Principal Investigator

 

Iris Vilares, Ph.D

Iris Vilares, PhD Photo

Principal Investigator

Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

idongavi@umn.edu

Profile  |  Experts@Minnesota

Graduate Students

Tao Jin

Tao Jin

PhD Student

Email: jin00059@umn.edu

Tao graduated with a M.S. in cognitive neuroscience, after receiving a B.S. in Statistics with a minor in Psychology from Beijing Normal University. Her research interests focus on how people make decisions under uncertainty within both the perceptual and social domains. Outside the lab, she enjoys listening to music and hanging out in the park.

Mathi Manavalan

Headshot of Mathi Manavalan

PhD Candidate

Email: manav003@umn.edu

Mathi graduated from the University of Washington-Seattle with a B.S. in Informatics and B.A. in Psychology. She is a 4th year doctoral student in Dr. Iris Vilares’ lab cognitive decision-making lab. She is interested in exploring how decision-making may vary between clinical population and neuro-typical populations. Outside of the lab, Mathi enjoys painting and rock climbing.

Nathan Torunsky

Headshot of Nathan Torunsky

PhD Student

Email: torun005@umn.edu

Nathan received is B.S. in Psychology at the University of Minnesota, and worked for Professor Vilares as a research assisstant for two years before starting as a PhD student in Fall 2021. Nathan's work in the lab spans a variety of different topic areas, including information-seeking, individual differences in uncertainty judgements, and the role of individual differences in emotion recognition on decision-making. In his free time, Nathan plays flute and piccolo in the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra.

Xin Song

Xin

PhD Candidate

Email: songx953@umn.edu

Xin earned her B.S. degree in Psychobiology from UCLA in 2015 and became a full-time graduate student at UMN in 2016. Things she enjoys: video games, digital art & horror movies. 

Xin's research primarily centers around decision-making under uncertainty and the ways psychiatric disorders, particularly depression, influence these strategies. She delves into questions such as: Do individuals with depression process prior and current information differently when making decisions? Can their behavioral patterns align with existing depression models in humans or animals? Currently, her projects explore the intersection of depression with decision-making in uncertain scenarios, the applicability of the learned-helplessness model, and the understanding of hedonic capacity within the context of depression.

Shulang Yue

Photo Shulang Yue

PhD Student

Email: yuexx142@umn.edu

Shulang graduated with a M.Sc. in Cognitive and Decision Sciences from Univeristy College London and a B.S. in Management Information Systems from the University of Minnesota. Her current research interests include social decision-making, behavioral economics, interpersonal trust, risky choices, and how emotions may impact our decision-making process. Outside of the lab, she enjoys playing musical instruments and watching anime. 

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Changyoon Byun

Abigail Campbell

Brynn Boutelle

Halle Remlinger

Jack Glenn

Isha Mody

Summer Crow

Tianxin Zhang

Lab Alumni

Lab Managers & Full Time Research Assistants

Headshot Zuzanna Tajchman

Zuzanna Tajchman

Lab Manager

Undergraduate Research Assistants

2021-2022

Benjamin Bray

Morgan Cogley

James Elliot

Joseph Raymon

Odell Sackie

Grace Stelzner

2019-2021

Kara Wolf

Kathy Maito

Jaye Ahn

Shreya Avilala

Mansoo Cho

Christina Choung

David Kessebeh

Ailun Li

Kathy Mai

Grace Nketcha

Maykala Owens

Shiv Patel

Han Phung

Bailey Queensland

Fanshu Sun

Jiaxuan (Jocelyn) Teng

Natalie Wagner