About me

Hi there! I’m Ryan.

Broadly speaking, I study how real-life memories shape (and are shaped by) individuals’ cognitive and neural profiles. My research interests lie at the interface of memory, emotion, and psychopathology.

My recent work has focused on recurrent memories, or memories of the personal past that spring to mind unintentionally and repetitively (sometimes called intrusive memories). For example, I have tackled questions like:

What predicts recurrent memories? 🔮

Are there properties of specific memories (e.g., their emotionality) or people (e.g., their age) that predict the quantity and/or quality of recurrent memories?

Are recurrent memories related to mental health? 🤕

Do recurrent memories and/or their properties predict symptoms of mental health disorders? Can individual differences (e.g., trait emotion regulation) alter these relationships?

What are recurrent memories about? 📝

What types of events do people have recurrent memories about? Can memory content (i.e., what people describe remembering) distinguish between those that are harmless or harmful?

How can computational methods enhance memory research? ⚙️

Can techniques like machine learning and natural language processing allow us to ask (and answer) new questions about autobiographical (real-life) memories?

Outside of research, I’m a fan of hipster music, hipster tabletop role-playing games, and insisting that I’m not actually a hipster.