{"id":1467,"date":"2021-04-05T13:44:54","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T17:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gaba2.psych.ryerson.ca\/psychlabs2\/spplab\/?page_id=1467"},"modified":"2025-09-23T06:27:29","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T10:27:29","slug":"lab-news","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/lab-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Lab News"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Lab News<\/b><\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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September 2025:<\/strong> Congratulations to Dr. Pelin Tanberg, MAD lab postdoctoral fellow, who has received a 2-year NSERC postdoctoral fellowship!<\/p>

September 2025: <\/strong>Farewell and congratulations to Dr. Lindsay Santacroce, MAD lab postdoctoral fellow, who is moving on to an industry job in the U.K.!<\/p>

September<\/strong> 2025:<\/strong> Welcome to new MAD lab thesis students, Janka Meszaros and Emily Tran!\u00a0<\/p>

September 2025:<\/strong> Congratulations to Mane Kara-Yakoubian and Megan Vaziri on their new OGS scholarships!<\/p>

August 2025:<\/strong> Congrats to Megan Vaziri on her successful MA defense! Way to go, Megan!<\/p>

July 2025:<\/strong> New MAD Lab study, on prosociality and memory, in press at Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition<\/em>! Congrats to first author Shadini Dematagoda!<\/p>

July 2025:<\/strong> Aalim Makani and Lindsay Santacroce present MAD lab research at CSBBCS in Dundee, Scotland!<\/p>

June 2025:<\/strong> Julia Spaniol receives a 2-year SSHRC Insight Development Grant ($75K) for a project entitled, “Advice from Algorithms: Adult Age Differences in Trust and Advice-Taking from Generative AI”<\/p>

May 2025:\u00a0<\/strong>Pelin Tanberg presents MAD lab research at the Toronto Area Memory Group<\/a> meeting! Megan Vaziri serves as meeting Co-Chair this year.<\/p>

May 2025:<\/strong> Congrats to Emily Tran on their new NSERC USRA!<\/p>

April 2025:<\/strong> Julia Spaniol receives $312,200 in research funding from NSERC for a 5-year research program entitled, “Curiosity and information seeking across the adult lifespan.”<\/p>

January 2025:<\/strong> Julia Spaniol and collaborators receive $75K in research funding from Bridging Divides<\/a> for a 2-year project entitled, “Advanced Digital Technologies in Newcomer Employment Programs: Understanding the Role of Metacognitive Skills and other Individual Differences.”<\/p>

January 2025:<\/strong> New MAD Lab study, on social presence effects in online learning, accepted at PLOS ONE<\/em>. Congrats Lindsay Santacroce (first author) and coauthors!<\/p>

November 2024:<\/strong> Lindsay Santacroce presents MAD Lab research at Psychonomics in NYC.<\/p>

October 2024:<\/strong> New MAD Lab study, on hindsight bias in the context of the 2020 U.S. Presidential election, in press at Cognition and Emotion<\/em>. Congrats Mane!<\/p>

October 2024:<\/strong> New collaborative study in press at Displays<\/em>! Congrats Brandy!<\/p>

September 2024:\u00a0<\/strong>New MAD Lab study, on affect and decision making, in press at Cognition and Emotion<\/em>. Congrats Aalim!<\/p>

September 2024:<\/strong> Congratulations to Brandy Murovec on her successful dissertation defense! Way to go Brandy!<\/p>

September 2024:<\/strong> Congratulations to Aalim Makani and Polina Andrievskaia on their new NSERC CGS-D scholarships!<\/p>

September 2024:<\/strong> The MAD Lab welcomes new postdoc Dr. Pelin Tanberg (PhD ’24, U Waterloo)!<\/p>

July\/August 2024:<\/strong> The MAD lab says goodbye to Ma\u0161a Iskra, visiting PhD student from the Sports University Cologne, and to Kieryn Carlse, post-bacc research assistant, who will begin her graduate studies at Brock University this fall.<\/p>

July 2024:<\/strong> New MAD Lab study in press<\/em> at Psychology and Aging. Congrats Liyana!<\/p>

June 2024: <\/strong>Mane Kara-Yakoubian, Megan Vaziri, and Julia Spaniol present research on aging and motivation at the 50+ Festival at TMU.<\/p>

June 2024: <\/strong>Liyana Swirsky (PhD ’23) receives the Canadian Psychological Association\u00a0Certificate of\u00a0Academic\u00a0Excellence.<\/p>

June 2024: <\/strong>Julia Spaniol receives the 2024 Women in Cognitive Science Canada+<\/a> Mentorship Award.<\/p>

June 2024: <\/strong>Santhiya Purohit and Lindsay Santacroce present at CSBBCS<\/a> in Edmonton AB.<\/p>

May 2024: <\/strong>Shadini Dematagoda presents MAD Lab research at the Toronto Area Memory Group Meeting.<\/p>

April 2024:<\/strong> Megan Vaziri presents MAD lab research at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society Meeting<\/a> in Toronto.<\/p>

February 2024:<\/strong> Lindsay Santacroce is the 2024 winner of the McCall MacBain 10min Research Talk<\/a> competition at McMaster University. Congratulations Lindsay!<\/p>

February 2024:<\/strong> Julia Spaniol is named an APS Fellow<\/a>.<\/p>

November 2023: <\/strong>Aalim Makani, Shadini Dematagoda, and Julia Spaniol present MAD Lab research at Psychonomics in San Francisco.<\/p>

November 2023:<\/strong> New MAD Lab study in press at Psychonomic Bulletin & Review<\/em>.<\/p>

October 2023:<\/strong> Congratulations to Aalim Makani on graduating from the MA program and starting his PhD, and to Dr. Liyana Swirsky on receiving her PhD and starting her postgraduate career!<\/p>

September <\/strong>2023:\u00a0<\/strong>Congratulations to MAD Lab students on their new scholarships: Shadini Dematagoda (NSERC Vanier), Megan Vaziri (NSERC CGS-M), Aalim Makani (OGS), Brandy Murovec (TMGS)!<\/p>

September 2023:<\/strong> Welcome to new MAD Lab students Megan Vaziri (MA Clinical) and Santhiya Purohit (undergraduate thesis student)!<\/p>

August 2023:<\/strong> Congratulations to Aalim Makani on his successful MA defense, and to Liyana Swirsky on her successful PhD defense!<\/p>

August 2023:<\/strong> New collaborative study in press at Experimental Brain Research.<\/em><\/p>

August 2023:<\/strong> Welcome to new MAD Lab postdoc Lindsay Santacroce!<\/p>

August 2023:<\/strong> Julia Spaniol presents MAD Lab research at SARMAC in Nagoya, Japan.<\/p>

July 2023: <\/strong>New MAD lab study in press at Experimental Aging Research<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>

July 2023:<\/strong> Mane Kara-Yakoubian and Shadini Dematagoda present MAD Lab research at CSBBCS in Guelph.<\/p>

May 2023:<\/strong> Liyana Swirsky presents MAD Lab research at the Toronto Area Memory Group Meeting.<\/p>

April 2023:<\/strong> Congratulations to MAD Lab students Aalim Makani, Kieryn Carlse, and Sarah Shahrour! Aalim received a Student Section Research Grant from the Canadian Psychological Association<\/a>; Sarah received a Diversity Summer Award from the Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging<\/a>; and Kieryn received an NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>

March 2023<\/strong>: New MAD lab study in press at\u00a0The Journal of Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. <\/em>(“Editor’s Choice” article.)<\/p>

February 2023:<\/strong> Julia Spaniol presents at the LOVE Conference in Niagara Falls.<\/p>

December 2022:<\/strong> New MAD lab study in press at the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscienc<\/em>e.<\/p>

November 2022<\/strong>: Aalim Makani and Julia Spaniol present MAD Lab research at Psychonomics in Boston.<\/p>

September 2022:<\/strong> Congratulations to MAD Lab graduate students on their new scholarships: Mane Kara-Yakoubian (NSERC CGS-D), Aalim Makani (NSERC CGS-M), Brandy Murovec (OGS), Polina Andrievskaia (OGS), and Shadini Dematagoda (RGS)!\u00a0<\/p>

September 2022:<\/strong> The MAD Lab welcomes new 4th year thesis student Rachel Holm and Fall\/Winter research assistant Sarah Shahrour!<\/p>

August 2022:<\/strong> MAD Lab graduate students Mane Kara-Yakoubian, Shadini Dematagoda, and Polina Andrievskaia successfully defend their MA theses. Congratulations all!<\/p>

August 2022:<\/strong> MAD Lab graduate student Aalim Makani received a Jackman Foundation Psychology Graduate Student Research Excellence Grant. Congratulations Aalim!<\/p>

July 2022:<\/strong> MAD Lab students Shadini Dematagoda, Sana Junaid, and Adrian Colbert present at the CSBBCS meeting in Halifax, NS!<\/p>

May 2022:<\/strong> Congratulations to recent MAD Lab graduate Sana Junaid on being awarded her second NSERC USRA!<\/p>

April 2022:<\/strong> MAD Lab graduate students Shadini Dematagoda and Mane Kara-Yakoubian present at the Cognitive Aging Conference in Atlanta, GA!<\/p>

January 2022:<\/strong> The MAD Lab welcomes its new research practicum student, Yusuf Ghauri!<\/p>

November 2021:<\/strong> Mane Kara-Yakoubian received a Junior Researcher Networking Award from Women in Cognitive Science<\/a>. Congratulations Mane!<\/p>

October 2021:<\/strong> Erika Sparrow, who is graduating from the PhD program this fall, has accepted a permanent full-time position as a Research Impact Analyst at the University Health Network. Congratulations Erika!<\/p>

September 2021:<\/strong> The MAD Lab launches the Canadian Adulthood and Retirement Study (https:\/\/www.caresstudy.ca<\/a>)<\/p>

September 2021:<\/strong> The MAD Lab welcomes new graduate student Aalim Makani and new 4th year thesis students Sana Junaid and Adrian Colbert!<\/p>

August 2021:<\/strong> Erika Sparrow successfully defends her dissertation on ‘Social Decision Making in Younger and Older Adults’. Congratulations Erika!<\/p>

August 2021:<\/strong> MAD Lab research on aging and altruism was discussed in the Wall Street Journal<\/a>.<\/p>

August 2021:<\/strong> Shadini Dematagoda received a Jackman Foundation Psychology Graduate Student Research Excellence Grant. Congratulations Shadini!<\/p>

July 2021:<\/b> Belated congratulations to 2020\/21 MAD Lab honours students Rachel Appiah and Sabrina Valenzano on their graduation! Also, special congrats to Sabrina who received a Canadian Psychological Association Certificate of Academic Excellence for her honours thesis.<\/span><\/p>

July 2021:<\/b> New collaborative article in press at <\/span>Multisensory Research<\/span><\/i>! Congratulations Brandy and co-authors!<\/span><\/p>

June 2021:<\/b> Julia\u2019s new SSHRC Insight Grant (\u201cAging and prosociality: Understanding the role of cognitive, motivational, and resource-related factors\u201d) has been announced. This project is a collaboration with Karl Szpunar (Ryerson), Michelle Silver (University of Toronto Scarborough), and Dave Flora (York University).<\/span><\/p>

June 2021:<\/b> MAD Lab members present 4 posters and 1 talk at <\/span>CSBBCS 2021<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>

June 2021:<\/b> New <\/span>MAD Lab article<\/span><\/a> in press at <\/span>Psychology and Aging<\/span><\/i>! Congratulations Liyana and co-authors!<\/span><\/p>

May 2021:<\/b> Congratulations to MAD Lab grad students on being awarded scholarships for 2021\/2022: NSERC CGS-M (Mane), SSHRC CGS-M (Shadini), QEII-GSST (Brandy), and OGS (Polina)!<\/span><\/p>

May 2021:<\/b> Rachel Appiah receives a 2021 Diversity Summer Research Award from the <\/span>Scientific Research Network on Decision Neuroscience and Aging<\/span><\/a>. Congratulations Rachel!<\/span><\/p>

May 2021:<\/b> The MAD Lab welcomes our 2021 NSERC USRA student, Sana Junaid, and our Summer Work-Study Research Assistant, Adrian Colbert!<\/span><\/p>

May 2021:<\/b> Liyana Swirsky is accepted to the <\/span>CIHR Institute of Aging Summer Program in Aging 2021<\/span><\/a>. Congratulations Liyana!<\/span><\/p>

May 2021:<\/b> New <\/span>MAD Lab article<\/span><\/a> in press at <\/span>Neurobiology of Aging. <\/span><\/i>Congratulations Margot and co-authors!<\/span><\/p>

May 2021:<\/b> Transitions: The MAD Lab congratulates our 2020 NSERC USRA student, Sadia Chowdhury, on her acceptance into the MSc Program in Genetic Counselling at the University of Toronto, and our 2020\/21 volunteer, Ragini Singh, on her new position as a Clinical Research Intern in the Brain Imaging & Analysis Center at Duke University School of Medicine. Way to go, Sadia and Ragini!<\/span><\/p>

April 2021:<\/b> Honours thesis students Rachel Appiah and Sabrina Valenzano present their findings at the virtual thesis showcase. Congratulations Rachel and Sabrina!<\/span><\/p>

April 2021:<\/b> New MAD Lab article in press at <\/span>Neuropsychology<\/span><\/i>! Congratulations Erika and co-authors!<\/span><\/p>

November 2020:<\/b> MAD Lab members present posters at <\/span>Virtual Psychonomics<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>

November 2020:<\/b> New MAD Lab article in press at <\/span>Scientific Reports<\/span><\/i><\/a>! Congratulations Liyana!<\/span><\/p>

September 2020:<\/b> Welcome new MAD Lab members! New MA students: Polina Andrievskaia (co-supervised with Dr. Behrang Keshavarz, Toronto Rehab), Shadini Dematagoda and Mane Kara-Yakoubian; new undergraduate thesis students: Rachel Appiah and Sabrina Valenzano.<\/span><\/p>

August 2020:<\/b> Sadia Chowdhury completes her \u201cremote\u201d NSERC USRA and Yazan Shamli-Oghli moves on to U of T. Congratulations Sadia and Yazan!<\/span><\/p>

August 2020:<\/b> Congratulations to Brandy Murovec on her sucessful MA defense!<\/span><\/p>

June 2020:<\/b> Belated congratulations to\u00a0 Shadini Dematagoda and Mane Kara-Yakoubian, who will be joining the MAD Lab as MA students in September, on winning Ryerson Graduate Scholarships for their first year in the graduate program!<\/span><\/p>

June 2020:<\/b> Current\/former MAD Lab research assistants Bassam and Audrey are graduating with a BA in Psychology. Congratulations!<\/span><\/p>

June 2020:<\/b> New MAD Lab article in press at <\/span>Medical Decision Making<\/span><\/i><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>

May 2020:<\/b> Liyana Swirsky receives a 3-year NSERC CGS-D award. Congratulations Liyana!<\/span><\/p>

May 2020:<\/b> Sabrina Valenzano joins the MAD Lab as a Spring\/Summer Research Assistant and Sadia Chowdhury joins as an NSERC USRA. Welcome, Sadia and Sabrina!<\/span><\/p>

May 2020:<\/b> Aalim, Liyana, and Margot present posters at <\/span>Virtual CNS<\/span><\/i><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>

February 2020:<\/b> New MAD Lab articles to appear in <\/span>Psychology and Aging<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Neurobiology of Aging<\/span><\/i><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>

January 2020:<\/b> Congratulations to Dr. Holly Bowen, MAD Lab alumna (PhD 2013), who was named an <\/span>APS Rising Star<\/span><\/a>!<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lab News September 2025: Congratulations to Dr. Pelin Tanberg, MAD lab postdoctoral fellow, who has received a 2-year NSERC postdoctoral fellowship! September 2025: Farewell and congratulations to Dr. Lindsay Santacroce, MAD lab postdoctoral fellow, who is moving on to an industry job in the U.K.! September 2025: Welcome to new MAD lab thesis students, Janka […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1467","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":198,"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4439,"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1467\/revisions\/4439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychlabs.torontomu.ca\/madlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}