Welcome! I’m Allie, a cognitive neuroscientist & psychologist studying how people update their memories, beliefs, and behaviors. I develop interventions that help address real-world challenges in education, health, and climate change.

UPDATE: In 2026, I will be starting as an Assistant Professor at Rice University in the Department of Psychological Sciences. Please check out my new lab website and reach out if you are interested in joining the lab!

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I am currently the Joan Bossert Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, working with Emily Falk in the Communication Neuroscience Lab. I am also a member of the Center for Science, Sustainability, & the Media and the Annenberg Public Policy Center.

I previously completed a Ph.D. at Duke University (co-advised by Alison Adcock and Gregory Samanez-Larkin) and a B.Sc. at the University of Toronto (honours thesis advised by Morgan Barense).

Research Overview

• How can educators help students learn from their mistakes?
• How can we motivate behavior change to improve health and address climate change?
• How can we correct and counteract misinformation?

These real-world challenges are linked by common mechanisms— I study how our time-traveling brains recall the past and predict the future to guide adaptive behavior. I also explore how emotion and motivation shape the information we choose to consume and the details we remember.

My research combines behavioral experiments, brain imaging (fMRI), and large-scale online field studies. I curate a metaphorical intervention toolbox of generalizable strategies that can enhance learning, belief updating, and behavior change across domains. For more information about my resaerch program, please see my lab website.