People

Jonathan Schooler

jonathan.schooler@psych.ucsb.edu

My lab’s research takes a “big picture” perspective in attempting to understand the nature of mental life, and in particular consciousness. Combining empirical, philosophical, and contemplative traditions, we address broad questions that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries.

James Elliott

James Elliott, Ph.D, is a cognitive neuroscientist with a background in behavioral, EEG, and fMRI methodologies. James has a keen interest in exploring how traditional meditation techniques can be used to help inform a scientific understanding of consciousness.

Madeleine Gross

madeleinegross@ucsb.edu

Madeleine studies the psychological basis of creative idea generation and insight. Using eye tracking technology, she also investigates how inter-individual differences in eye movement behavior may relate to dopamine-related cognition and personality traits, such as curiosity, schizotypy, and creativity.

Shivang Shelat

sshelat@ucsb.edu

Shivang's interests lie in interactions between mind-wandering, memory, and attentional capture. He also uses principles in attention neuroscience to better understand human-computer interactions. He is co-advised by Barry Giesbrecht.

Anusha Garg

Anusha is currently a sixth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she works with Dr. Jonathan Schooler. Anusha’s research investigates how people think, how those thoughts shape behavior, and how altering patterns of thought can foster meaningful behavior change.

Dharma Lewis

Dharma is a second-year PhD student interested in harnessing the power of metacognitive awareness and mindfulness in pedagogical interventions.

Joshua Ortega

Josh's research explores topics such as creativity, neuroaesthetics and well-being. He is especially interested in the way experiences with art and other ordinary creative activities can foster meaning in everyday life. 

Asa Young

Asa is a doctoral student in Dr. Jonathan Schooler’s META Lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned his Bachelors of Science in Psychological and Brain Sciences at UCSB and conducted research as the lab manager of META Lab and research assistant to Dr. Miguel Eckstein’s VIU lab. He is also the former Research Specialist for Neurofield Neurotherapy. Asa’s research concerns the origin and mechanisms of phenomenal consciousness within the complex dynamics of neural rhythms within and without the brain.

Nadezhda Barbashova

Nadu is interested in the ways that emotion and cognition shape each other. Humans are complex systems, continuously taking in several streams of information. Bodily changes, internal states, external signals, cognitive appraisals and our mental model of the world are integrated into a unified conscious experience. These streams of information can become more or less salient as our awareness shifts, and in extreme cases the integration can come apart. Nadu’s work seeks to illuminate the processes that support this integration.

Jacqueline McGuinness

jemcguinness@ucsb.edu

Jacqueline recently graduated from UCSB with her B.S. in Psychological and Brain Sciences. She currently works as a professional lab assistant, where her research explores individual differences in creativity and psychoticism.

Alexis Clubb

Alexis' research focuses on understanding mind wandering, the day-to-day implications of attention allocation, and testing interventions that increase curiosity and openness to new experiences.

Michael Mrazek

mrazek@psych.ucsb.edu

Michael Mrazek is the co-founder of UCSB’s Center for Mindfulness & Human Potential and an Associate Professor in the Department of Health Promotion & Behavioral Science at UTHealth Houston. He co-leads Finding Focus—an EdTech initiative to improve adolescents’ focus and mental health.

Robert Bernstein

Robert Bernstein has an MS from UCSB Physics 1984 and a BS in Physics from MIT 1980. He is interested in the Hard Problem of Consciousness: How it is that we have phenomenal experience at all.

Elliott Ihm

elliott.ihm@psych.ucsb.edu

Elliott earned his BS in Psychology from Northern Illinois University in 2014. His research interests include peak experiences, neuroplasticity, affective neuroscience, and the nature of consciousness. Elliott can usually be found outside with a book, a bike, or a boat.

Tam Hunt

Tam Hunt is an Affiliate Guest in Psychology in the META Lab. His work focuses on the philosophy of mind, reconciliation of scientific and spiritual views of the world, and the interaction of mind and matter.

Alan Macy

Alan Macy is currently focusing on psychophysiology, emotional and motivational state measurements, magnetic resonance imaging and augmented/virtual reality implementations. His recent research and artistic efforts explore ideas of human nervous system extension and the associated impacts upon perception.  As an applied science artist, he specializes in the creation of cybernated art, interactive sculpture and environments. 

John Protzko

Protzko is an Assistant Professor at Central Connecticut State University, Director of the ASSUMPTION lab, and Associate Director of the Psychological Science Accelerator. He studies underlying assumptions of people, scientists, and society. This work is primarily in metascience, social psychology, and cognitive psychology.

Abigail Fleet

Abby is a fourth-year undergraduate student pursuing both a B.S. in Psychological and Brain Sciences and a B.A. in Philosophy. She is assisting James Elliot in studies looking at brain fluctuations during meditation using EEG. She is interested in the Metaphysics of science and the hard problem of consciousness. In her free time, she enjoys reading, kayaking, and listening to the Beastie Boys. 

Eva Johnson

Eva is a fourth year Psychological and Brain Sciences major with an Applied Psychology minor. She is currently working with Anusha Garg to study procrastination and using self-compassion to combat it.

Zenon Demko

Zenon is a 4th year Psychological & Brain Science major minoring in Philosophy. He is interested in brain-body communication, oscillatory synchronicity, and consciousness as an emergent phenomenon of high-level brain networks.

Neelakshi Iyer

Neela is a 4th year Biopsychology major and Applied Psychology minor. She is currently working with James Elliott on various projects focused on meditation. Her interests include understanding how mindfulness and meditation practices support daily well-being, promote overall health, and influence neural functioning. In her free time, she enjoys reading, crocheting, and playing tennis and guitar.

Keya Patel

Keya is a third-year Psychological and Brain Sciences student, minoring in Media Arts and Design. She also intends to pursue a double major/minor in Sociology and Applied Psychology. She is assisting Dr. Madeleine Gross in developing CuriVerse, a smartphone-based intervention designed to increase trait curiosity in participants, through data collection and processing, as well as literature reviews. Some of her research interests include interpersonal relationships, the relationship between societal institutions and the individual, and developmental psychology, specifically construction of worldviews and personality. In her free time, Keya enjoys drawing henna, doing archery, playing volleyball, going to movie nights with friends! 

Jonathan Osband

Jonathan is a fourth-year Psychology and Brain Sciences and Economics student working with Anusha Garg. He is interested in research related to cognitive load, mind-wandering, and learning. 

Charlie McGuinness

I am a second-year Psychological and Brain Sciences major, minoring in linguistics with a speech and language disorder emphasis! I’m particularly interested in learning how the brain processes and produces language. At the META lab, I help out with research regarding the advantages and disadvantages of mind-wandering. Outside of academics, I love to roller skate, crochet, and swim!

Andra Vincze

Andra is a third-year undergraduate pursuing a B.S. in Biological Sciences with a minor in Applied Psychology. She is interested in the neural mechanisms behind emotional regulation and behavioral conditions in individuals with autism. Andra is assisting Nadezdha Barbashova with projects investigating the neural basis of emotions and how fear triggers memory. After graduation, Andra hopes to attend medical school and pursue pediatrics.

Saki Angelika

Saki is a fourth-year Biopsychology student assisting Nadu in her research on emotion, language processing, and behavior. She is interested in emotion and in understanding psychiatric disorders through the lens of cognitive neuroscience. In her free time, she enjoys learning new languages, traveling, and caring for cats!

Andrea Macias

Andrea Macias is a third-year undergraduate Applied Mathematics major with a minor in Physics, with strong interests in data analysis, programming, and interdisciplinary research. As a research assistant in the META Lab, she works closely with Nadezhda Barbashova on data analysis and coding projects centered on moral emotion, emotional awareness, and consciousness. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in data analysis, applying quantitative methods to real-world problems in research or industry.

Stanton Nowinski

Stanton is a 3rd year biopsychology and data science double major, currently working under Shivang Shelat. He is interested in studying attention across several different subfields, including how attentional capture can provoke task-unrelated thought, how lapses in attention can impair certain kinds of memory encoding, and the unique characteristics of visual attention.

Emma Kates-Harbeck

My name is Emma Kates-Harbeck and I am a 4th year psych and brain sciences major. I am very interested in cognitive neuroscience, specifically how lesions and neural abnormalities impact cognition and behavior.I am currently working with Nadu on her projects exploring how stress tolerance and emotional awareness guide behavior. After graduation, I plan to attend graduate school to study cognitive neuroscience.

Melina Zachou

Melina Zachou is a third-year, first-generation international undergraduate student from Greece at UCSB, majoring in Psychological & Brain Sciences with a minor in Applied Psychology. She currently works with Nadezhda Barbashova on projects examining moral emotion, emotional awareness, and consciousness, and also contributes to data analysis for ongoing studies. She is especially interested in hands-on research with human participants and hopes to pursue a future career as a clinical psychologist.

Kyla Becker

Kyla is a 3rd-year Psychological & Brain Sciences and Music Studies double major assisting James Elliott in the lab. She is interested in the effects of therapeutic interventions (such as creativity and meditation) on attention and cognitive functioning, as well as the relationship between neural and physiological processes. In her free time, she enjoys singing in a few local music groups and spending time outside on a hike or at the beach.