Julia Spaniol
Associate Professor & Graduate Program Director
Psychology
Ryerson University
Canada
Biography
Dr. Spaniol received her doctorate in cognitive psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and subsequently completed postdoctoral work at Duke University Medical Center and at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest in Toronto. Since 2007, Dr. Spaniol has directed the Memory and Decision Processes (MAD) lab in the Department of Psychology at Ryerson University. In 2014, Dr. Spaniol received a Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Cognitive Aging. Research in the MAD lab examines (1) how cognitive functions, such as attention, memory and decision making, change across the lifespan, and (2) how motivation and emotion influence cognitive functions in younger and older adults. The goal of this research program is to identify the mechanisms through which cognitive performance can be maintained and optimized in people over 65 – the fastest-growing segment of Canadian society today. The MAD lab uses a combination of behavioural and brain-based methods, including functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and event-related potentials (ERPs). Currently, research in the MAD lab is supported by a Discovery Grant from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and by an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation. Dr. Spaniol teaches undergraduate and graduate courses related to cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience. She welcomes inquiries from individuals interested in getting involved in the MAD lab as research participants, volunteers, student researchers (BA, MA, and PhD), or external collaborators.
Research Interest
cognitive aging, memory and decision making, motivation and reward
Publications
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Spaniol, J., Bowen, H. J., Wegier, P., & Grady, C. L. (2015). Neural responses to monetary incentives in younger and older adults. Brain Research, 1612, 70-82. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2014.09.063
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Williams, R. S.*, Biel, A. L.*, Wegier, P.*, Lapp, L. K.*, Dyson, B. J., & Spaniol, J. (2016). Age differences in the attention network test: Evidence from behavior and ERPs. Brain and Cognition, 102, 65-79.
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Bowen, H. J.*, Spaniol, J., Patel, R.*, & Voss, A. (2016). A diffusion model analysis of the cognitive mechanisms underlying delayed recognition of emotional stimuli. PloS ONE, 11(1): e0146769.
