People

Meg Schlichting, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology
PhD in Psychology, The University of Texas at Austin
BA in Cognitive Science, University of Pennsylvania

Meg is the Principal Investigator of the Budding Minds Lab at U of T. She is interested in how the episodic memory system (especially the hippocampus and its surrounding medial temporal lobe cortex) interacts with prefrontal brain regions to update our stored memories with new information. Her work aims to characterize how these neural operations happen in healthy young adults, as well as how they might change as the brain develops across childhood and adolescence. In her spare time, Meg loves to cook, try new restaurants, and explore all that her new city of Toronto has to offer.

Post-Doctoral Fellows

Anna Blumenthal
BA in Psychology, Minors in Classical Studies & Philosophy, Drew University
MS in Cognitive Science University of Trento & SISSA, Italy
PhD in Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Western Ontario

I am a new postdoc, co-supervised by Meg and Michael Mack. I grew up in Colorado and New Jersey, and did my graduate work in cognitive neuroscience in northern Italy and then in Ontario at Western. Broadly, I am interested in how the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe structures contribute to perception, learning, and memory. At UofT I am excited to combine neuroimaging and computational modeling to understand the link between episodic and semantic memory in the developing brain. In my free time I love going hiking and camping with Alfred (the handsome fellow in the photo), reading fantasy/sci-fi, and traveling.

Graduate Students

Sagana Vijayarajah
BSc in Psychology, York University

Sagana is very excited to be joining the Budding Minds Lab and to be working on her Master's research under Dr. Schlichting's supervision. She is interested in exploring the developmental changes in memory that occur from childhood to adulthood and how they impact decision-making. In her spare time, she likes to bike, paint and spend time with family and friends.

Tess Forest
BA in Cognitive Systems and linguistics, University of British Colombia
MA in experimental psychology, University of Toronto
Tess is a PhD student in the Learning and Neural Development lab, collaborating with Dr. Schlichting to study hippocampal development. She grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and has spent some time working at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and at the Max Plank Institute for Psycholinguistics, in the Netherlands. Broadly, she is interested in how language learning mechanisms operate, their development over time, and how that contributes to differences in language learning abilities between adults and children. In her free time, Tess likes to cook, knit, and spend time outside… either running, backpacking, skiing, or canoeing!

Lab Manager

Chuyun Shen
Hons. BSc in Psychology, University of Toronto

Chuyun has recently completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Toronto as a psychology research specialist. She feels very fortunate to have had the opportunity to be involved in cognitive developmental research for her thesis. She is excited to delve deeper into this field of research and also help the lab grow as the lab manager. In her spare time, she can be found volunteering for a hospice, taking gymnastics classes, reading, and painting.

Contact info: buddingmindslab+manager@gmail.com

Research Assistants

Nathan Chen
BSc in Neuroscience and Immunology, University of Toronto (In Progress)

Nathan is a second year student at U of T currently studying neuroscience and immunology. He is interested in changes in the brain over time with regards to behaviour and the neurobiology of personality. Nathan plans to attend medical school but is still interested in graduate studies for behavioural neuroscience. In his free time, Nathan likes to go to concerts, play cello, and take photos.

Brad Dalgleish
Hons. BSc, Psychology Specialist, University of Toronto (In Progress)
Research Opportunity (ROP) Student

Brad is a third year student specializing in Psychology. His future career ambition involves working with children and adolescents with learning disorders like ADHD. The research opportunities at Budding Minds Lab are particularly relevant with their developmental focus on memory formation which is an important factor implicated in many learning disorders. In his spare time, Brad enjoys building websites, reading good books, and going for long hikes.

Carissa DeMarinis
Hon. BSc in Neuroscience, Psychology and Physiology, University of Toronto (In Progress)

Carissa is entering her third year at U of T and completing a double major in Neuroscience and Psychology along with a minor in Physiology. She is broadly interested in neural development and hopes to pursue graduate studies in the field in the future. Outside the lab, she enjoys teaching and playing the piano and trying out different food spots in the city.

Tina Farokhifar
BSc in Psychology Specialist (In Progress)
Undergraduate Honours Thesis Student

Tina is a third-year student in the Psychology Research Specialist program, and she is working under Professor Schlichting’s supervision to complete her undergraduate thesis project. Tina is very interested in cognitive psychology and memory research, and the implications that these findings have for better understanding memory disorders. In her free time, she is probably watching Netflix, playing tennis, or hanging out with friends and family.

Isabelle Vanasse Grosdidier
BSc in Psychology, Sociology, and Physiology, University of Toronto (In Progress)

Isabelle is in her final year at U of T as a psychology specialist, sociology major, and physiology minor. She is interested in cognitive neuroscience and physiological psychology. In the future, Isabelle hopes to pursue graduate studies in cognitive neuroscience. In her spare time, Isabelle enjoys reading textbooks, visiting cafes in Toronto, and spending time outdoors.

Nujhat Tabassum
BSc in Neuroscience, Physiology, and Psychology, University of Toronto (In Progress)
Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student

Nujhat has just finished her third year at U of T, and is extremely excited to be joining the Budding Minds Lab! She is highly interested in learning about the neurodevelopmental physiology and pathophysiology behind various aspects of cognition and cognitive disorders, and hopes to pursue graduate studies in this field. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, creative writing, watching TV, and spending time cuddling her cat, Mia.

Wangjing Yu
BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Toronto (In Progress)
Individual Project Student

Wangjing is a third-year student in U of T, taking a psychology and neuroscience double major. She is very interested in cognitive and developmental psychology and plans on pursuing graduate studies in related areas in the future. During her leisure time, she likes to watch movies and TV shows.

Cindy Zhou
BSc in Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Toronto (In Progress)
Research Opportunity Program (ROP) student

Cindy is going into her second year at UofT and will be double majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology. She is very excited to join the Budding Minds Lab as an ROP student, and cannot wait to learn more about the different aspects of cognitive psychology and memory development under Dr. Schlichting’s supervision. In the future, she hopes to pursue psychiatry from an integrated approach. In her spare time, she enjoys playing video games, spending time with her dog, or binge watching movies.

Zahra Abolghasem
BSc in Psychology and Physiology, University of Toronto (In Progress)

Zahra is a third year undergraduate student who is specializing in Psychology and minoring in Physiology at the University of Toronto. She is passionate about many of the different branches of psychology, but her main interest lies within the field of developmental psychology, and she has a particular fascination for cognitive development. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking/baking, hiking, and painting.

Lab Programmers/Technicians

Sakshaat Choyikandi
Hons. BSc in Computer Science, specializing in Software Engineering, University of Toronto (in Progress)

Sakshaat is a fourth-year student at University of Toronto, specializing in Computer Science. He is very passionate about research and applying his skills in software engineering to assist with the current research at the Budding Minds Lab. Outside the lab he enjoys making music, training in martial arts and exploring the city.

Ziyao Chen
Hons. BSc in Computer Science and Statistics, specializing in Artificial Intelligence, University of Toronto (In Progress)

Ziyao is a second-year student at University of Toronto, specializing Computer Science and majoring in Statistics. He is passionate about the fields of artificial intelligence, software engineering and psychology. He is also very interested in economics, especially investment (almost three-years experiences of playing mutual funds and stocks). In his spare time, he enjoys cooking and playing video games.

Lab Alumni

Hannah Tarder-Stoll - PhD in Psychology at Columbia University (in progress)
BMus in Classical Voice Performance, University of Toronto & BSc in Psychology and Neuroscience, University of Toronto

Lana Duan - MSc in Medical Science at the University of Toronto and SickKids Research Institute (in progress)
BSc in Psychology Specialist and Neuroscience, University of Toronto

Samantha Bray Kingissepp - M.Ed. in Counselling and Psychotherapy at OISE, University of Toronto (in progress)
BA in Honours Specialization Psychology, University of Western Ontario

Hailey Benedict - MSc in Occupational Therapy, University of Toronto (in progress)
BA in Psychology, McGill University

Our lab is small, but growing - join us!
We are recruiting students for the work study program at UofT. We are also still looking for postdoctoral fellows to join our team!
Visit the Get Involved page for more information.