Members

Nick is interested in the cognitive neuroscience of attention and cognitive control. Much of his research has specifically investigated how we learn to ignore salient and distracting stimuli. He was recently recruited under the MizzouForward program, which aims to improve research innovation at the university. In 2021, he received an NSF Career award.  In 2025, he recieved an Early Career Award from Psychonomic Socie He is currently an associate editor at Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, & Cognition. He teaches an annual NSF-funded workshop on R Programming for Psychology and Neuroscience that is designed to help junior scientists how to analyze data from cognitive tasks. In his free time, Nick enjoys reading with his daughter, bicycling, and photography.

[website] [email] [CV]

Jin is a postdoc in the lab. She completed her Ph.D. at Washington University with Dr. Richard Abrams, where she had an innovative program of research focused on what strategies can be used to ignore salient-and-distracting stimuli. As a postdoc, she is continuing to study these topics while gaining additional experience using advanced techniques, such as EEG and eye tracking. Much of her current investigates how spreading attention can influence capture by salient stimuli. In her free time, she makes beautiful oil paintings!

[email] [webpage]

Yue is a Ph.D. student in our lab. She completed her master's degree at Guangzhou University with Dr. Shimin Fu, where she obtained a competitive scholarship to conduct a visiting research project with Dr. Gaspelin. She enjoyed her visit so much that she decided to stay and pursue a PhD!  Her research aims to understand how we learn to prevent distraction, which has involved developing new techniques to mesaure learning effects. Her hobbies include drawing, making delicious bubble tea, and shopping at Trader Joe's.

[email]

Chenye is a Ph.D. student studying in Dr. Nelson Cowan's lab.  She is interested in understanding the architecture of working memory, including how the complexity of objects influences their underlying representations in memory.  She has been conducting on her dissertation work in our lab using ERPs to measure the CDA component to better understand the limitations in storing objects in short-term memory.

[email]