About me

My name is Lauren, and I am a Ph.D. student funded by NSERC in the Memory and Perception Lab at the University of Toronto, supervised by Dr. Morgan Barense.

At the core of my research is the question of how complex multimodal information is encoded, represented, and retrieved from memory.

Some of my current research directions include: 1) characterizing how memory reactivation and retrieval alters complex memory representations, 2) employing novel neuroimaging methods to investigate the temporal neural dynamics underlying naturalistic continuous perceptual experiences, and 3) exploring strategies to enhance memory for real-life events.

I earned my Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the University of Waterloo, where my research spanned memory and attention. My first stream of research examined how self-selected background music influenced task performance and subjective attentional engagement (i.e., task focus, mind wandering, and external distraction states), as well as how this relation may change depending on task demands. My second stream of research sought to elucidate the distinctions in how emojis and words are represented and retrieved from memory.

When I’m not in the lab, I enjoy playing the violin and piano, biking around Toronto, and honing my barista skills with my home espresso setup.