The Cusack Lab
We study the development of infants in their first year of life. We are based at the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, and collaborate with maternity hospitals in Dublin and other centres across Ireland. Our expertise and backgrounds range from physics to psychology and neonatology to neuroscience. We use many methods to study infant development, including online tasks and MRI.
Principal Investigator
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Rhodri Cusack, MA (Hons) Cantab, PhD
The Thomas Mitchell Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience School of Psychology Principal Investigator at SFI INFANT Centre Trinity College Dublin |
Rhodri with son, Calin
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The Team
Postdocs
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Lorijn Zaadnoordijk, PhD
Lorijn completed a bachelor’s degree in language and cognition and a master’s degree in cognitive neuroscience before starting her PhD project at the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. In her PhD project, she investigated how a sense of agency develops in early infancy. She used theories and methods from (developmental) cognitive psychology, neuroscience, artificial intelligence and philosophy of mind to answer how one could study subjective experiences in preverbal infants and how the capacities underlying the sense of agency emerge in the first months of life. |
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Anna Truzzi, PhD
Anna obtained her PhD from the University of Trento (Italy) working on a research in collaboration with the RIKEN Center for Brain Science (Japan) and the Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) which combined developmental and comparative psychology. In the Cusack Lab Anna’s research is focused on combining developmental neuroscience with deep learning methods in order to model how the infants’ brain learns during the first year of life. |
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Graduate Students
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Chiara Caldinelli (PhD candidate)
Chiara received her bachelor’s in cognitive science and master’s in neuroscience from the University of Padua, Italy, and then became a qualified psychologist with the aim to bridge neuroscience and developmental psychology. She is interested in how higher cognitive functions develop and how early experience can shape the way we look at the world. Chiara is also the president of the Dublin University Neuroscience Society, the social coordinator of the OHBM Student/Postdoc Special Interest Group, and an associate editor at the Journal of European Psychology Students. |
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Anna Kravchenko (PhD candidate)
Studied mathematics and computer science at the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia. Anna is interested in Bayesian modelling and its applications to psychology, especially concept learning, developmental theories and models of selective attention. |
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Graham King (PhD Candidate)
Graham is a neonatology specialist registrar doctor (RCPI) who has worked in many neonatal and paediatric departments around Ireland. Graham studied both medicine and engineering in university. He has worked clinically for many years in both paediatrics and neonatology and has also managed to combine his clinical work with medical research. Graham has a keen interest in investigating methods to predict infant neurodevelopmental outcomes, infant brain resilience and infant brain plasticity, and possible future clinical applications of fMRI in neonatology. |
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Clíona O'Doherty (PhD Candidate)
Clíona has just completed her B.A. in Neuroscience from Trinity College Dublin. Having undertaken her final year thesis in the Cusack Lab she is now continuing to research the exciting possibilities of using artificial intelligence to model the brain's complex cognitive processes. Her interests are focussed on deep learning as a tool in neuroscience research, specifically at the crossroads between computer and biological vision. |
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Undergraduate Students
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Áine Dineen (Final Year Neuroscience Student)
Áine is a final year Neuroscience student at Trinity College Dublin. Áine is interested in the reciprocal relationship between neuroscience and computer science. In the lab, she is exploring ways in which deep learning can be leveraged to test theories of infant brain development, with current focus in the field of visual development, and how this understanding can in turn inspire methods to improve the performance of artificial neural networks. |
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Former Members
Alumni
Màiri Gardner (Trinity College Dublin)
Postdocs (Cognitive Neuroscience)
Annika Linke (Western University)
Bobby Stojanoski (Western University)
Conor Wild (Western University)
Daniel Mitchell (University of Cambridge)
Alejandro Vicente-Grabovetsky (University of Cambridge)
Jason Taylor (CamCAN, Cambridge)
Postdocs (Neuroimaging methods)
Marta Correia (University of Cambridge)
Ciara Greene (University of Cambridge)
Stefan Hetzer (University of Cambridge)
Daniel Beauregard (University of Cambridge)
Postdocs (Clinical imaging)
Jeff Crukley (Western University)
Jingyun Chen (Western University, with Mark Daley)
Hester Duffy (Western University)
Charlotte Herzmann (Western University)
Leire Zubiaurre-Elorza (Western University)
Programmer
Aya Myhr (Western University)
Research Assistants
Oscar Markey (Trinity College Dublin)
Anna Birbeck (Trinity College Dublin)
Deborah Ness (Trinity College Dublin)
Michelle Tran (Western University)
Graduate Students
Laura Cabral (PhD, Western University)
Patrick Gatutsi (MSc, Neuroscience, Western University)
Jordynne Ropat (MSc Neuroscience, Western University)
Jacob Matthews (MSc Medical Biophysics, Western University)
Michelle Tran (MSc Neuroscience, Western University)
Annika Linke (PhD University of Cambridge)
Daniel Mitchell (PhD University of Cambridge)
Michele Veldsman (PhD University of Cambridge, with Daniel Mitchell)
Alejandro Vicente-Grabovetsky (PhD University of Cambridge)
Co-Supervised Graduate Students
Sarah Thompson (PhD University of Cambridge, with Bob Carlyon)
Karolina Moutsopoulou (PhD University of Cambridge, with Tom Manly)
Chris Dodds (PhD University of Cambridge, with Tom Manly)
Polly Peers (PhD University of Cambridge, with John Duncan)
Mark Stokes (PhD University of Cambridge, with John Duncan)
Michelle Tran (Western University, Canada)
Honours students
Alex Graham (Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin)
Emma Hudson (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Emily Markey (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Lauren Travers (Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin)
Aoifa Daly (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Anna Birbeck (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Madison Laurel Beaty (Neuroscience, Western University)
Laura Cabral (Psychology, Western University)
Vivek John (Physiology and Pharmacology, Western)
Ronak Patel (Neuroscience, Western University)
Kristen Turner (Western University, Canada)
Angela Westgate (Psychology, Western University)
Mason Kadem (Psychology, Western University)
Kristen Turner (Psychology, Western University)
Joanna Ryan (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Lab Volunteers and Summer Interns
Oliver Shipston-Sharman (visiting Research Elective from Edinburgh University)
Gwenyth Gasper (University of Notre Dame)
Brenda Finlay (Trinity College Dublin)
Marcus Lo (Western University)
Roni Shanoada (Western University)
Claire Chambers (visting from École Normale Supérieure, Paris)
Lauren Forrest (Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, Canada)
Marcus Lo (Western University, Canada)
Andrew Nicholson (Western University, Canada)
Kim Ramos (visiting from Seton Hall University, NJ)
Màiri Gardner (Trinity College Dublin)
Postdocs (Cognitive Neuroscience)
Annika Linke (Western University)
Bobby Stojanoski (Western University)
Conor Wild (Western University)
Daniel Mitchell (University of Cambridge)
Alejandro Vicente-Grabovetsky (University of Cambridge)
Jason Taylor (CamCAN, Cambridge)
Postdocs (Neuroimaging methods)
Marta Correia (University of Cambridge)
Ciara Greene (University of Cambridge)
Stefan Hetzer (University of Cambridge)
Daniel Beauregard (University of Cambridge)
Postdocs (Clinical imaging)
Jeff Crukley (Western University)
Jingyun Chen (Western University, with Mark Daley)
Hester Duffy (Western University)
Charlotte Herzmann (Western University)
Leire Zubiaurre-Elorza (Western University)
Programmer
Aya Myhr (Western University)
Research Assistants
Oscar Markey (Trinity College Dublin)
Anna Birbeck (Trinity College Dublin)
Deborah Ness (Trinity College Dublin)
Michelle Tran (Western University)
Graduate Students
Laura Cabral (PhD, Western University)
Patrick Gatutsi (MSc, Neuroscience, Western University)
Jordynne Ropat (MSc Neuroscience, Western University)
Jacob Matthews (MSc Medical Biophysics, Western University)
Michelle Tran (MSc Neuroscience, Western University)
Annika Linke (PhD University of Cambridge)
Daniel Mitchell (PhD University of Cambridge)
Michele Veldsman (PhD University of Cambridge, with Daniel Mitchell)
Alejandro Vicente-Grabovetsky (PhD University of Cambridge)
Co-Supervised Graduate Students
Sarah Thompson (PhD University of Cambridge, with Bob Carlyon)
Karolina Moutsopoulou (PhD University of Cambridge, with Tom Manly)
Chris Dodds (PhD University of Cambridge, with Tom Manly)
Polly Peers (PhD University of Cambridge, with John Duncan)
Mark Stokes (PhD University of Cambridge, with John Duncan)
Michelle Tran (Western University, Canada)
Honours students
Alex Graham (Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin)
Emma Hudson (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Emily Markey (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Lauren Travers (Neuroscience, Trinity College Dublin)
Aoifa Daly (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Anna Birbeck (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Madison Laurel Beaty (Neuroscience, Western University)
Laura Cabral (Psychology, Western University)
Vivek John (Physiology and Pharmacology, Western)
Ronak Patel (Neuroscience, Western University)
Kristen Turner (Western University, Canada)
Angela Westgate (Psychology, Western University)
Mason Kadem (Psychology, Western University)
Kristen Turner (Psychology, Western University)
Joanna Ryan (Psychology, Trinity College Dublin)
Lab Volunteers and Summer Interns
Oliver Shipston-Sharman (visiting Research Elective from Edinburgh University)
Gwenyth Gasper (University of Notre Dame)
Brenda Finlay (Trinity College Dublin)
Marcus Lo (Western University)
Roni Shanoada (Western University)
Claire Chambers (visting from École Normale Supérieure, Paris)
Lauren Forrest (Schulich School of Medicine, Western University, Canada)
Marcus Lo (Western University, Canada)
Andrew Nicholson (Western University, Canada)
Kim Ramos (visiting from Seton Hall University, NJ)