SKILLS

Techniques and methods

I have had the opportunity to work in different laboratories and from each experience I have been able to expand and build on my skill set.

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PROGRAMMING

C++, R, Matlab, JavaScript, HTML,

I received training in programming using C++ as an undergraduate student. I then expanded and started learning JavaScript and then Matlab.

STATISTICS

SPSS, SAS

I have taken numerous statistics courses and have used the statistical package SPSS for data analysis.

SCID

Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-4

After completing a six month long training in the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-4 with a certified clinician at UCSF, I administered these interviews while a research assistant at the SFVA

EYE TRACKING

Tobii T120, Eye Link

I have over four years of experience collecting and analyzing eye tracking data. I have designed gaze contingent reward paradigms and measured changes in pupil diameter as a function of cognitive load. I have used this technology with young infants and adults.

EEG

BioSemi, Electrical Geodesics, Inc., easycap

I have collected, processed, and analyzed EEG data. As a research assistant at the San Francisco VA, I learned about event-related potentials (ERP). Later as a master's student at Brandeis, I delved into neural oscillations and time-frequency analysis.

FMRI

SPM

I was able to collect, processes, and analyze data for three years as a research assistant using the UCSF facilities. I was exposed to the software SPM and later was introduced to freesurfer.

RESEARCH PROJECTS

Past Research Projects

In my research, I have been examining the role that selective attention plays in information processing during memory. Studying these processes during infancy and childhood can give insights into how these interactions develop and their effect on the quantity and quality of the memory representations. This research has implications for developmental disorders whose core symptoms include attention and memory problems in addition to educational outcomes of children.

FIDELITY OF WORKING MEMORY

Working memory is the ability to maintain information in the absence of sensory input and is characterized as a limited resource. Here, I examine how task irrelevant information influences the memory representation of line patterns and measure the flexibility of attention in preschool aged children and kindergarteners.

COGNITIVE LOAD

Cognitive load refers to the process of increasing demands on a resource limited system. In this experiment with adults, I vary the memory demand by changing the number of colored stars that are to be remembered. I measure the behavioral performance drop off and changes in pupil diameter that reflect the increases in cognitive load.

MEMORY OF VISUAL SCENES

Adults scan their environment effortlessly and can acquire a great amount of detail about a scene in a short amount of time. Infants have been shown to have a more limited capacity. In this study, 11-14-month-olds were shown a scene twice for 3 seconds or once for 6 seconds to investigate the memory accumulation of scenes.