Jahla B. Osborne, Ph.D.

Welcome to my website, I'm Jahla (pronounced jay-la)! 

I recently defended my doctoral dissertation "Computational Insights into ADHD: Modeling Attentional Processing  through Forced-Response Conflict Tasks" at the University of Michigan! At U of M, I worked under the advisement of Drs. John Jonides and Priti Shah in the Department of Psychology and Dr. Matt Smith in the School of Social Work. 

My research centers around Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Particularly, I focus on understanding distractibility within ADHD. I am also interested in understanding the intersecting relationships between ADHD, self-control, and incarceration. As part of this work, I implemented and evaluated a metacognitive training intervention with a sample of justice-involved individuals. While the intervention did not yield statistically significant results, the experience reinforced my passion for applied intervention research.

Building on that foundation, I’m continuing to explore cognitive training approaches—especially those targeting executive functions like working memory. My current work, as a postdoc working with Drs. Susanne Jaeggi and Aaron Seitz in the Brain Game Center for Mental Fitness and Well-Being at Northeastern University, expands this line of research to include adolescents with ADHD and older adults at risk for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD), with the goal of developing meaningful and effective strategies to support cognitive health across the lifespan.

Additionally, I completed my B.S. in psychology at the University of Denver in 2018, where I also competed as a Division I Student-Athlete on the Women's Basketball team.