Lab Members

Lab Director:

Dr. Heather D. Lucas, PhD

Department of Psychology

Louisiana State University

E-mail: hlucas2@lsu.edu 

CV

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at Louisiana State University.  I am also the director of the Brain and Memory Lab, an executive committee member for LSU’s Multidisciplinary Initiative for Neuroscience Discovery (MIND), and the faculty advisor for Synapse LSU.

My research examines the cognitive neuroscience of learning and memory, with a primary focus on episodic memory. I have a particular interest in how people manage the limits of their own memory systems by making decisions about when and how to interact with information— for example, by deciding what information to prioritize, how best to learn it, and when to rely on heuristics and intuitions. I approach this topic by using a number of converging methods, including EEG/ERPs, eye tracking, and the study of populations who experience memory challenge, including older adults, survivors of traumatic brain injury, and neurodivergent populations. I am also interested in how neural, cognitive, and social factors combine to impact the way individuals approach tasks involving learning and memory.

I received my PhD from Northwestern University in the Department of Psychology (Brain, Behavior, and Cognition Program), where I worked in the laboratory of Ken Paller.  I then completed a Beckman Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, working primarily in the laboratories of Neal Cohen and Kara Federmeier.  I joined the faculty at LSU in the fall of 2017.

Graduate Students:

Brianna E. Cairney

Department of Psychology

Louisiana State University

E-mail: bcairn2@lsu.edu 

Originally from the Pacific Northwest, Bri earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Washington and worked in Dr. Raphe Bernier’s autism research lab running EEG/ERP and eye-tracking sessions for studies focused broadly on social cognition and sensory processing in autism. She joined the BAM Lab in 2018 where, in keeping within the themes of social cognition and multimodal processing, her research has primarily focused on measuring the effects of co-speech gesture on memory and identifying associated underlying cognitive mechanisms. Bri is excited to join Dr. Jamie McPartland’s lab at the Yale Child Study Center this summer as a Hilibrand Postdoctoral Fellow, where she will study multimodal processing and speech-gesture integration in adolescents and adults with autism. 

Felicia M. Chaisson

Department of Psychology

Louisiana State University

E-mail: fchais1@lsu.edu 

Felicia is a Louisiana native and United States Marine Corps veteran. She earned her BS in Psychology and BA in Sociology from LSU in May of 2017. As a undergraduate, she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Steven Greening on studies of the neural and cognitive mechanisms of emotion and fear processing. Felicia joined the BAM Lab as a doctoral student in 2018, merging her interest in emotions' influence on cognitive processes with the study of learning and memory.  Her current research investigates the effects of acute stress on the ability to monitor, assess, and regulate memory encoding and retrieval of information using both behavioral and electrophysiological methods (including measures of EDA and EEG). 

Felicia is a 2020 recipient of the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship.  With a developed interest in the intersection of cognitive science and technology, Felicia has also pursued numerous internships and other training opportunities to explore how cognitive science can inform and improve user experience and design, particularly in military and medical contexts. 

Finally, Felicia has a strong passion for networking and mentorship. As a first-generation college student, she has worked alongside LSU's “first to Roar” Program for numerous years, and she helped to create the first a peer-to-peer graduate student mentor program in LSU's Psychology department. Please don’t hesitate to reach out 😊

Chloe A. Kindell

Department of Psychology

Louisiana State University

E-mail: ckinde2@lsu.edu 

You can visit my personal website and art portfolio here.

Chloe has been a doctoral student in the BAM Lab since 2021. She received her Bachelor's of Arts in Psychology from Florida Southern College in December of 2019, with a minor in Studio Art. She is broadly interested in studying the neural and cognitive processes that relate to memory using eye tracking methodologies. An artist in her free time, she is also interested in science communications and illustration.  

Research Assistants and Lab Alumni:  (under construction)