Principal Investigator
Valerie Carr, PhD
Valerie earned a BS in Biological Psychology from the College of William and Mary and a PhD in Neuroscience from UCLA. As a PhD student and later as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, she used structural and functional MRI to investigate the neural basis of episodic memory in both younger and older adults. As a Professor at SJSU, Valerie's goal is to leverage her cognitive neuroscience background to elucidate strategies for improving brain health, memory, and executive function across the lifespan. She teaches courses relating to neuroscience, learning and memory, and computer programming. Regarding the latter, she is actively involved in pedagogical research examining optimal strategies for teaching interdisciplinary computing.
valerie.carr at sjsu.edu
Graduate Students (Research and Experimental Psychology)
Berenice Ayala Ramirez, BA
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Berenice earned her undergraduate degree in Psychology from CSU Stanislaus, where she conducted visual perception research. She is currently a graduate student in the Research and Experimental Psychology program, where she is exploring the effects of ASMR on memory consolidation.
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berenice.ayalaramirez at sjsu.edu
Carlos Lazarte, BA
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Carlos graduated with a BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley, where he studied decision making in children. After graduating he gained additional experience at Stanford conducting research on brain differences in PTSD. His Master's thesis explores differences in episodic memory performance between young adults who engage in different forms of exercise.
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carlos.lazarte at sjsu.edu
Undergraduate Students
Hannah Leung​
Hannah is majoring in Psychology and minoring in Deaf Education. In addition to assisting Master's students with their thesis projects, she is working on a literature review regarding structural and functional brain changes in individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
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hannah.leung at sjsu.edu
Lab alumni: Graduate Students
David Amy, MA
Michelle Baca Reinke, MA
Eunji Back, MA
Chalise Carlson, MA
Joanne Ha, MA
Hyong Woo (Alex) Hahm, MA
Nicole Henderson, MA
Madison Morocco, MA
Victoria Paoloni, MA
Matthew Reynolds, MA
Dewey Tran, MA