June 2025

Welcome to the official Department of Psychology newsletter!

Julia Lebovitz defended her thesis

Julia Lebovitz defended her MA thesis, entitled, “Emotional Disembodiment and Depersonalization” under the direction of Dr. Sohee Park. Congrats Julia!

Thilo Womelsdorf and research team's new study

The School of Engineering at Vanderbilt University showcased a new breakthrough study that shows how brain-to-computer ‘electroceuticals’ can help restore cognition. Read more...

Alumni Updates

Dakota Lindsey

Dakota Lindsey finished his PhD at Vanderbilt University under the supervision of Dr. Gordon Logan in 2019. He has received tenure at the University of South Alabama as a Professor in Psychology.

Research Highlights

Park Lab

Welcome new members to the Park Lab: Ziqi Wang and Yilin Chai joined the lab as research assistants. Ziqi graduated from Vanderbilt this May in Cognitive Studies and Psychology. Yilin graduated from Barnard College in NYC, majoring in psychology.

Wallace Lab

Adriana Schoenhaut defended her dissertation on June 19th, 2025.

The following Wallace Lab members are traveling to the UK in July for the International Multisensory Research Forum (IMFR): Mark Wallace, David Tovar, Marcus Waso, Hari Srinivasan, Will Quakenbush and Adam Tiesman.

ICHR Confrence

About the Conference:

80 researchers at all career levels from all corners of the world convened in Wilson Hall to present the state of the art research and clinical questions, participate in intensive lunch time working groups to work on collaborative projects, form new networks and friendships. Plenary lectures were given by Prof. Stephan Heckers from VUMC on historical and philosophical foundations of current psychiatric neuroimging, Prof. Tanya Luhrmann from Stanford on voice hearing experiences across cultures and Prof. Angela Woods, the Director of Medical Humanities Institute at Durham University on the contributions of the humanities to the science of hallucinations, and Prof. Ben Alderson-Day from Durham University on the felt sense of “Presence” .

Vanderbilt researchers were very well represented. Julia Lebovitz and Katrina Rbeiz gave talks on their current research. Tatiana Baxter and Julia Lebovitz introduced Ben Alderson-Day and Tanya Luhrmann, respectively. Former Parklab member, Prof. Junghee Lee of the University of Alabama, returned to chair a scientific session. Prof. Al Powers of Yale, a Vanderbilt alum, also returned to serve as a working group chair on predictive processing. Park Lab members served as the local organizing team. Michael Sangimino served as the co-Chair of the Organizing Committee. Ziqi Wang, Chloe Pryor, Bobby Li, Ean Choi, Yilin Chai, Gauri Agarwal, and Olivia Jelsma all served in the organizing committee and did an amazing job of running the conference without a glitch.