Primary Investigator and Lab Director
Iris Vilares, Ph.D
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology
Research Staff
Zuzanna Tajchman
Lab Manager
After receiving a B.S. in Psychology with Criminology from Middlesex University, Zuzanna then graduated with MSc in Clinical Neuroscience from University College London, where she began work with Professor Vilares, focusing on gender differences in Borderline Personality Disorder.
Her work in the U of M lab involves helping with, and coordinating, various ongoing studies. Currently, she is working on a meta-analysis project on protocolary changes in a Trust Game task. Zuzanna is mostly interested in how trauma affects decision-making, as well as correlation between gender and symptomatology of mental health disorders to improve personalized medicine.
Nathan Torunsky
Research Assistant
Nathan is a full-time research assistant who has been working with Iris since before his graduation. He graduated in 2019 with a B.S. in Psychology and minor in Neuroscience. Nathan is interested in how people represent emotions, psychologically and neurologically, and how these representations affect decision-making. Currently, his projects focus on how personality (e.g. alexithymia) affects decision-making and how the brain represents metacognition. In his free time, Nathan plays flute in the Minnesota Philharmonic Orchestra, experiments with new baking recipes, and co-manages an Instagram for his cat, Toast (@itsgettingtoasty).
Jiaxuan (Jocelyn) Teng
Research Assistant
Jocelyn is a part-time research assistant working in Dr. Iris Vilares' lab. She graduated in spring 2020 with a B.S. in Psychology. Jocelyn's research interests are decision-making and impulsivity in emotional disorders and traits associated with individuals that predict treatment outcome of depression. She has been working on the project The Connection between Bipolar and Borderline Personality Disorder Traits and Impulsivity on GPA Among College Students with Ailun Li. She is working on lab website currently. She likes playing basketball and ukulele in her free time.
Graduate Students
Mathi Manavalan
Mathi graduated from the University of Washington-Seattle with a B.S. in Informatics and B.A. in Psychology. She is a 1st 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.
Tao Jin
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.
Xin Song
Xin is a fourth-year Ph.D. student currently working under Iris's supervision. She 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 interests include decision making under uncertainty, and how different psychiatric disorders alter people's decision-making strategies. Do depression patients weigh prior/current information differently when making decisions? And if so, can such behavior patterns be explained by any of the existing human or animal depression models? Her current project focuses include depression and decision-making under uncertainty, the learned-helplessness model, and hedonic capacity in depression.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Grace Nketcha
My name is Grace Nketcha, I am an undergraduate senior here at the University of Minnesota, majoring in Psychology (Bachelors of Science), with a minor in French Students. I am a research assistant in this decision-lab! I will be graduating in Spring of 2021, on the Pre-pharmacy tract! I am very interested in healthcare, and the accessibility to medical care for all. In my spare time, I really enjoy traveling and exploring new locations, and scenes, working out, fashion and style, culture, and much more!
Maykala Owens
My name is Maykala Owens. I am a senior at the University of Minnesota pursuing a Bachelors of Science in Psychology with minors in Statistics and Neuroscience. I will be graduating in Spring 2021 and am looking to continue on to graduate school to earn my masters degree. I am interested in the fields of data science, cognitive science, and public health. For my research assistant position, I am working on a study examining the effects of fear-induction on COVID-19 information seeking. In my free time, I enjoy photography and cooking.
Natalie Wagner
I am a junior majoring in psychology with minors in neuroscience and leadership. I am interested in mental health and healthcare with decision making. I enjoy hiking, hanging out with my friends and family, playing and watching sports, and going to my cabin.
Shreya Avilala
My name is Shreya Avilala. I am a current freshman at the University of Minnesota in the College of Biological Sciences majoring in Cellular and Organismal Physiology with minors in Psychology and Microbiology. I am on the premedicine track and hope to be a physician. In my free time, I like to bake, hike and watch new movies and tv shows!
Lab Alumni
Undergraduate students
| Name | |
| Ailun Li | li000805@umn.edu |
| Bailey Queensland | queen031@umn.edu |
| Christina Choung | choun014@umn.edu |
| David Kessebeh | kesse057@umn.edu |
| Fanshu Sun | sunx0401@umn.edu |
| Han Phung | phung045@umn.edu |
| Jaye Ahn | ahnxx252@umn.edu |
| Kathy Mai | maixx125@umn.edu |
| Mansoo Cho | choxx483@umn.edu |
| Shiv Patel | patel507@umn.edu |
| Shulang Yue | yuexx142@umn.edu |