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 reach out if you are interested in joining my lab!

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 School for Communication.

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.

Research Overview

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

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 how we learn and make decisions.

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.