Lab Director
 | Natalie C. Ebner, PhDCurriculum Vitae natalie.ebner@ufl.edu Dr. Natalie Ebner is Full Professor and the Trish Calvert Ring Endowed Professor in the Department of Psychology in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at University of Florida. Read more Google Scholar | PubMed |
Lab Co-Director
 | Tian Lin, PhDCurriculum Vitae lintian0527@ufl.edu Dr. Tian Lin's primary research interest is in cognitive aging. In particular, he is intrigued by how emotional and motivational factors influence cognition across the adulthood. Read more |
Postdoctoral Researcher
 | Didem Pehlivanoglu, PhDCurriculum Vitae dpehlivanoglu@ufl.edu Dr. Didem Pehlivanoglu's research interests involve investigating the role of emotionally and motivationally relevant information on cognition at basic and applied contexts. Read more Google Scholar | Publons | Twitter |
 | Vanessa Frei, PhDCurriculum Vitae vanessa.frei@ufl.edu Dr. Vanessa Frei’s research focuses on the neural correlates of multisensory perception, language processing, and socio-emotional cognition in aging. Read more Google Scholar | ORCiD |
 | Mengdi Zhu, PhDCurriculum Vitae zhum@ufl.edu Dr. Mengdi Zhu’s research lies in applied artificial intelligence, with particular focus on generative models, multimodal learning, computer vision, and image processing. Read more |
Graduate Students
 | Alayna ShoenfeltGraduate Research Assistant Curriculum Vitae ashoenfelt@ufl.edu Alayna Shoenfelt’s research investigates age-related differences in social decision making, including in online (e.g., phishing) and in-person (e.g., face-to-face deception detection) contexts. Read more |
 | Kylie WrightGraduate Research Assistant Curriculum Vitae kyliewright@ufl.edu Kylie Wright’s research examines the role of the neuropeptide oxytocin in modulating chronic stress, pain, and inflammation, with a focus on aging and clinical pain populations – particularly older adults with osteoarthritis. Read more |
 | Chun-Che HungGraduate Research Assistant Curriculum Vitae hung.ch@ufl.edu Chun-Che Hung’s research interests focus on exploring the gut dysbiosis in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease continuum and its relationship with structural and functional brain changes using different neuroimaging techniques. Read more Google Scholar |
 | Sanghee ParkGraduate Research Assistant Curriculum Vitae parksanghee@ufl.edu Sanghee's research interests focus on the impact of aging on social decision-making, including risky financial strategies in investment scams and trust-related social judgments. Read more |
 | Stephanie WashburnGraduate Research Assistant Curriculum Vitae swashburn1@ufl.edu Stephanie's research interests focus on how personality traits influence cognitive functions in older adults, particularly in relation to deception, by examining the intersections of cognitive, socioemotional, and neurobiological changes. Read more |
Lab Managers
 | Dana ArnoldClinical Research Coordinator and Lab Manager Curriculum Vitae arnold.d@ufl.edu Dana’s research focuses on decision-making, motivation, and affect in diverse populations. Her work examines how cognitive and emotional processes influence health behaviors and vulnerability to deception. Read more LinkedIn |
 | Ryan FaulknerLab Manager Curriculum Vitae faulkerryan@ufl.edu Ryan's research focuses on development and implementation of multimodal data analysis to better understand the neurobiology of learning and decision-making. Read more LinkedIn | GitHub |
 | Alyssa HayesLab Manager Curriculum Vitae alyssa.hayes@ufl.edu Alyssa's research interests include deception detection, decision-making, and memory processes — particularly how these domains are influenced by aging. Read more |
 | Piper LyonsLab Manager Curriculum Vitae lyons.piper@ufl.edu Piper’s research interests focus on the ways in which aging can impact social cognition and decision making, specifically when deception is at play. Read more |
 | Reese ChadwickLab Manager Curriculum Vitae reesechadwick@ufl.edu Reese Chadwick’s research interests focus on understanding social cognition, aging, facial perception, and developmental change. Read more |