Welcome! I’m Allie— I develop psychological interventions that help us learn from error, update beliefs, and make choices that are better for our health and planet.

I’m currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, where I am supported by the Joan Bossert Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Center for Science, Sustainability, & the Media. I primarily collaborate with Prof. Emily Falk and others in the Communication Neuroscience Lab.

I completed my Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience at Duke University, where I was co-advised by Prof. Alison Adcock and Prof. Gregory Samanez-Larkin. Prior to my Ph.D., I earned an Honours BSc in Psychology (Research Specialization) from the University of Toronto. There, I worked with Prof. Morgan Barense and Prof. William Cunningham to investigate how prediction error influences episodic memories and social learning.

Research Overview

How can educators help students learn from their mistakes? How can public health interventions change beliefs and increase preventative health behaviors? How can we motivate individuals and institutions to take action to address climate change?

These diverse real-world challenges are unified by common cognitive and neural mechanisms. My research on learning, memory, and motivation reveals these underlying mechanisms to inspire interventions. I translate findings from controlled experiments in the lab to impactful real-world settings.

I’m interested in how our cognitive context— including factors like brain state, emotion, and social identity— shapes how and what we learn. My research program combines functional neuroimaging, behavioral experiments, and large-scale field studies. I curate a metaphorical intervention toolbox filled with flexible, generalizable strategies that can be used to improve learning, belief updating, and behavior change across domains.