Group Lead
 |
Assoc Prof Trevor Chong, BMedSc(Hons), MB,BS(Hons), PhD, FRACP
Twitter @trevor_chong
A/Prof Chong is a neurologist and cognitive neuroscientist, who leads the Cognitive Neurology Laboratory at Monash University. He completed his undergraduate research and medical degrees with Honours at Monash, before undertaking doctoral training at the University of Melbourne and MIT. Upon being admitted to Fellowship of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, he was awarded an NHMRC Neil Hamilton Fairley Early Career Fellowship, which he took to Oxford. He leads the Monash Cognitive Neurology Laboratory, and consults at St Vincent's Hospital and Alfred Health in Melbourne. |
Current Members
 |
Claire Cadwallader, PhD Candidate
Twitter @ClaireJCad
Claire is a PhD (Clinical Neuropsychology) candidate. Originally from New Zealand, she completed a BSc (Hons) with first class at the University of Otago and the University of Auckland. Her PhD research investigates acute exercise as a modifier of neural plasticity in healthy ageing, using transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography techniques. She also works as a research assistant at the Royal Melbourne Hospital on biomarker and clinical intervention studies in younger-onset dementia. |
 |
Emily Colton, PhD Candidate
Twitter @EColtonPsych
Emily holds a BA in Applied Sociology from the University of Leicester (UK) and BSc (Honours) in Psychology from Monash, which included researching the neural correlates of curiosity in the CogNeuro lab. She is currently undertaking her PhD in research, focusing on decision-making dysfunctions in addictions and disordered eating. |
 |
Patrick Cooper, BPsych(Hons), PhD., Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Twitter @neurocoops
Patrick received a Bachelor of Psychology with First Class Honours from The University of Newcastle in 2012 before completing his PhD in 2017. In 2016, he undertook a joint research stay at the University of the Balearic Islands in Spain and the University of Cambridge, UK to develop novel EEG analyses for patients with focal brain lesions. He has also developed brain-computer interfaces to allow people to play simple video games without their hands. He is currently a postdoctoral research fellow in the Cognitive Neurology Laboratory using EEG and eye-tracking to understand the neural mechanisms of curiosity and information-seeking behaviour. |
 |
Dylan Curtin, PhD Candidate
Dylan's research focuses on the neurophysiological and neuropharmacological mechanisms of learning, including how these processes may be modulated by cardiorespiratory exercise. |
 |
Katherine Franks, PhD Candidate
Katherine is a Clinical Neuropsychology Registrar at Austin Health. She is interested in the neuropsychology of healthy ageing, mild cognitive impairment and dementia, and her research focuses on modifiable risk factors for dementia. |
 |
Jocelyn Halim, PhD Candidate
Jocelyn completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) with majors in Psychology and Physiology at Monash University in 2021. As part of her PhD research, she is investigating the mechanisms driving curiosity and novelty seeking, with a focus on perceptual curiosity and decision-making. She also works as a neuroimaging research assistant at the Florey Institute. |
 |
Amy Huynh, Research Assistant
Amy completed her Bachelor of Psychology with First Class Honours at Monash University in 2019. Since graduating, Amy has worked as a behaviour therapist at a child psychology clinic. She joined the Monash Cognitive Neurology team again as a research assistant to further develop her passion for research in neurodegeneration and is currently working on a project investigating the role of dopamine in learning and decision-making. |
 |
Huw Jarvis, PhD Candidate
Twitter @huwbris
Huw received a BMedSc with first class Honours from the University of Tasmania in 2012, and a Masters of Public Health from the University of Melbourne in 2015. His Honours project investigated the role of neurofilament in resisting diffuse axonal injury. Huw’s interest in public health led him to roles in health policy, including internships at the Grattan Institute (Melbourne) and the World Health Organization headquarters (Geneva). He began his PhD after working in research translation and clinical guideline development at the NHMRC. His current research focuses on characterising the computational and neurobiological interactions between motivation and reinforcement learning. Huw's PhD has been supported by the Rebecca L Cooper Medical Research Foundation. |
 |
Matthew Jiwa, PhD Candidate
Twitter @MattJiwa
Matthew is a PhD candidate at the University of Melbourne studying the contextual factors and characteristics of information that drive us to seek it. His research combines experimental design from cognitive psychology with computational modelling to investigate information-seeking behaviour. Check out his website here. |
 |
Alex Robinson, PhD Candidate
Alex's research focuses on identifying and treating decision-making deficits in methamphetamine use disorder. |
 |
Bridgitt Shea, PhD Candidate
Bridgitt completed a Bachelor of Science with Honours at Monash University in 2017. Her Honours project investigated how neurophysiological signals of attention and evidence accumulation are modulated by the speed-accuracy trade-off. She began her PhD in 2018, which is focused on understanding neurochemical modulators of perceptual decision-making, using a combination of electrophysiology, genetics and pharmacological interventions. Bridgitt also hold the role of lab social secretary, with a respectful rate of successful outings currently at 95%. |
 |
Eleanor Taylor, PhD Candidate
Elly's resarch focuses on understanding the benefits of aerobic exercise on the brain, particularly on dopamine transmission and learning. |
