Memory, Aging, and Cognitive Control Research Laboratory

I am interested in encoding and retrieval mechanisms of episodic memory, especially how people use decision processes to determine the accuracy of retrieved information and how these processes differ in old age. To better understand the mechanisms underlying these processes, I use a variety of different techniques including experimental manipulations of behavior, neuropsychological tests, and both structural and functional brain imaging. More recently, I have been interested in how random, or entropic, fluctuations of brain activity might serve as a neural marker of cognitive and brain health.

I received a B.S. in Cognitive Science and had a specialization in Computing from UCLA in 2006. In 2007, I served as a laboratory manager at UC Irvine. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I received the APF/COGDOP Graduate Student Research Scholarship in Psychology and the APA Dissertation Research Award. After obtaining my PhD in Cognitive Psychology with a minor in Computational Neuroscience in 2011, I joined the Park Aging Mind Laboratory as a postdoctoral researcher. In 2015, I started as an Assistant Professor in the Psychology Department at The University of Alabama, intersecting the fields of cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and aging. I am now an Associate Professor at Binghamton University, NY.

Email: imcdonough@binghamton.edu