People

Hannah is a doctoral student in CUNY’s Cognitive and Comparative Psychology PhD program. She is interested in the cognitive and neural processes behind creating and experiencing art.

Zoryana is a doctoral student in CUNY’s Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience (BCN) PhD program. Her work explores how individual history shapes aesthetic experience through deep neural networks. She has an MSc in Computational Social Systems.

Zoé is a doctoral student in CUNY’s Behavioral and Cognitive Neuroscience (BCN) PhD program. She is passionate about exploring how we perceive and understand art, and the roles we play in shaping our experiences.

Luis is a doctoral student in CUNY’s Cognitive and Comparative Psychoogy PhD program, and received his MA in Behavioral Neuroscience from Queens College. He is interested in the neural and psychological foundations of aesthetic cognition, as well as music cognition and the relationship between empirical aesthetics and creativity.

Serena is a graduate student in CCNY’s General Psychology Masters program with a
background in Biopsychology and animal cognition. She is primarily interested in how the
neuroaesthetics of music plays into cognition, emotion and behavior.

Ákos is an architect interested in neuroarchitecture and neuroaesthetics. He is working in the CCNY VisNA Lab as part of his PhD.

Dela is working on a project that began with a research visit to the VisNA Lab at MPIEA.

Dr. Grossberg is Co-Director of the Data Science and Engineering Master’s Program and collaborates with the VisNA Lab.

Coco is a research scientist working at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and AI. He has a PhD in psychology from Harvard, works with the MIT Center for Brains, Minds and Machines (CBMM), and also consults for an AI startup.

Karen did her MA in Psychology with the VisNA Lab, with a focus on computational neuroscience. She previously researched the basal ganglia’s role in decision-making using computational models. She is also interested in the field of neuroart, where science and creative expression intersect to explore the brain.

Sophia is a freelance French horn player who receive an MS in Cognitive Neuroscience at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her interdisciplinary work bridges her passions for performance and cognition, exploring the ways in which music and perception interact.

As a Master‘s student at the University of Cologne, Scherien completed her thesis on an fMRI study in the VisNA Lab at MPIEA. She currently works in science communication and education.

Dominik completed his PhD in the VisNA Lab at MPIEA and TU Berlin.
He has an MSc in Biology and Neuroscience. Currently he is a PostDoc at University of Leeds, using EEG and physiological recordings.

Adam did a yearlong research project at the VisNA Lab at MPIEA. He recently completed his PhD from IMT Lucca.

Aubrey received a BA/MA in Psychology with a concentration in Research, and is also a freelance artist. They are interested in pursuing a PhD in cognitive neuroscience, particularly neuroaesthetics.

Ashley completed a Master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience at the CUNY Graduate Center, and is interested in the relationship between aesthetics and learning.

Andrew completed his second Master’s degree in Cognitive Neuroscience. He previously completed an MS in Computer Science and is interested in neuroscience-inspired approaches to improving artificial intelligence.

Maximos did a yearlong Erasmus fellowship with Dr. Vessel at the MPIEA.

Dr. Isik applies her expertise in data analytics and technology to risk management. Ilkay completed her PhD in the MPIEA VisNA Lab and was also a Postdoc with the group.

Laura recently completed a PhD in the Developmental and Education Psychology Department at Bremen University. Laura completed her Master’s in the VisNA Lab at MPIEA.

Sarah is a freelance writer, science journalist and podcaster. She received her Master’s in Psychology at the University of Hamburg. Previously, she was a student assistant in the MPIEA VisNA Lab.