I am thrilled to share that Iβll be joining the University of Notre Dame (@notredame.bsky.social) as an Assistant Professor of Psychology this July!βοΈπ§ Please reach out if you're interested in joining my lab! More details to follow soon.
12.02.2026 14:54 β
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Loved being a part of this project team! And super interested by our finding that reward-related improvements in working memory emerge during early adolescence (vs. mid- to late-adolescence in other cognitive domains).
Shout-out to Megan and Katie for leading this charge!
11.02.2026 19:19 β
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Episodic memory facilitates flexible decision-making via access to detailed events - Nature Human Behaviour
Nicholas and Mattar found that people use episodic memory to make decisions when it is unclear what will be needed in the future. These findings reveal how the rich representational capacity of episod...
Our experiences have countless details, and it can be hard to know which matter.
How can we behave effectively in the future when, right now, we don't know what we'll need?
Out today in @nathumbehav.nature.com , @marcelomattar.bsky.social and I find that people solve this by using episodic memory.
23.01.2026 13:18 β
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Research Associate in Psychology
The Department of Psychology at the University of Virginia invites applications for a postdoctoral research associate position to work in the DiNicola Lab. The DiNicola lab uses a precision neuroscien...
** Recruiting a Postdoctoral Researcher! **
We are seeking a postdoc to help examine how brain networks might change within individuals across transitional times, such as adolescence & pregnancy!
Please share widely and apply at the link! #NeuroJobs
uva.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/UVAJobs/job/...
06.01.2026 14:54 β
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CATS Lab
Child & Adolescent Translational Science Lab at Northwestern University
I'm recruiting PhD students for my lab at Northwestern! I'm reviewing applications for the Department of Psychology for the Cognitive Affective Neuroscience and Clinical areas, due 12/1. π§
Come join the CATS Lab: nucatslab.com
Learn about our latest research: iamh.northwestern.edu/research/res...
29.10.2025 18:39 β
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YAY, so excited to read this today!!! π§ π«
10.10.2025 16:12 β
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Understanding adolescent anxiety through a neurodevelopmental lens: A comparative review of rodents and humans
Adolescence is a dynamic time period, marked by significant neural and behavioral maturation. However, much remains unknown about how this maturation β¦
π£New review π£ Hot off the presses! This paper from a recent special issue in @fluxsociety.bsky.social was a collaborative effort between myself and co-lead author @rebeccahennessy.bsky.social with the support of our PIs Heather Brenhouse and Juliet Davidow. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
10.10.2025 12:43 β
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So thrilled to see this out -- reading IMMEDIATELY!!! Congrats to you and the team π
10.10.2025 16:09 β
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So grateful for this collab with rockstar @caitlyncody.bsky.social and our mentors! Excited to share our translational take on the neurodevelopment of anxiety in adolescence (and canβt believe my first publication is live!)
10.10.2025 15:32 β
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Mark Chen | Department of Psychology
My website is official π Excited to share that I am interested in reviewing applications for Harvardβs Clinical Science PhD program this fall as I look for the first student to join my lab! I appreciate it if you can share with your network :)
psychology.fas.harvard.edu/people/mark-...
09.09.2025 16:31 β
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Seeking WV scientists! My dad (a non-scientist who works with scientists) is leading a FABBS delegation to discuss NIH funding with Senator Capito in August and needs to build the delegation. Please reach out and Iβll put you in touch with him! CC @standupforscience.bsky.social
25.06.2025 18:42 β
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23.06.2025 16:04 β
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Are you heading to #APS2025?! β‘οΈ Check out posters from my rockstar RAs! Through adolescence, they examine...
π‘ Metacognition across different contexts | Waverly Huang (III-84, Fri @ 12:30pm)
βοΈ Cognitive mechanisms underpinning emotion regulation strategy use | Shuyao Wang (VII-22, Sat @ 12:30pm)
21.05.2025 21:22 β
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Welp. I'm a postdoc whose NIH funding source has just been cancelled in a mass grant termination targeting Harvard. We've been using these funds to study how puberty affects the brain and adolescent mental health.
15.05.2025 19:22 β
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Dream team!!!!! π«
12.05.2025 18:14 β
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New paper with @catehartley.bsky.social
How does the reward structure of the environment influence the specificity with which children, adolescents, and adults learn and remember information?
See preprint π§΅ and paper for our efforts to answer to this!
#PsychSciSky
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
01.05.2025 12:28 β
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Stoked to be at my 1st in-person SANS this week! I'll be presenting "Emotion ππ¨ and Reward π° Information Influence Choice in Age-Varying Ways" at poster P2-B-31 tomorrow afternoon. Looking forward to conversation and feedback! #SANS2025
24.04.2025 15:52 β
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Had so much fun collaborating on this! π«
11.04.2025 19:38 β
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Thanks so much! βΊοΈ
11.04.2025 19:37 β
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APA PsycNet
π§΅ 10/10
Huge thanks to the team for their support, & shoutout to our participants & their families for making this work possible!
π Journal link:β¨doi.org/10.1037/xge0...
π Free link on lab website: andl.wjh.harvard.edu/publications/
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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Our take-away: when some of the information about the benefits & costs of cognitive effort needs to be learned, exertion becomes more economical into adulthood. During childhood & adolescence, aims may not translate into actions.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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For completeness, in our secondary experiment, both the reward & difficulty cues were instructed. We believe that the removal of learning demands made the task easier. Accordingly, we no longer found strategic cognitive effort allocation in older participants.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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We also found that participants of all ages reported trying harder when there were greater rewards at stake β even though we only observed reward-boosted performance in adults.
β‘οΈ This hints at a gap between goals & realized behavior in younger participants.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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β‘οΈ This suggests that adults, but not children & adolescents, economically exerted their cognitive effort.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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In the primary experiment, the reward cue was instructed, but the difficulty cue had to be learned through experience. We found that reward-based titration of task accuracy emerged with age & difficulty-based titration of task accuracy somewhat emerged with age.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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A participant who invests their cognitive effort efficiently would try hard to get trials correct in high reward & low difficulty blocks, but not in low reward & high difficulty blocks.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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We tested 300 participants (ages 10β20 years) across 2 experiments using a child-friendly task-switching paradigmππΎπͺ. The task blocks varied in rewards & difficulty, & these blocks were proactively cued.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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Are children & adolescents similarly economical? TLDR: they may say that they are, but their behavior tells a different story.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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Adults learn to exert their cognitive effort when it's economical to do so β i.e., when the benefits (like rewards offered for performing a task well π°) outweigh the costs (like the difficulty of the task πͺ).
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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π§ π‘ NEW PAPER ALERT π‘π§
Together w/ Isabelle Jacques, @katieinsel.bsky.social, @arossotto.bsky.social, & Leah Somerville, the 1st project from my PhD is now out in JEP:G!
How do children, adolescents, & adults decide when to think hard? Our study examines learning the value of cognitive effort.
09.04.2025 15:39 β
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