General Inquiries

Doug McQuiggan, Lab Manager

Phone: (416) 785-2500 ext. 3388

Fax: (416) 785-2826

E-mail. dmcquiggan@rotman-baycrest.on.ca

Address

The Rotman Research Institute

3560 Bathurst Street, Room 958

Toronto, Ontario, M6A 2E1

Volunteering Opportunities

Phone: (416) 785-2500 ext. 2080

E-mail: volunteers@rotman-baycrest.on.ca

Scientist

Jennifer Ryan, Ph.D.

The central focus of my research is to characterize the nature of memory systems, and their resultant representations, in neurologically-intact younger and older adults and neuropsychological patients. Additionally, my work explores the impact of memory on attentional processing, such as the use of existing knowledge to ameliorate age-related deficits in inhibition. Altogether, research in my lab employs a converging-methodologies approach (i.e., the coupling of behavioral studies, neuropsychological studies, eye movement monitoring, magnetoencephalography) to outline the distinct neural systems, and their spatiotemporal dynamics, that support memory and attention.

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Animal: Lion

Favorite Music: Dance/Electronic/R&B

Favorite Sports Team: Chicago Bears

Postdoctoral Fellow

Rosanna Olsen

I am interested in studying how human memory is organized. My research focuses on the role of the MTL in recognition memory after short and long delays and on how different subregions of the MTL (including the subfields of the hippocampus and the MTL cortices) support recognition memory performance. In graduate school, I used high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine delay-period activity during a delayed-recognition task. I found that sustained and anticipatory delay-period activation in the MTL was related to recognition memory performance (Olsen et. al., 2009). My post-doctoral research utilizes eye-tracking methodology in conjunction with neuroimaging to examine whether direct and indirect of tests of memory differentially engage the MTL. I am also interested in using multivariate analysis techniques to study how the MTL interacts with other regions of the brain to support the formation, maintenance, and retrieval of memories.

Graduate Students

Lily Riggs

I completed my undergraduate degree at University of Toronto in psychology and philosophy in 2005. Currently, I am working towards my PhD in psychology, neuroscience and clinical neuropsychology at U of T and Rotman Research Institute. My research is focused on examining how emotions influence perception and memory in humans, and how such processes are supported in the brain. To this end, I utilize behavioral measures, eye movement monitoring and magnetoencephalography (MEG). I am also interested in what happens when emotion function is disrupted in disorders such as dementia, depression and anxiety.

 

Favourite Activity: Eating + Traveling + Napping

Favourite Food Group: Carbs.

Favourite Colour: Red

Favourite Animal: Puppies and pandas

Anna Braverman

I received my undergraduate degree in psychology from York University in 2009. My undergraduate thesis looked at the effects of episodic memory impairment on the development of theory of mind. In the course of this project I worked with a developmental amnesic patient with hippocampal damage. I started my graduate career at the University of Toronto in September 2009, and I continue to explore relationships between memory and other cognitive functions. My current (MA) project uses eye movement monitoring to examine the relationship between bilingualism, attention and long term memory and builds on previous results that demonstrate certain bilingual advantages, particularly on tasks that rely on executive control (ex. Inhibition of irrelevant responses).

Lab Manager

Douglas McQuiggan

I am a recent graduate from the University of Toronto. With a near complete disregard for the Criminology half of my Criminology/Psychology double major I accepted a position in Dr. Jennifer Ryan's lab. As lab manager I make it my primary interest to ensure the lab maintains an efficient pace and that everyone likes each other. As a research assistant I use of various testing apparatuses and research a multitude of topics including: emotion, memory and attention. My interests lie in the function and quirks of the brain as well as a more general interest in the philosophy of science. I enjoy long walks to the MEG scanner and one-on-one time with a participant in the Eyetracker.

Favourite movie: Point Break

Favourite winter sport: Curling

Favourite number: 14

Favourite star: HR 8799

Volunteers

Lisa Bolshin

25 years old, born and raised in Thornhill, Ontario, with a variety of interests. Got my Bachelor of Science at York University, majoring in psychology. I did my undergraduate thesis on the Effects of Semantic Relatedness of Object Location Memory with Dr. Jill Rich. Studied abroad for a year at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem taking courses in archaeology and conflict resolution. I will be starting graduate school relatively soon, in an undecided field! My research interests include but are not limited to degenerative memory disorders, more specifically Alzheimer's disease; and the relationship between executive function and development, and learning and behavioural self-regulation in rehabilitation. I enjoy long walks on the beach, reading books in hammocks, and ice cream.

Favourite water sport: Canoeing.

Favourite condiment: peanut butter (chunky).

Favourite country: Turkey

Favourite category of shoe: the flip-flop.

Nathaniel So

I am a second-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto studying Physiology and Human Biology. My current research investigates the effects of aging on relational memory. Previous studies with scenes have examined age-related differences in the capacity to detect (either through eye movements or verbal reports) changes in either the spatial relations among objects or changes in the feature relations within an object. However, these effects have been tested in separate paradigms and it remains unclear whether these deficits are mutually exclusive or if feature memory is primary to spatial relational memory or vice versa. I am interested in determining this interaction using eye-movement monitoring, comparing feature and spatial change detection and scanning patterns between youngerand older adults.

Favourite Season: Summer

Favourite Colour: Blue

Favourite Seafood: Salmon

Favourite TV Shows: Glee, The Big Bang Theory

Rida Anmol

I am an undergraduate student currently studying at University of Toronto majoring in Psychology and Human Biology. Although my research interests are under development and currently broad one of my primary interests includes the processes of learning and memory and its association with age and gender. Furthermore I am interested in how the processes of learning and memory are altered with the presentation of various stimuli and in the future hope to look at clinical treatments for the degeneration of memory. As a research assistant at the Rotman Research Institute, I plan to explore the relationship between short term and long term memory and the various processes involved in consolidation of short term and long term memory. Currently, I am using eye-tracking to establish the relationship between the two types of memory and understand memory processes.

Anastasya Chuchulo

Prabha Sivaram

Postdoctoral Fellow (Affiliated)

Jen Heisz

My research focus is at the interface of visual perception and cognition, detailing how visual processes change as a function of learning and prior knowledge. I primarily study this within the framework of the face recognition system: learning faces and getting to know a person. I use eye-tracking techniques to monitor learning-related changes in the type of visual information sought for processing. Notably, face learning leads to more efficient visual scanning (Heisz & Shore, 2008). I use EEG and MEG neuroimaging techniques to assess the timecourse of brain activity. As we get to know someone, and build up a rich associated semantic network, our early visual processing of his or her face is modified (Heisz & Shedden, 2009).

I am also interested in age-related changes in learning and memory, with an emphasis on dissociating processes that are spared from those that are impaired. My recent work suggests that older adults can improve their memory for newly learned faces through simple repetition (Heisz & Ryan, submitted). Incorporating this type of information into practice may help older adults maintain a higher quality of life.

Graduate Students (Affiliated)

Eve Forester

I am a PhD student in psychology and neuroscience at the University of Toronto Scarborough, working with Dr. Kevin Dunbar. I graduated with a degree in Cognitive Science from the School of Computing at Queen's University. My primary interests are in complex cognitive processes such as analogy and creativity. My current research focuses on the involvement of memory in analogical reasoning. With the Ryan Lab, I am using MEG and eye movement monitoring to answer fundamental questions about the concept mapping processes that drive predictions about the future.

Stephanie Solcz

Ryan Lab Alumni

Rachel Bloom

I completed my B.A in Montreal at Concordia University where I picked up an interest in Memory and Aging. The research I was involved in during my Master's degree looked at how younger and older adults differ in their ability to form spatial relations between objects across time, and how this impacts memory performance. This type of research was done by tracking eye movements, which is a means of looking at memory without requiring participants to comment on the contents of their memory.

I am presently working on my PhD., and looking at how older adults differ from younger adults in their ability to update working memory. Recent literature suggests that there is a co-existence of 2 dissociable working memory updating processes: a global updating process that provides stability by protecting the contents of working memory against interference and a local process that provides flexibility to these contents. I hope to shed light on how age may affect these different processes, and in effect working memory.