Lab Director
Peggy L. St. Jacques, PhD (she/her)
Dr. Peggy L. St. Jacques is an Assistant Professor and Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience in the Department of Psychology at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. She received her Honours BSc from the University of Toronto, where she first was inspired to pursue research in autobiographical memory. During her Ph.D. at Duke University, she gained expertise in functional neuroimaging studies of autobiographical memory. Dr. St. Jacques then pursed postdoctoral training at Harvard University, where she used wearable camera technology to elicit autobiographical memories to investigate the neural mechanisms by which remembering updates memory with new information. She established her Memory for Events Lab initially at the University of Sussex in 2015, prior to moving back to Canada to join the University of Alberta in 2018. Her primary research focus is to understand the cognitive and neural mechanisms that support memory for events, including autobiographical experiences from one’s personal past and realistic experiences encoded in a more controlled setting. In particular, she is interested in how long-term representations of memory are modified via retrieval related mechanisms and the role of visual perspective. As an Indigenous scholar, Dr. St. Jacques also values equity, diversity, and inclusivity in science. One of her favourite autobiographical memories is when she visited a Balsamic Vinegar House in the Reggio Emilia area in Italy.
Post Doctoral Fellows
Claudia Morales Valiente, PhD (she/her)
Dr. Valiente received her BSc in Psychology from the University of Havana, and her MSc and PhD in Psychology from the University of Western Ontario, in London, Canada. She is currently a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Memory for Events Lab. Her research interests include applying natural language processing approaches and statistical modelling to study memory. One of her favourite autobiographical memories is when her father took her to the Fine Art Museum of Havana as a child to see La Dama del Lago by Juan Jorge Peoli, which became one of her favourite paintings.
Graduate Students
Nilay Özdemir Haksever, MSc (she/her)
Nilay completed her B.A. in Psychology at Yaşar University and her MSc in Cognitive Neuropsychology at Bahçeşehir University, Türkiye. She worked as a lab manager in Dr. Karl Szpunar’s Memory Lab at Toronto Metropolitan University from 2024 to 2025, before beginning her PhD in the ME Lab in Fall 2025. Her research interests include human memory and future thinking, particularly how psychological distance shapes memory retrieval and the neural mechanisms underlying it. One of her favourite memories is from her first trip within Canada with her husband, when they traveled through Algonquin Provincial Park and nearby towns during the winter.
Research Assistants
Cory Efird
Lab Alumni
Heather M. Iriye, PhD: Postdoctoral Researcher, Karolinska Institute, Sweden
Magda Jordao, PhD: Research Fellow, University of Leeds, UK
Petra Marcotti, MSc, PhD: Associate Lecturer in Psychology, University of Essex, UK and Life Coach
Farrow Sow, MRes: PhD in Psychology, University of Waikato, New Zealand
Anna Cuff, BSc: MSc in Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta, Canada
Joey Nosko, BSc: MSc in Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, Canada (co-supervision with Dr. Dana Hayward)
Shikang Peng, BSc: MA in Social Sciences, University of Chicago, USA; PhD in Psychology, University of Toronto, Canada
Victoria Pane, BSc: PsyD in Clinical Psychology, Concordia University, Canada
Shanela David, BA: MSc in Speech, Language, & Pathology, University of Alberta, Canada
Victoria Mackie, BA: MA in Counselling Psychology, Yorkville University, Canada (co-supervision with Dr. Dana Hayward)
Jenaya Therriault, BSc: MEd in Counselling Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada
Anna Romero, BSc: MSc in Psychology, University of Alberta, Canada
Azra Panjwani, BSc: MSc in Public Health, University of Alberta, Canada
Bryton Wong, BSc: MD, University of Alberta, Canada
Maryanne Mudavadi, BSc: MSc in Human Resource Management, University of Sussex, UK
Yoko Lam, BSc: Postgraduate Certificate in Mental Health Practice, University of Sussex, UK
Chloe Fenn, BSc: Virgin Startup Lead, Virgin Startup, UK