health Foundation Frida Printzlau, Ph.D. – Research Coordinator, Branksome Hall Past Lab Managers # Jessie Song – PhD student in IMS, University of Toronto Sanjivan Loganathan – M.Sc. student, Western University Emily (Emmy) Wang – MA-PhD student in Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Windsor Carleigh Pace-Tonna – PhD student in Psychology, University of Toronto Past Undergraduate Students \u0026amp; Research Assistants # Lina Al Halabi Nahal Alizadeh Saghati Christine Arrabito Shree Bhattarai Athanasios Bourganos Yao (Frances) Chen Jason Chow Elliane Croce Brad Dalgleish Paige Denega Julia Do Johnny Dubois Chanel Fu Selina Fu Julia Gonsalves Zosia Gontarz Belinda Hoang Janice Jianqi Hou Rafidal Islam Cathlin Jiaqi Han Phil Johnston Kevin Kadak Rajdeep Kalsi Zoey Zhi Yi Lee Stella Leowinata Ian Mahoney Trisha Menon Aaron Rambhajan Josh Seltzer Shuran Tang Marian Wang Xinyaun (Zoe) Wu Xuan (Sophia) Zhang Alicia Tang Emily Zhang Sima Buchnak Sumaiya Nathani Michelle Zhao Xing Yao (Eunice) Zhu Teresa Zhu ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/alumni/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"Graduate Students # Dory (Yongzhen) Xie, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Researcher, NICT/Osaka University Melisa Gumus, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, UC Berkeley Emily Heffernan, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto Mateja Perovic, Ph.D. – Postdoctoral Fellow, CAMH Gaeun Son, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Sungshin Women’s University Juliana Adema Postdoctoral Fellows # Anna Blumenthal, Ph.D. – Assistant Professor, Marist University Sagana Vijayarajah, Ph.D. – Senior Manager, Lung Health Foundation Frida Printzlau, Ph.D. – Research Coordinator, Branksome Hall Past Lab Managers # Jessie Song – PhD student in IMS, University of Toronto Sanjivan Loganathan – M.Sc. student, Western University Emily (Emmy) Wang – MA-PhD student in Clinical Neuropsychology, University of Windsor Carleigh Pace-Tonna – PhD student in Psychology, University of Toronto Past Undergraduate Students \u0026 Research Assistants # Lina Al Halabi Nahal Alizadeh Saghati Christine Arrabito Shree Bhattarai Athanasios Bourganos Yao (Frances) Chen Jason Chow Elliane Croce Brad Dalgleish Paige Denega Julia Do Johnny Dubois Chanel Fu Selina Fu Julia Gonsalves Zosia Gontarz Belinda Hoang Janice Jianqi Hou Rafidal Islam Cathlin Jiaqi Han Phil Johnston Kevin Kadak Rajdeep Kalsi Zoey Zhi Yi Lee Stella Leowinata Ian Mahoney Trisha Menon Aaron Rambhajan Josh Seltzer Shuran Tang Marian Wang Xinyaun (Zoe) Wu Xuan (Sophia) Zhang Alicia Tang Emily Zhang Sima Buchnak Sumaiya Nathani Michelle Zhao Xing Yao (Eunice) Zhu Teresa Zhu ","title":"Lab Alumni","type":"members"},{"content":" Welcome to the Mack Lab The Mack Lab is interested in how we learn. We study how attention (selecting relevant information from our experiences) interacts with memory (what we know and remember) during learning. Making sense of this interaction informs not only how learning succeeds, but also why it goes awry and how to put it back on track. Recent News New paper in JNeuro! 10 July 2026 Congratulations, Dr. Xie! 13 May 2026 New paper on functional footprints published in PNAS! 27 February 2026 Our computational cognitive neuroscience lab, led by Associate Professor Michael Mack, is in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. We explore the learning brain with a combination of behavioural experiments, computational modelling, and functional neuroimaging. Learn more about our research and publications, who we are, and how to get involved!\nResearch Members Participate ","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"","summary":" Welcome to the Mack Lab The Mack Lab is interested in how we learn. We study how attention (selecting relevant information from our experiences) interacts with memory (what we know and remember) during learning. Making sense of this interaction informs not only how learning succeeds, but also why it goes awry and how to put it back on track. Recent News New paper in JNeuro! 10 July 2026 Congratulations, Dr. Xie! 13 May 2026 New paper on functional footprints published in PNAS! 27 February 2026 Our computational cognitive neuroscience lab, led by Associate Professor Michael Mack, is in the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto. We explore the learning brain with a combination of behavioural experiments, computational modelling, and functional neuroimaging. Learn more about our research and publications, who we are, and how to get involved!\n","title":"","type":"page"},{"content":"","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/academic/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Academic","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"","title":"Mack Lab News","type":"news"},{"content":"In a new JNeuro paper by Yongzhen (Dory) Xie (which was selected a featured article!), we characterize how hippocampal subfields flexibly update category knowledge representations in the face of novel exceptions. By examining participants’ hippocampal representations before and after exception learning, we captured pattern differentiation and integration in DG, CA2/3, and CA1. In line with existing theories, we show that different subfields exhibit distinct representational shifts in exception learning. Interestingly, these shifts depend on exception type - the learning of a confusable exception (like dolphins that resembles fish but are mammals) involves greater differentiation in DG and integration in CA1, relative to an oddball exception (like the strange-looking platypus)!\nXie, Y., Mack, M.L. (2026). Distinct Hippocampal Subfield Representational Shifts Underlie Category Exception Learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 46(27), e1950252026. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1950-25.2026\n","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2026-07-10-jneuro/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"In a new JNeuro paper by Yongzhen (Dory) Xie (which was selected a featured article!), we characterize how hippocampal subfields flexibly update category knowledge representations in the face of novel exceptions. By examining participants’ hippocampal representations before and after exception learning, we captured pattern differentiation and integration in DG, CA2/3, and CA1. In line with existing theories, we show that different subfields exhibit distinct representational shifts in exception learning. Interestingly, these shifts depend on exception type - the learning of a confusable exception (like dolphins that resembles fish but are mammals) involves greater differentiation in DG and integration in CA1, relative to an oddball exception (like the strange-looking platypus)!\n","title":"New paper in JNeuro!","type":"news"},{"content":"","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/publication/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Publication","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/research/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Research","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"10 July 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"13 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/achievement/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Achievement","type":"tags"},{"content":"A huge congratulations to Dr. Yongzhen (Dory) Xie! Dory\u0026rsquo;s victory lap of a final thesis defence was a perfect end to her very successful time in the Mack Lab. Her thesis focused on representational changes that occur during category learning, specifically when learning exceptions to category rules. She incorporated clever empirical tasks, sophisticated computational modelling, and human neuroimaging to comprehensively characterize learning-mediated shifts in how information is organized in conceptual knowledge. Her thesis is an amazing accomplishment and reflects Dory\u0026rsquo;s hard earned work as a graduate student. We are super proud of Dr. Xie!\nDory\u0026rsquo;s next stop is as a postdoctoral researcher working with Rob Mok at the Center for Information and Neural Networks (CiNet) and Osaka University in Japan. We already miss you! Best of luck, Dr. Xie!\n","date":"13 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2026-05-13-xie/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"A huge congratulations to Dr. Yongzhen (Dory) Xie! Dory’s victory lap of a final thesis defence was a perfect end to her very successful time in the Mack Lab. Her thesis focused on representational changes that occur during category learning, specifically when learning exceptions to category rules. She incorporated clever empirical tasks, sophisticated computational modelling, and human neuroimaging to comprehensively characterize learning-mediated shifts in how information is organized in conceptual knowledge. Her thesis is an amazing accomplishment and reflects Dory’s hard earned work as a graduate student. We are super proud of Dr. Xie!\n","title":"Congratulations, Dr. Xie!","type":"news"},{"content":"","date":"13 May 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/lab-news/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Lab News","type":"categories"},{"content":"Attention is a filtering mechanism that helps us focus on what matters. We investigate how attentional biases are formed and how they influence learning.\n","date":"14 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/research/attentional-processes/","section":"Researches","summary":"Attention is a filtering mechanism that helps us focus on what matters. We investigate how attentional biases are formed and how they influence learning.\n","title":"Attentional Processes","type":"research"},{"content":"How do we learn to group items into categories? Our lab explores the underlying cognitive and neural processes involved in category acquisition.\n","date":"14 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/research/category-learning/","section":"Researches","summary":"How do we learn to group items into categories? Our lab explores the underlying cognitive and neural processes involved in category acquisition.\n","title":"Category Learning","type":"research"},{"content":"Using fMRI and other neuroimaging techniques, we map the neural correlates of learning and memory.\n","date":"14 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/research/neural-mechanisms/","section":"Researches","summary":"Using fMRI and other neuroimaging techniques, we map the neural correlates of learning and memory.\n","title":"Neural Mechanisms","type":"research"},{"content":"","date":"14 April 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/research/","section":"Researches","summary":"","title":"Researches","type":"research"},{"content":"We are very excited to share Melisa Gumus\u0026rsquo; paper, \u0026ldquo;Distinct contributions of hippocampal pathways in learning regularities and exceptions revealed by functional footprints\u0026rdquo;, recently published in PNAS. In this work, Melisa proposes a new method that localizes hippocampal pathways with diffusion weighted imaging to interrogate their distinct functional signatures during category learning. She finds that whereas category regularities engage the monosynaptic pathway (i.e., the direct pathway between entorhinal cortex and hippocampal subfield CA1) early in learning, category exceptions engage the trisynaptic pathway (i.e., the pathway that loops in dentate gyrus and CA3) later in learning. These findings provide unique supporting evidence for the functional distinction for these pathways and offer a multimodal approach to further characterizing information flow in the brain. Fun fact: Melisa collected this dataset as an undergrad in 2018!\nRead the paper and check out the press release!\n","date":"27 February 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2026-02-27-pnas/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"We are very excited to share Melisa Gumus’ paper, “Distinct contributions of hippocampal pathways in learning regularities and exceptions revealed by functional footprints”, recently published in PNAS. In this work, Melisa proposes a new method that localizes hippocampal pathways with diffusion weighted imaging to interrogate their distinct functional signatures during category learning. She finds that whereas category regularities engage the monosynaptic pathway (i.e., the direct pathway between entorhinal cortex and hippocampal subfield CA1) early in learning, category exceptions engage the trisynaptic pathway (i.e., the pathway that loops in dentate gyrus and CA3) later in learning. These findings provide unique supporting evidence for the functional distinction for these pathways and offer a multimodal approach to further characterizing information flow in the brain. Fun fact: Melisa collected this dataset as an undergrad in 2018!\n","title":"New paper on functional footprints published in PNAS!","type":"news"},{"content":"A huge congratulations to Dr. Melisa Gumus for successfully defending her PhD thesis! Melisa\u0026rsquo;s impressive dissertation hit all the corners of the lab\u0026rsquo;s research: characterizing white matter pathways in the hippocampus and their relationship to cognition, linking computational mechanisms of learning to hippocampal processes and representations, and exploring how attention learning is encoded into flexible concept knowledge. Well done, Dr. Gumus!\nMelisa was one of the first trainees in the Mack Lab, starting way back in 2016 as an undergraduate research assistant. In the following 9 years, she wore many hats in the lab including RA, lab manager, graduate RA while she completed a master\u0026rsquo;s degree with Carmela Tartaglia, and finally PhD student in Psychology. The Mack Lab is what it is today because of Melisa\u0026rsquo;s persistent motivation for innovative research, her infectious positive spirit, and her gracious support of everyone around her. We will miss her dearly!\nMelisa\u0026rsquo;s next step is a postdoctoral position with Mariam Aly at UC Berkeley. Best of luck, Dr. Gumus!!\n","date":"20 August 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2025-08-20-gumus/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"A huge congratulations to Dr. Melisa Gumus for successfully defending her PhD thesis! Melisa’s impressive dissertation hit all the corners of the lab’s research: characterizing white matter pathways in the hippocampus and their relationship to cognition, linking computational mechanisms of learning to hippocampal processes and representations, and exploring how attention learning is encoded into flexible concept knowledge. Well done, Dr. Gumus!\nMelisa was one of the first trainees in the Mack Lab, starting way back in 2016 as an undergraduate research assistant. In the following 9 years, she wore many hats in the lab including RA, lab manager, graduate RA while she completed a master’s degree with Carmela Tartaglia, and finally PhD student in Psychology. The Mack Lab is what it is today because of Melisa’s persistent motivation for innovative research, her infectious positive spirit, and her gracious support of everyone around her. We will miss her dearly!\n","title":"Congratulations, Dr. Gumus!","type":"news"},{"content":"Congratulations to Dr. Mateja Perovic on a very successful defence of her PhD dissertation! Mateja\u0026rsquo;s dissertation details her impressive and ambitious research on how sex hormones and menstrual cycle impact the core mechanisms of category learning. Spanning behavioural experiments, fMRI, hormone analysis, and genotype testing, Mateja\u0026rsquo;s PhD work is comprehensive and provides key theoretical insights in fields of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and women\u0026rsquo;s health. So very proud of Dr. Perovic!\n","date":"21 July 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2025-07-21-perovic/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congratulations to Dr. Mateja Perovic on a very successful defence of her PhD dissertation! Mateja’s dissertation details her impressive and ambitious research on how sex hormones and menstrual cycle impact the core mechanisms of category learning. Spanning behavioural experiments, fMRI, hormone analysis, and genotype testing, Mateja’s PhD work is comprehensive and provides key theoretical insights in fields of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and women’s health. So very proud of Dr. Perovic!\n","title":"Congratulations, Dr. Perovic!","type":"news"},{"content":"","date":"30 March 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/conference/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Conference","type":"tags"},{"content":"Melisa, Mateja, Dory, Sanjivan, and Sagana presented posters on their new findings at Poster Session C and F, on Sunday April 30th and Monday the 31st, respectively.\nPoster C21 - Children’s but not adults’ CA2,3/DG differentiates same category information in memory Sagana Vijayarajah, Margaret Schlichting\nPoster C49 - Emergence of Attentional Templates in Concept Learning and the Underlying Neural Mechanisms Melisa Gumus, Wen Jia Zhao , Zoey Zhi Yi Lee, Michael L. Mack\nPoster C144 - Menstrual cycle effects on rule-plus-exception category learning vary by BDNF genotype Mateja Perovic, Janice Hou, Shreeansha Bhattarai, Cathlin Han, Michael L. Mack\nPoster C151 - Hippocampal Representational Shifts Underlie the Learning of Exceptions to Category Knowledge Yongzhen Xie, Michael L. Mack\nPoster F47 - Familiarity to everyday scene categories in adults and children. Sanjivan Loganathan, Sagana Vijayarajah, Margaret Schlichting\n","date":"30 March 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2025-03-30-cns/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Melisa, Mateja, Dory, Sanjivan, and Sagana presented posters on their new findings at Poster Session C and F, on Sunday April 30th and Monday the 31st, respectively.\nPoster C21 - Children’s but not adults’ CA2,3/DG differentiates same category information in memory Sagana Vijayarajah, Margaret Schlichting\nPoster C49 - Emergence of Attentional Templates in Concept Learning and the Underlying Neural Mechanisms Melisa Gumus, Wen Jia Zhao , Zoey Zhi Yi Lee, Michael L. Mack\n","title":"MackLab at CNS 2025!","type":"news"},{"content":"We are excited to be presenting new studies and cool findings! Check out Mateja’s poster on Tuesday and Melisa’s talk on Wednesday! Melisa will also be presenting a poster as part of her SfN trainee professional development award! Congratulations!\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfn2024_poster_melisagumus.pdf\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfn_2024_bdnf.pdf\nTalk Category learning builds behaviourally relevant attentional templates Melisa Gumus, Zoey Lee, Michael Mack Wednesday, 8:00-11:15am on October 9th Nanosymposium Human LTM: Encoding and Retrieval III, Room S103\nPoster Category learning builds behaviourally relevant attentional templates Melisa Gumus, Zoey Lee, Michael Mack Saturday, 6:30-8:30pm on October 5th Early Career Poster Session, poster board J20 in Hall A\nPoster BDNF genetic polymorphism interacts with menstrual cycle phase to predict rule-plus-exception category learning Mateja Perovic, Janice Hou, Shreeansha Bhattarai, Cathlin J Han, Yao Chen, \u0026amp; Michael Mack Tuesday, 8:00am-12:00pm on October 8th Poster board LBA008.073\n","date":"3 October 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-10-03-sfn/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"We are excited to be presenting new studies and cool findings! Check out Mateja’s poster on Tuesday and Melisa’s talk on Wednesday! Melisa will also be presenting a poster as part of her SfN trainee professional development award! Congratulations!\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfn2024_poster_melisagumus.pdf\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfn_2024_bdnf.pdf\nTalk Category learning builds behaviourally relevant attentional templates Melisa Gumus, Zoey Lee, Michael Mack Wednesday, 8:00-11:15am on October 9th Nanosymposium Human LTM: Encoding and Retrieval III, Room S103\nPoster Category learning builds behaviourally relevant attentional templates Melisa Gumus, Zoey Lee, Michael Mack Saturday, 6:30-8:30pm on October 5th Early Career Poster Session, poster board J20 in Hall A\n","title":"Mack Lab at SfN 2024!","type":"news"},{"content":"Congrats to Dr. Emily Heffernan for successfully defending her PhD thesis! Emily\u0026rsquo;s PhD studies have provided valuable insights into the attentional and neural mechanisms underlying the learning of surprising categorical information. Emily is now a postdoctoral fellow in the APPLY lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga, where she is investigating digital readability. We are all very proud of you, Dr. Heffernan!\n","date":"8 July 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-07-08-heffernan/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congrats to Dr. Emily Heffernan for successfully defending her PhD thesis! Emily’s PhD studies have provided valuable insights into the attentional and neural mechanisms underlying the learning of surprising categorical information. Emily is now a postdoctoral fellow in the APPLY lab at the University of Toronto Mississauga, where she is investigating digital readability. We are all very proud of you, Dr. Heffernan!\n","title":"Congratulations, Dr. Heffernan!","type":"news"},{"content":"Dr. Gaeun Son successfully defended her PhD thesis! Gaeun\u0026rsquo;s thesis included all her amazing work linking latent spaces of generative AI models to human perception. It is a true accomplishment! Gaeun\u0026rsquo;s next move is a postdoctoral position in Soojin Park\u0026rsquo;s lab at Yonsei University. Gaeun will be dearly missed, but we are so excited for her! Congratulations, Dr. Son!\n","date":"5 June 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-06-05-son/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Dr. Gaeun Son successfully defended her PhD thesis! Gaeun’s thesis included all her amazing work linking latent spaces of generative AI models to human perception. It is a true accomplishment! Gaeun’s next move is a postdoctoral position in Soojin Park’s lab at Yonsei University. Gaeun will be dearly missed, but we are so excited for her! Congratulations, Dr. Son!\n","title":"Congratulations, Dr. Son!","type":"news"},{"content":"Melisa gave an excellent data blitz (and was an outstanding Mack Lab representative) at this year\u0026rsquo;s CEMS. She presented her work on the functional footprints of hippocampal pathways in category learning. Well done, Melisa!\n","date":"31 May 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-05-31-cems/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Melisa gave an excellent data blitz (and was an outstanding Mack Lab representative) at this year’s CEMS. She presented her work on the functional footprints of hippocampal pathways in category learning. Well done, Melisa!\n","title":"Melisa's data blitz at CEMS 2024","type":"news"},{"content":"Mack Lab poster presentations at VSS this year!\nSaturday, May 18, 2024, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm\nInvestigating the representational transformations underlying the learning of exceptions in visual categories Dory Xie, Emily Q. Wang, Yao Chen, Michael L. Mack Saturday, May 18, 2024,2:45 – 6:45 pm\nMapping neural similarity spaces for scenes with generative adversarial networks Gaeun Son, Dirk B. Walther, Michael L. Mack Sunday, May 19, 2024,2:45 – 6:45 pm\nEEG-based decoding of shapes and their categories in visual working memory Frida Printzlau, Olya Bulatova, Michael Mack, Keisuke Fukuda Monday, May 20, 2024, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm\nCrossing category boundaries: Perceptual hysteresis for scenes even with endpoint preview Huiqin Chen, Mei Yang, Gaeun Son, Dirk Bernhardt-Walther ","date":"17 May 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-05-17-vss/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Mack Lab poster presentations at VSS this year!\nSaturday, May 18, 2024, 8:30 am – 12:30 pm\nInvestigating the representational transformations underlying the learning of exceptions in visual categories Dory Xie, Emily Q. Wang, Yao Chen, Michael L. Mack Saturday, May 18, 2024,2:45 – 6:45 pm\nMapping neural similarity spaces for scenes with generative adversarial networks Gaeun Son, Dirk B. Walther, Michael L. Mack Sunday, May 19, 2024,2:45 – 6:45 pm\n","title":"Mack Lab at VSS 2024!","type":"news"},{"content":"Dory Xie published her first paper in Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review. In this work, Dory used novel computational modelling \u0026amp; behavioural approaches to show how selective pattern differentiation and integration support learning and generalization of category exceptions. One interesting wrinkle in the data is that latent representational spaces of category items based on a computational model (thanks again, SUSTAIN!) differ from participants\u0026rsquo; similarity ratings. Indeed, whereas the model\u0026rsquo;s latent space shows that category exceptions are differentiated from items that follow category regularities, explicit similarity ratings suggest participants are simply grouping exceptions with their respective category. Maybe similarity ratings don\u0026rsquo;t reveal cognition\u0026rsquo;s latent spaces?\nRead it here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/s13423-024-02501-8\n","date":"22 April 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-04-22-differentiation/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Dory Xie published her first paper in Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026 Review. In this work, Dory used novel computational modelling \u0026 behavioural approaches to show how selective pattern differentiation and integration support learning and generalization of category exceptions. One interesting wrinkle in the data is that latent representational spaces of category items based on a computational model (thanks again, SUSTAIN!) differ from participants’ similarity ratings. Indeed, whereas the model’s latent space shows that category exceptions are differentiated from items that follow category regularities, explicit similarity ratings suggest participants are simply grouping exceptions with their respective category. Maybe similarity ratings don’t reveal cognition’s latent spaces?\n","title":"New paper on differentiation and category learning!","type":"news"},{"content":"The Mack Lab will be all over CNS this year!\nSaturday\nData blitz session 2, 1-2:30pm ** **Talks by Emily Heffernan and Gaeun Son Sunday\nPoster session B, 8-10am\nB151: \u0026ldquo;Cross-participant neural alignment of attentional states during encoding is linked to better memory in adults and children\u0026rdquo; Sagana Vijayarajah, Margaret Schlichting\nB153: \u0026ldquo;Menstrual cycle and perceived stress predict performance on the mnemonic similarity\u0026rdquo; Mateja Perovic, Michael Mack\nPoster session C, 5-7pm\nC50: \u0026ldquo;Interrogating brain engagement as a function of exception learning performance\u0026rdquo; Emily Heffernan, Michael Mack\nC53: \u0026ldquo;An edge-centric approach to discerning the neural networks underlying event script processing\u0026rdquo; Yongzhen Xie, Alexander Barnett\nMonday\nPoster session D, 8-10am\nD2: \u0026ldquo;EEG-based decoding of stimulus shapes and their categories in working memory\u0026rdquo; Frida Printzlau, Olya Bulatova, Keisuke Fukuda, Michael Mack\nD74: \u0026ldquo;Learning exceptions to category rules is supported by distinct white matter networks\u0026rdquo; Melisa Gumus, Nahal Alizadeh Saghati , Michael Mack\nD124: \u0026ldquo;Identifying the neural networks that support categorization using brain-informed drift diffusion modelling Victoria Liu, Michael Mack\nTuesday\nPoster session F, 8-10am\nF69: \u0026ldquo;Effects of BDNF and COMT genetic polymorphism on rule plus-exception category learning at two stages of the menstrual cycle\u0026rdquo; Shreeansha Bhattarai, Mateja Perovic, Cathlin Han, Janice Hou, Yao Chen, Michael Mack\nF144: \u0026ldquo;Mapping neural similarity spaces for scenes with generative adversarial networks\u0026rdquo; Gaeun Son, Dirk B. Walther, Michael L. Mack\n","date":"28 March 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-03-28-cns/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"The Mack Lab will be all over CNS this year!\nSaturday\nData blitz session 2, 1-2:30pm ** **Talks by Emily Heffernan and Gaeun Son Sunday\nPoster session B, 8-10am\nB151: “Cross-participant neural alignment of attentional states during encoding is linked to better memory in adults and children” Sagana Vijayarajah, Margaret Schlichting\nB153: “Menstrual cycle and perceived stress predict performance on the mnemonic similarity” Mateja Perovic, Michael Mack\nPoster session C, 5-7pm\n","title":"Mack Lab at CNS 2024","type":"news"},{"content":"A new paper from Gaeun Son demonstrates how brief category learning of her novel scene wheel stimuli induces category-specific shifts in people\u0026rsquo;s scene representations. Gaeun had participants first learn to separate scene stimuli from a scene wheel (defined within the latent space of a generative adversarial network, see Gaeun\u0026rsquo;s earlier paper for more details) into two categories. After category learning, participants were briefly shown the scenes and had to reconstruct them from working memory. Reconstruction errors showed biases away from the category boundary suggesting the category learning warped the representational scene space. Notably, participants who didn\u0026rsquo;t learn showed no such biases. And, Gaeun replicated the effects in a second study!\nThis work appears in Psychonomics Bulletin \u0026amp; Review, check it out!.\n","date":"11 March 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-03-11-scene-wheels/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"A new paper from Gaeun Son demonstrates how brief category learning of her novel scene wheel stimuli induces category-specific shifts in people’s scene representations. Gaeun had participants first learn to separate scene stimuli from a scene wheel (defined within the latent space of a generative adversarial network, see Gaeun’s earlier paper for more details) into two categories. After category learning, participants were briefly shown the scenes and had to reconstruct them from working memory. Reconstruction errors showed biases away from the category boundary suggesting the category learning warped the representational scene space. Notably, participants who didn’t learn showed no such biases. And, Gaeun replicated the effects in a second study!\n","title":"New paper on rapid learning of scene wheels!","type":"news"},{"content":"We are very excited to have Mateja Perovic and Emily Heffernan\u0026rsquo;s work on exception learning across the menstrual cycle published in Scientific Reports! We found that in a rule-plus-exception category learning task, exception learning performance distinctly varied across the menstrual cycle in a manner consistent with the typical rise and fall of estrogen hormones.\nAlso, thanks to co-author Gillian Einstein for a great collaboration!\nRead the paper here: https://rdcu.be/dtlDi\n","date":"11 January 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2024-01-11-menstrual-cycle/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"We are very excited to have Mateja Perovic and Emily Heffernan’s work on exception learning across the menstrual cycle published in Scientific Reports! We found that in a rule-plus-exception category learning task, exception learning performance distinctly varied across the menstrual cycle in a manner consistent with the typical rise and fall of estrogen hormones.\nAlso, thanks to co-author Gillian Einstein for a great collaboration!\nRead the paper here: https://rdcu.be/dtlDi\n","title":"New paper on exception learning and the menstrual cycle!","type":"news"},{"content":"https://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfn2023_poster_melisagumus_edited.pdf\nLearning regularities and exceptions are supported by distinct hippocampal pathways as revealed by diffusion-weighted functional footprints Wed., Nov 15, 8am-12pm, Poster SS25 Melisa Gumus is presenting a poster at SfN on an exploratory method we call pathway footprints! Can you use white matter pathways to constrain where to look for behaviourally relevant functional activation? If you\u0026rsquo;re looking in the hippocampus, the answer seems to be yes! To learn more, see Melisa at SS25 on Nov. 15!\n","date":"7 November 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2023-11-07-sfn/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"https://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfn2023_poster_melisagumus_edited.pdf\nLearning regularities and exceptions are supported by distinct hippocampal pathways as revealed by diffusion-weighted functional footprints Wed., Nov 15, 8am-12pm, Poster SS25 Melisa Gumus is presenting a poster at SfN on an exploratory method we call pathway footprints! Can you use white matter pathways to constrain where to look for behaviourally relevant functional activation? If you’re looking in the hippocampus, the answer seems to be yes! To learn more, see Melisa at SS25 on Nov. 15!\n","title":"Mack Lab at SfN 2023","type":"news"},{"content":"Melisa Gumus was awarded a 2022 NSERC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship! This scholarship is only of the most selective and prestigious awards for Canadian graduate students. As described on the Vanier program website: \u0026ldquo;Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering and health\u0026rdquo;. Congratulations, Melisa!\n","date":"28 November 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2022-11-28-nserc-vanier/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Melisa Gumus was awarded a 2022 NSERC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship! This scholarship is only of the most selective and prestigious awards for Canadian graduate students. As described on the Vanier program website: “Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and/or engineering and health”. Congratulations, Melisa!\n","title":"Melisa Gumus awarded NSERC Vanier CGS!","type":"news"},{"content":"We are super excited to be back at SfN! Check out Mateja and Emily\u0026rsquo;s poster on Saturday, Dory\u0026rsquo;s poster on Sunday, and Melisa Gumus\u0026rsquo; talk on Monday:\nTalk Distinct hippocampal contributions to the rapid learning of category exceptions Melisa Gumus, Michael Mack Monday, 1:30-1:45pm, Nanosymposium Human LTM: Encoding and Retrieval\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfnposter2022_mp_1.pdf\nPoster Hippocampus-related exception categorization varies across the menstrual cycle Mateja Perovic, Emily Heffernan, Gillian Einstein, Michael Mack Saturday, 1-5pm, Poster board UU2\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfn_poster_yx.pdf\nPoster Representational differentiation in flexible category learning Yongzhen (Dory) Xie, Michael Mack Sunday, 8am-12pm, Poster board WW37\n","date":"1 November 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2022-11-01-sfn/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"We are super excited to be back at SfN! Check out Mateja and Emily’s poster on Saturday, Dory’s poster on Sunday, and Melisa Gumus’ talk on Monday:\nTalk Distinct hippocampal contributions to the rapid learning of category exceptions Melisa Gumus, Michael Mack Monday, 1:30-1:45pm, Nanosymposium Human LTM: Encoding and Retrieval\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/sfnposter2022_mp_1.pdf\nPoster Hippocampus-related exception categorization varies across the menstrual cycle Mateja Perovic, Emily Heffernan, Gillian Einstein, Michael Mack Saturday, 1-5pm, Poster board UU2\n","title":"Mack Lab at SfN 2022!","type":"news"},{"content":"We are in-person at CogSci 2022!\nTalk: T11.2 - Concepts, Yongzhen (Dory) Xie, Differentiating Exceptions in Rule-Plus-Exception Category Learning| proceedings **Talk:**T12.2 - Memory and Learning, Bryan Hong, Emphasizing associations from encoding affects free recall at retrieval | proceedings Poster: Session 6, P6-22-1237, Melisa Gumus, Hippocampus Engagement Early in Learning Supports Concept Formation | proceedings **Poster:**Session 7, P7-29-1296, Mateja Perović, Category learning across the menstrual cycle: Learning exceptions to the rule varies by hormonal milieu| proceedings Poster: Session 7, P7-30-2054, Emily Heffernan, An In Silico Exploration of the Effect of Surprising Information on Hippocampal Representations|proceedings ","date":"28 July 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2022-07-28-cogsci/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"We are in-person at CogSci 2022!\nTalk: T11.2 - Concepts, Yongzhen (Dory) Xie, Differentiating Exceptions in Rule-Plus-Exception Category Learning| proceedings **Talk:**T12.2 - Memory and Learning, Bryan Hong, Emphasizing associations from encoding affects free recall at retrieval | proceedings Poster: Session 6, P6-22-1237, Melisa Gumus, Hippocampus Engagement Early in Learning Supports Concept Formation | proceedings **Poster:**Session 7, P7-29-1296, Mateja Perović, Category learning across the menstrual cycle: Learning exceptions to the rule varies by hormonal milieu| proceedings Poster: Session 7, P7-30-2054, Emily Heffernan, An In Silico Exploration of the Effect of Surprising Information on Hippocampal Representations|proceedings ","title":"Mack Lab at CogSci 2022","type":"news"},{"content":"https://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/cnsposter2022.pdf\nMateja Perović, a graduate student in Gillian Einstein\u0026rsquo;s lab, is presenting her outside project in the Mack Lab investigating the role of estrogen on rule-plus-exception learning at CNS 2022. She finds that successfully learning exceptions to category rules varies with the menstrual cycle in a manner that matches the typical time course of estrogen levels across the cycle. These findings are consistent with the known impacts of estrogen on hippocampal function and structure and reveal a key behavioural signature of this cycle-dependent neural variability. Well done, Mateja! Download poster pdf\n","date":"14 April 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2022-04-14-cns/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"https://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/cnsposter2022.pdf\nMateja Perović, a graduate student in Gillian Einstein’s lab, is presenting her outside project in the Mack Lab investigating the role of estrogen on rule-plus-exception learning at CNS 2022. She finds that successfully learning exceptions to category rules varies with the menstrual cycle in a manner that matches the typical time course of estrogen levels across the cycle. These findings are consistent with the known impacts of estrogen on hippocampal function and structure and reveal a key behavioural signature of this cycle-dependent neural variability. Well done, Mateja! Download poster pdf\n","title":"Mateja Perović's poster at CNS 2022!","type":"news"},{"content":"Melisa Gumus\u0026rsquo; work on characterizing brain network changes with post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a featured news item at University Health Network: https://www.uhnresearch.ca/news/after-concussion. Congrats, Melisa!\n","date":"25 March 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2022-03-25-concussion/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Melisa Gumus’ work on characterizing brain network changes with post-concussion syndrome (PCS) is a featured news item at University Health Network: https://www.uhnresearch.ca/news/after-concussion. Congrats, Melisa!\n","title":"Melisa Gumus' work on post-concussion syndrome highlighted!","type":"news"},{"content":"Very excited for Jason Chow\u0026rsquo;s undergraduate research on rapid object categorization published in AP\u0026amp;P! In this paper, Jason looked at the temporal dynamics of object categorization with a novel application of object substitution masking finding an interesting trade-off between basic- and superordinate-level categorization: although superordinate-level categorization demonstrates a clear masking effect very early, it recovers at the first mask offset that impairs basic-level categorization. We argue that this may be evidence of a competitive dynamic between levels of abstraction (e.g., animal vs. dog) during rapid categorization. Jason was one of the first members in the Mack Lab, so excited and proud to have his undergraduate research published! He is currently a graduate student at Vanderbilt University working with Isabel Gauthier and Tom Palmeri.\nChow, J., Palmeri, T.J., Mack, M.L. (2022). Revealing a competitive dynamic in rapid categorization with object substitution masking. Attention, Perception, \u0026amp; Psychophysics*.*\n","date":"23 February 2022","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2022-02-23-chow/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Very excited for Jason Chow’s undergraduate research on rapid object categorization published in AP\u0026P! In this paper, Jason looked at the temporal dynamics of object categorization with a novel application of object substitution masking finding an interesting trade-off between basic- and superordinate-level categorization: although superordinate-level categorization demonstrates a clear masking effect very early, it recovers at the first mask offset that impairs basic-level categorization. We argue that this may be evidence of a competitive dynamic between levels of abstraction (e.g., animal vs. dog) during rapid categorization. Jason was one of the first members in the Mack Lab, so excited and proud to have his undergraduate research published! He is currently a graduate student at Vanderbilt University working with Isabel Gauthier and Tom Palmeri.\n","title":"New paper from Jason Chow's undergraduate research!","type":"news"},{"content":"Very excited for Emily Heffernan\u0026rsquo;s work on category exception learning to be published in*Scientific Reports.*In this paper, Emily asked if learning exceptions in a rule-plus-exception category learning task can be significantly improved with a learning sequence that promotes hippocampal encoding. The short answer: yes, in both participants and a neural network model of the hippocampus. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00864-9\n","date":"4 November 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2021-11-04-exception-learning/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Very excited for Emily Heffernan’s work on category exception learning to be published in*Scientific Reports.*In this paper, Emily asked if learning exceptions in a rule-plus-exception category learning task can be significantly improved with a learning sequence that promotes hippocampal encoding. The short answer: yes, in both participants and a neural network model of the hippocampus. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-00864-9\n","title":"New paper on exception learning in humans and models!","type":"news"},{"content":"We are excited to publish a new paper in Hippocampus on the relationship between hippocampal circuitry and category learning. We find that the density of white matter connections between hippocampal subfields CA3 and CA1 relate to individual differences in category exception learning. This work comes from our first MRI study conducted at the U of T Psychology Department\u0026rsquo;s Toronto Neuroimaging Facility. Data collection and analysis efforts were led by incoming graduate student Melisa Gumus and undergraduate student Teresa Zhu and the project was conducted in collaboration with Meg Schlichting.\n","date":"16 August 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2021-08-16-hippocampal-circuitry/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"We are excited to publish a new paper in Hippocampus on the relationship between hippocampal circuitry and category learning. We find that the density of white matter connections between hippocampal subfields CA3 and CA1 relate to individual differences in category exception learning. This work comes from our first MRI study conducted at the U of T Psychology Department’s Toronto Neuroimaging Facility. Data collection and analysis efforts were led by incoming graduate student Melisa Gumus and undergraduate student Teresa Zhu and the project was conducted in collaboration with Meg Schlichting.\n","title":"New paper on hippocampal circuitry and category learning","type":"news"},{"content":"Gauen Son\u0026rsquo;s paper, titled \u0026ldquo;Scene wheels: Measuring perception and memory of real-world scenes with a continuous stimulus space\u0026rdquo;, is now published online at Behavior Research Methods. In collaboration with Dirk Bernhardt-Walter, Gaeun developed a novel method for generating continuous stimulus spaces of synthetic naturalistic scenes with a generative adversarial network (GAN). To validate the method, we demonstrated that 1) human judgements of perceptual similarity aligned with distance in the continuous space and 2) the precision of working memory representations (as indexed with a continuous report paradigm) varies according to the geometry of the scene spaces. Here are all the links: paper, OSF page including example code, and demo of working memory experiment. And, check out the press release!\n","date":"21 July 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2021-07-21-scene-wheels/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Gauen Son’s paper, titled “Scene wheels: Measuring perception and memory of real-world scenes with a continuous stimulus space”, is now published online at Behavior Research Methods. In collaboration with Dirk Bernhardt-Walter, Gaeun developed a novel method for generating continuous stimulus spaces of synthetic naturalistic scenes with a generative adversarial network (GAN). To validate the method, we demonstrated that 1) human judgements of perceptual similarity aligned with distance in the continuous space and 2) the precision of working memory representations (as indexed with a continuous report paradigm) varies according to the geometry of the scene spaces. Here are all the links: paper, OSF page including example code, and demo of working memory experiment. And, check out the press release!\n","title":"New paper by Gauen Son for her novel scene wheel method!","type":"news"},{"content":"Emily Heffernan was awarded a Computational Modeling Award in Higher Level Cognition for her submission to the 2021 Cognitive Science Society Meeting. Her conference paper explores the role of hippocampal encoding functions in category learning by integrating human behaviour and computational modelling of the hippocampus. Congrats, Emily! Read more: https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference-awards/\n","date":"22 June 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2021-06-22-cogsci-award/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Emily Heffernan was awarded a Computational Modeling Award in Higher Level Cognition for her submission to the 2021 Cognitive Science Society Meeting. Her conference paper explores the role of hippocampal encoding functions in category learning by integrating human behaviour and computational modelling of the hippocampus. Congrats, Emily! Read more: https://cognitivesciencesociety.org/conference-awards/\n","title":"Emily Heffernan wins award at CogSci 2021 Meeting","type":"news"},{"content":"Melisa\u0026rsquo;s recent paper on behavioural markers of young-onset Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s disease was featured on U of T Faculty of Medicine\u0026rsquo;s News: https://medicine.utoronto.ca/news/tanz-centre-findings-may-help-detect-young-onset-alzheimers. Well done, Melisa!\n","date":"20 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2021-05-20-alzheimers/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Melisa’s recent paper on behavioural markers of young-onset Alzheimer’s disease was featured on U of T Faculty of Medicine’s News: https://medicine.utoronto.ca/news/tanz-centre-findings-may-help-detect-young-onset-alzheimers. Well done, Melisa!\n","title":"Melisa Gumus' study on young-onset Alzheimer's featured!","type":"news"},{"content":"Congrats to starred first authors Emily and Juliana! Our new paper, \u0026ldquo;Identifying the neural dynamics of category decisions with computational model-based fMRI\u0026rdquo; is now published at Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review! Read it here: rdcu.be/ckd27\n","date":"10 May 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2021-05-10-neural-dynamics/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congrats to starred first authors Emily and Juliana! Our new paper, “Identifying the neural dynamics of category decisions with computational model-based fMRI” is now published at Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026 Review! Read it here: rdcu.be/ckd27\n","title":"New paper on the neural dynamics of category decisions!","type":"news"},{"content":"Melisa Gumus recently published a longitudinal study showing that the prevalence of anxiety and depression is higher in patients with young-onset of Alzheimer’s than those with late-onset, and the difference remains significant over time: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11357-020-00304-y. Congrats, Melisa!\n","date":"12 January 2021","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2021-01-12-alzheimers/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Melisa Gumus recently published a longitudinal study showing that the prevalence of anxiety and depression is higher in patients with young-onset of Alzheimer’s than those with late-onset, and the difference remains significant over time: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11357-020-00304-y. Congrats, Melisa!\n","title":"New paper on progression of neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer’s disease.","type":"news"},{"content":"Mike has been awarded a grant from the 2019 Azrieli Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program to study the role of hippocampal white matter pathways in human learning. Read more at Brain Canada\nhttps://braincanada.ca/news/major-boost-for-brain-health-in-canada/\n","date":"9 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2020-11-09-brain-canada/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Mike has been awarded a grant from the 2019 Azrieli Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research program to study the role of hippocampal white matter pathways in human learning. Read more at Brain Canada\nhttps://braincanada.ca/news/major-boost-for-brain-health-in-canada/\n","title":"Future Leaders in Canadian Brain Research grant!","type":"news"},{"content":"A very much overdue recap of many successes and achievements over the past year!\nBelinda Hoang, Teresa Zu, Victoria Liu, Zi Cheng, and Dmitri Saharov all graduated! Zoe Wu was awarded an NSERC USRA fellowship for the summer (which went very well!) Aaron Rambhajan finished his U of T Master of Information degree! Melisa Gumus successfully defended her MSc thesis in the Uof T Institute for Medical Sciences! Juliana Adema and Emily Heffernan were award NSERC CGS-M fellowships! Juliana Adema and Emily Heffernan also successfully defended the Masters theses! We were also awarded a New Frontiers in Research Fund Transformation grant for our work on the impact of indoor air quality on cognition! ","date":"6 November 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2020-11-06-lab-update/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"A very much overdue recap of many successes and achievements over the past year!\nBelinda Hoang, Teresa Zu, Victoria Liu, Zi Cheng, and Dmitri Saharov all graduated! Zoe Wu was awarded an NSERC USRA fellowship for the summer (which went very well!) Aaron Rambhajan finished his U of T Master of Information degree! Melisa Gumus successfully defended her MSc thesis in the Uof T Institute for Medical Sciences! Juliana Adema and Emily Heffernan were award NSERC CGS-M fellowships! Juliana Adema and Emily Heffernan also successfully defended the Masters theses! We were also awarded a New Frontiers in Research Fund Transformation grant for our work on the impact of indoor air quality on cognition! ","title":"8 months of news from the Mack Lab!","type":"news"},{"content":"Very excited about our new paper: \u0026ldquo;Ventromedial prefrontal cortex compression during learning\u0026rdquo;. vmPFC coding akin to goal-directed dimensionality reduction and tracks attention weights from learning models. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13930-8\n","date":"7 January 2020","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2020-01-07-vmpfc/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Very excited about our new paper: “Ventromedial prefrontal cortex compression during learning”. vmPFC coding akin to goal-directed dimensionality reduction and tracks attention weights from learning models. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13930-8\n","title":"New paper! vmPFC compression during category learning","type":"news"},{"content":"Excited for our new paper published in Journal of Neuroscience! This paper is a companion review for the SfN 2019 minisymposium co-chaired by Dasa Zeithamova and Michael Mack. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/39/42/8259\n","date":"20 October 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2019-10-20-concept-learning/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Excited for our new paper published in Journal of Neuroscience! This paper is a companion review for the SfN 2019 minisymposium co-chaired by Dasa Zeithamova and Michael Mack. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/39/42/8259\n","title":"New paper on the brain mechanisms for concept learning","type":"news"},{"content":"https://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/gumus_etal_sfn2019.pdf\nHippocampal white matter microstructure predicts rapid category learning Melisa Gumus, Teresa Zhu, Meg Schlichting, and Michael Mack\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/cheng_etal_sfn2019.pdf\nEarly hippocampal engagement supports flexible category learning Ziming Cheng, Tong Liu, and Michael Mack\n","date":"20 October 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2019-10-20-sfn/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"https://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/gumus_etal_sfn2019.pdf\nHippocampal white matter microstructure predicts rapid category learning Melisa Gumus, Teresa Zhu, Meg Schlichting, and Michael Mack\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/cheng_etal_sfn2019.pdf\nEarly hippocampal engagement supports flexible category learning Ziming Cheng, Tong Liu, and Michael Mack\n","title":"SfN 2019 posters from the MackLab","type":"news"},{"content":"Very excited to welcome Juliana Adema, Emily Heffernan, and Gaeun Son to the lab as new graduate students!\n","date":"21 September 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2019-09-21-new-students/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Very excited to welcome Juliana Adema, Emily Heffernan, and Gaeun Son to the lab as new graduate students!\n","title":"Welcome to our new graduate students!","type":"news"},{"content":"Excited to have our new paper published: \u0026quot;Comparison of semi-automated hippocampal subfield segmentation methods in a pediatric sample\u0026quot;\n","date":"6 May 2019","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2019-05-06-hippocampal-segmentation/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Excited to have our new paper published: \"Comparison of semi-automated hippocampal subfield segmentation methods in a pediatric sample\"\n","title":"New paper on hippocampal subfield segmentation","type":"news"},{"content":"We\u0026rsquo;re excited to start work on a new collaborative project on the neurocognitive impact of indoor air quality. This project is in collaboration with Jeffrey Siegel in the U of T Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering and is funded by an XSeed Grant from the U of T Faculties of Arts \u0026amp; Science and Engineering.\n","date":"16 October 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2018-10-16-indoor-air/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"We’re excited to start work on a new collaborative project on the neurocognitive impact of indoor air quality. This project is in collaboration with Jeffrey Siegel in the U of T Department of Civil and Mineral Engineering and is funded by an XSeed Grant from the U of T Faculties of Arts \u0026 Science and Engineering.\n","title":"New grant on the neurocognitive impacts of indoor air quality","type":"news"},{"content":"Congrats to Marlie, Jason and Melisa on completing their bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree with success. Macklab was happy to share the excitement of their graduation day, and thank you to Teresa, Chanel and Belinda for surprising us with creative and fun posters!\n","date":"20 June 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2018-06-20-graduation/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congrats to Marlie, Jason and Melisa on completing their bachelor’s degree with success. Macklab was happy to share the excitement of their graduation day, and thank you to Teresa, Chanel and Belinda for surprising us with creative and fun posters!\n","title":"Graduation Excitement at Macklab; Well Done, Marlie, Jason and Melisa!","type":"news"},{"content":"Congrats to Marlie for receiving an University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA) for Summer 2018!\n","date":"1 May 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2018-05-01-utea/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congrats to Marlie for receiving an University of Toronto Excellence Award (UTEA) for Summer 2018!\n","title":"Congrats to Marlie, UTEA for Summer 2018!","type":"news"},{"content":"Congrats to Teresa for receiving an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) for Summer 2018!\n","date":"1 April 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2018-04-01-usra/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congrats to Teresa for receiving an NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) for Summer 2018!\n","title":"Congrats to Teresa, USRA for Summer 2018!","type":"news"},{"content":"Marlie presented her undergraduate thesis as part of her undergraduate specialist program! Well-done!\n","date":"29 March 2018","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2018-03-29-thesis-poster/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Marlie presented her undergraduate thesis as part of her undergraduate specialist program! Well-done!\n","title":"Marlie Presents at the Undergraduate Psychology Thesis Poster Conference","type":"news"},{"content":"Congratulations to Jason Chow, again! Jason received an award for best poster at OPAM. Well done!\n","date":"21 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2017-11-21-opam-award/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congratulations to Jason Chow, again! Jason received an award for best poster at OPAM. Well done!\n","title":"Congrats to Jason, again! OPAM best poster award!","type":"news"},{"content":"Medial prefrontal cortex compresses concept representations through learning Authors: Michael Mack (contact), Alison Preston, and Brad Love\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/macklovepreston_2017.pdf\nObject substitution masking reveals a competitive dynamic between levels of categorization Authors: Jason Chow (contact) and Michael Mack\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/chow_mack_opam2017.pdf\n","date":"7 November 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2017-11-07-conferences/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Medial prefrontal cortex compresses concept representations through learning Authors: Michael Mack (contact), Alison Preston, and Brad Love\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/macklovepreston_2017.pdf\nObject substitution masking reveals a competitive dynamic between levels of categorization Authors: Jason Chow (contact) and Michael Mack\nhttps://macklab.utoronto.ca/uploads/8/1/8/3/8183/chow_mack_opam2017.pdf\n","title":"MackLab research at OPAM/Psychonomics/SfN 2017","type":"news"},{"content":"Congratulations to Jason Chow for being awarded an OPAM Student Travel Award! Jason will be presenting a poster at OPAM 2018 on his recent work looking at the time course of categorization with object substitution masking:\nChow, J.K., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2017). Object substitution masking reveals a competitive dynamic between levels of categorization. Poster presentation at the Object Perception, Attention, and Memory Annual Conference 2018, Vancouver, B.C.\n","date":"15 September 2017","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/news/2017-09-15-opam-travel/","section":"Mack Lab News","summary":"Congratulations to Jason Chow for being awarded an OPAM Student Travel Award! Jason will be presenting a poster at OPAM 2018 on his recent work looking at the time course of categorization with object substitution masking:\nChow, J.K., \u0026 Mack, M.L. (2017). Object substitution masking reveals a competitive dynamic between levels of categorization. Poster presentation at the Object Perception, Attention, and Memory Annual Conference 2018, Vancouver, B.C.\n","title":"Congrats to Jason, OPAM travel award!","type":"news"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/authors/","section":"Authors","summary":"","title":"Authors","type":"authors"},{"content":" We embrace diversity We study human learning, a research pursuit best served by a team whose perspectives and backgrounds are representative of our whole population. Systemic biases and injustices have caused many groups to be underrepresented in science. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified candidates, and encourage our lab members’ differences in age, colour, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that are part of who we are.\nProspective Graduate Students # Note: We are recruiting new graduate students for Fall 2027 intake.\nDr. Mack advises students through the Psychology PhD program at the University of Toronto. Interested applicants will be considered through the Psychology PhD application.\nTips and resources for applying to graduate school Undergraduate Research Positions # Volunteer Research Positions # Note: We have an ongoing recruiting system for new volunteer research assistants. If you are interested in joining, please send us your application and we will be in touch!\nWe are always looking for motivated undergraduate and post-graduate students to join the lab and assist with research projects. If you\u0026rsquo;re interested in our work and would like to understand what it is like to do research, you can apply for a volunteer position by sending your CV/resume and an unofficial transcript to us by email: macklabuoft@gmail.com.\nIndividual Project Students (PSY405/406 H/Y) # Note: We have filled our individual project slots for 2026-2027. Check back for opportunities next year!\nUndergraduate students who want to engage in an applied research project can apply for an Individual Project course (either half-course or full-course). You can visit the Psychology Department\u0026rsquo;s website for more information.\nTips and resources for undergraduate researchers ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/join/","section":"","summary":" We embrace diversity We study human learning, a research pursuit best served by a team whose perspectives and backgrounds are representative of our whole population. Systemic biases and injustices have caused many groups to be underrepresented in science. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified candidates, and encourage our lab members’ differences in age, colour, disability, ethnicity, family or marital status, gender identity or expression, language, national origin, ability, political affiliation, race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, veteran status, and other characteristics that are part of who we are.\n","title":"Join Our Team","type":"page"},{"content":"Meet the members of the Mack Lab!\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/members/","section":"Mack Lab Members","summary":"Meet the members of the Mack Lab!\n","title":"Mack Lab Members","type":"members"},{"content":"We need your help! We are looking for healthy 18–35 year old adults to participate in our studies. If you\u0026rsquo;re interested in participating, please sign-up by clicking the link below. We will contact you soon!\nClick here to Participate! Note: The link above takes you to sign-up for our general participant database, which we use for all studies in the lab! (i.e., MRI, behavioural/computer tasks, TMS, etc.)\nWhat is it like to participate? # For many of our studies, you will come into the lab and participate in a behavioural task on a computer. Other studies use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain. During MRI studies, we will record images of your brain at the Toronto Neuroimaging Facility to help us understand how we best learn, remember, and make decisions.\nWhat will I get for participating? # Most studies last approximately 1-2 hours and participation is compensated with course credit or an hourly rate that varies depending on the study, typically $15-20/hr. If you participate in a MRI study, you\u0026rsquo;ll earn a little more and receive a picture of your brain!\nQuestions? # If you have any questions, contact us at macklabuoft@gmail.com.\n","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/participate/","section":"","summary":"We need your help! We are looking for healthy 18–35 year old adults to participate in our studies. If you’re interested in participating, please sign-up by clicking the link below. We will contact you soon!\nClick here to Participate! Note: The link above takes you to sign-up for our general participant database, which we use for all studies in the lab! (i.e., MRI, behavioural/computer tasks, TMS, etc.)\n","title":"Participate in Our Studies","type":"page"},{"content":"* equal contributions, Mack Lab trainees underlined\nWorking papers # Printzlau, F., Bulatova, O., Mack, M.L.*, Fukuda, K.* Task goals dynamically reconfigure neural working memory representations. In revision. 2026 # Gumus, M., Saghati, N.A., Mack, M.L. (in press). Complementary white matter networks support flexible concept learning. Frontiers in Neuroscience.\nXie, Y. \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2026). Distinct hippocampal subfield representational shifts underlie category exception learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 46(27), e1950252026. link | feature\nPerovic, M., Mack, M.L. (2026). A standardized non-linear approach to studying menstrual cycle effects on brain and behaviour. Frontiers in Cognition, 5:1839153. link\nAczel, B., Szaszi, B., Clelland, H.T. et al. (2026). Investigating the analytical robustness of the social and behavioural sciences. Nature, 652, 135–142. link\nGumus, M. \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2026). Distinct contributions of hippocampal pathways in learning regularities and exceptions revealed by functional footprints. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. link | preprint | press release\nChen, H., Yang, M., Son, G., Mack, M.L., Walther, D.B. (2026). A large positive hysteresis effect for scene categories. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. link\nMack, M.L., Love, B.C.*, Preston, A.R.* (2026). Distinct hippocampal mechanisms support concept formation and updating. Journal of Neuroscience. link | preprint\nPerovic, M., Hou, J., Mack, M.L. (2026). Menstrual cycle modulates the effect of BDNF Val66Met variant on category learning. Biology of Sex Differences. link\n2025 # Printzlau, F., Bourganos, A., Fukuda, K.*, Mack, M.L.* (2025). Learning-dependent modulation of working memory. Memory \u0026amp; Cognition. link Gumus, M., Bourganos, A., Mack, M.L. (2025). In vivo Quantification of White Matter Pathways in the Human Hippocampus. Human Brain Mapping, 46(17), e70417. link Allidina, S., Mack, M.L., \u0026amp; Cunningham, W.A. (2025). Experience shapes the granularity of social perception: Computational insights into individual and group-based representations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 154(8), 2257–2271. link Perovic, M., Mack, M.L. (2025). Menstrual cycle and perceived stress predict performance on the mnemonic similarity task. PLOS ONE, 20(5): e0322652. link Son, G., Mack, M.L. \u0026amp; Walther, D.B. (2025). Attention to complex scene features. Attention, Perception \u0026amp; Psychophysics, 87, 1374–1396. link 2024 # Mack, M.L. \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2024). “Discrimination, Recognition, and Classification” In M. Kahana, A. Wagner (Eds), Oxford Handbook of Human Memory. Xie, Y., Mack, M.L. (2024). Reconciling category exceptions through representational shifts. Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review. link Son, G., Walther, D.B., Mack, M.L. (2024). Brief category learning distorts perceptual space for complex scenes. Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review. link | OSF 2023 # Perovic, M., Heffernan, E.M., Einstein, G., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2023). Learning exceptions to category rules varies across the menstrual cycle. Scientific Reports, 13:21999. link | OSF Sherrill, K.R., Molitor, R.J., Karagoz, A.B., Atyam, M., Mack, M.L., Preston, A.R. (2023). Generalization of Cognitive Maps Across Space and Time. Cerebral Cortex, 33(12), 7971–7992. link 2022 # Chow, J.K., Palmeri, T.J., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2022). Revealing a competitive dynamic in rapid categorization with object substitution masking. Attention, Perception \u0026amp; Psychophysics, 84(3), 638–646. link | OSF Gumus, M., Mack, M.L., Green, R., Khodadadi, M., Wennberg, R., Crawley, A., Colella, B., Tarazi, A., Mikulis, D., Tator, C., \u0026amp; Tartaglia, C.M. (2022). Brain connectivity changes in postconcussion syndrome as the neural substrate of a heterogeneous syndrome. Brain Connectivity, 12(8), 711–724. link Xie, Y. \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2022). Differentiating Exceptions in Rule-Plus-Exception Category Learning. Proceedings of the 44th Cognitive Sciences Society Meeting. Heffernan, E.M. \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2022). An In Silico Exploration of the Effect of Surprising Information on Hippocampal Representations. Proceedings of the 44th Cognitive Sciences Society Meeting. Hong, B., Pace-Tonna, C.A., Barense, M., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2022). Emphasizing associations from encoding affects free recall at retrieval. Proceedings of the 44th Cognitive Sciences Society Meeting. Perovic, M., Heffernan, E.M., Einstein, G., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2022). Category learning across the menstrual cycle: Learning exceptions to the rule varies by hormonal milieu. Proceedings of the 44th Cognitive Sciences Society Meeting. Du, B., Schwartz-Narbonne, H., Tandoc, M., Heffernan, E.M., Mack, M.L., Siegel, J.A. (2022). The cognitive impact of essential oil diffusers. Indoor Air, 32(1). link 2021 # Heffernan, E.M., Schlichting, M.L., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2021). Learning exceptions to the rule in human and model via hippocampal encoding. Scientific Reports, 11, 21429. link | OSF | preprint Schlichting, M.L., Gumus, M., Zhu, T., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2021). The structure of hippocampal circuitry relates to rapid category learning in humans. Hippocampus, 31(11), 1179–1190. link Son, G., Walther, D.B., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2021). Scene wheels: Measuring perception and memory of real-world scenes with a continuous stimulus space. Behavior Research Methods. link | OSF | press release | demo Adema, J.D., Tang, S. \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2021). Leveraging rapid scene perception in attentional learning. Proceedings of the 43rd Cognitive Sciences Society Meeting. Heffernan, E.M. \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2021). Learning exceptions to the rule in human and model via hippocampal encoding. Proceedings of the 43rd Cognitive Sciences Society Meeting. (CogSci 2021 Computational Modeling in Higher Level Cognition Award Winner) Heffernan, E.M.*, Adema, J.D.*, \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2021). Investigating the neural dynamics of category decision making with computational model-based fMRI. Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review, 28(5), 1638–1647. link | preprint Gumus, M., Multani, N., Mack, M.L., \u0026amp; Tartaglia, C.M. (2021). Progression of neuropsychiatric symptoms in young-onset versus late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. GeroScience, 43, 213–223. link 2020 # Du, B., Tandoc, M., Mack, M.L., Siegel, J.A. (2020). Indoor CO2 Concentrations and Cognitive Function: A Critical Review. Indoor Air, 6(30), 1067–1082. link Mack, M.L., Preston, A.R., Love, B.C. (2020). Ventromedial prefrontal cortex compression during learning. Nature Communications, 11, 46. link | preprint Botvinik-Nezer, R., Holzmeister, F., Camerer, C. F., Dreber, A., Huber, J., Johannesson, M., Kirchler, M., Iwanir, R., Mumford, J. A., Adcock, A., Avesani, P., Baczkowski, B., Bajracharya, A., Bakst, L., \u0026amp; Ball, S., … Schonberg, T. (2020). Variability in the analysis of a single neuroimaging dataset by many teams. Nature, 1–31. 2019 # Zeithamova, D.*, Mack, M.L.*, Braunlich, K., Davis, T., Seger, C.A., Van Kesteren, M.T.R., Wutz, A. (2019). Brain Mechanisms of Concept Learning. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(42), 8259–8266. link Schlichting, M.L.*, Mack, M.L.*, Guarino, K.F., \u0026amp; Preston, A.R. (2019). Comparison of semi-automated hippocampal subfield segmentation methods in a pediatric sample. NeuroImage, 191, 49–67. link | preprint | data 2018 # Martinez, J.E., Mack, M.L., Bauer, J.-R., Roe, M.A., Mumford, J.A., Church, J.A. (2018). Perceptual biases during cued task switching relate to decision process differences between children and adults. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Psychophysics, 44(10), 1603–1618. link | preprint Mack, M.L., Love, B.C., Preston, A.R. (2018). Building concepts one episode at a time: The hippocampus and concept formation. Neuroscience Letters, 680, 31–38. link 2017 # Mack, M.L., Preston, A.R., \u0026amp; Love, B.C. (2017). Medial prefrontal cortex compresses concept representations through learning. Proceedings of the 2017 International Workshop on Pattern Recognition in Neuroimaging (PRNI), 1–4. 2016 # Mack, M.L., Love, B.C., Preston, A.R. (2016). Dynamic updating of hippocampal object representations reflects new conceptual knowledge. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. link | preprint Martinez, J.E., Mack, M.L., Gelman, B., \u0026amp; Preston, A.R. (2016). Knowledge of Social Affiliations Biases Economic Decisions. PLoS ONE, 11(7): e0159918. link | data Mack, M.L. \u0026amp; Preston, A.R. (2016). Decisions about the past are guided by reinstatement of specific memories in the hippocampus and perirhinal cortex. NeuroImage, 127, 144–157. link 2015 # Mack, M.L., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2015). The Dynamics of Categorization: Unraveling Rapid Categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 144(3), 551–569. pdf Palmeri, T.J. \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2015). How Experimental Trial Context Affects Perceptual Categorization. Frontiers in Psychology, 6:180, 1–5. pdf 2014 # Shen, J., Mack, M.L., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2014). Studying real-world perceptual expertise. Frontiers in Psychology, 5:857, 1–6. pdf 2013 # Mack, M.L., Preston, A.R., \u0026amp; Love, B.C. (2013). Decoding the brain’s algorithm for categorization from its neural implementation. Current Biology, 23, 2023–2027. pdf | data 2011 # Mack, M.L., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2011). The timing of visual object categorization. Frontiers in Perception Science, 2:165, 1–8. pdf Mack, M.L., Richler, J.J., Gauthier, I., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2011). Indecision on decisional separability. Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review, 18(1), 1–9. pdf Richler, J.J., Mack, M.L., Palmeri, T.J., \u0026amp; Gauthier, I. (2011). Inverted faces are (eventually) processed holistically. Vision Research, 51(3), 333–342. pdf 2010 # Mack, M.L., Richler, J.J., Polyn, S., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2010). Modelling effects of object naming on long-term object recognition memory. Visual Cognition, 18(10), 1526–1529. pdf Mack, M.L. \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2010). Decoupling object detection and categorization. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 36(5), 1067–1079. pdf Mack, M.L. \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2010). Modeling categorization of scenes containing consistent versus inconsistent objects. Journal of Vision, 10(3):11, 1–11. pdf 2009 # Richler, J.J., Mack, M.L., Gauthier, I., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2009). Holistic processing of faces happens at a glance. Vision Research, 49(23), 2856–2861. pdf Mack, M.L., Wong, A.C.-N., Gauthier, I., Tanaka, J.W., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2009). Time-course of visual object categorization: Fastest does not necessarily mean first. Vision Research, 49, 1961–1968. pdf Castelhano, M.S., Mack, M.L., \u0026amp; Henderson, J.M. (2009). Viewing task influences eye movements during active scene perception. Journal of Vision, 9(3):6, 1–15. pdf Mack, M.L., Richler, J.J., Palmeri, T.J., \u0026amp; Gauthier, I. (2009). Categorization. In G.G. Berntson \u0026amp; J.T. Cacioppo (Eds.), Handbook of Neuroscience for the Behavioral Sciences. John Wiley \u0026amp; Sons. pdf Mack, M.L. \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2009). Recognizing scenes containing consistent or inconsistent objects. In N.A. Taatgen \u0026amp; H. van Rijn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 31th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2528–2533). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. pdf 2008 # Mack, M.L., Sadr, J., Gauthier, I., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2008). Object detection and basic-level categorization: Sometimes you know it is there before you know what it is. Psychonomic Bulletin \u0026amp; Review, 15(1), 28–25. pdf 2007 # Mack, M.L., Wong, A.C.-N., Gauthier, I., Tanaka, J., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2007). Unraveling the time course of perceptual categorization: Does fastest mean first? In D. S. McNamara \u0026amp; J. G. Trafton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1253–1258). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. pdf Henderson, J.M., Brockmole, J.R., Castelhano, M.S., \u0026amp; Mack, M.L. (2007). Visual saliency does not account for eye movements during visual search in real-world scenes. In Van Gompel, R.P.G., Fischer, M.H., Murray, W.S., \u0026amp; Hill, R.L. (Eds.), Eye movements: A window on mind and brain. Oxford: Elsevier. pdf Richler, J.J., Mack, M.L., Gauthier, I., \u0026amp; Palmeri, T.J. (2007). Distinguishing between perceptual and decisional sources of holism in face processing. In D. S. McNamara \u0026amp; J. G. Trafton (Eds.), Proceedings of the 29th Annual Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1427–1432). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. pdf 2005 # Gajewski, D.A., Pearson, A.M., Mack, M.L., Bartlett, F.N., \u0026amp; Henderson, J.M. (2005). Human Gaze Control in Real World Search. In Paletta, L.; Tsotsos, J.K.; Rome, E.; Humphreys, G. (Eds.), Attention and Performance in Computational Vision (pp. 83-99). New York: Springer-Verlag. pdf 2004 # Oliva, A., Mack, M. L., Shrestha, M., \u0026amp; Peeper, A. (2004). Identifying the perceptual dimensions of visual complexity of scenes. In K. Forbus, D. Gentner, \u0026amp; T. Regier (Eds.), Proceedings of the 26th Annual Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1041–1046). Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society. pdf ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/publications/","section":"Publications","summary":"* equal contributions, Mack Lab trainees underlined\nWorking papers # Printzlau, F., Bulatova, O., Mack, M.L.*, Fukuda, K.* Task goals dynamically reconfigure neural working memory representations. In revision. 2026 # Gumus, M., Saghati, N.A., Mack, M.L. (in press). Complementary white matter networks support flexible concept learning. Frontiers in Neuroscience.\n","title":"Publications","type":"publications"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/series/","section":"Series","summary":"","title":"Series","type":"series"}]