5th year Graduate Student
Office: 211 Qureshey Research Laboratory
E-mail: stephanie.leal@jhu.edu
Biosketch:
Stephanie graduated with a B.S. in Biopsychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is interested in the neurobiology of memory and alterations to memory systems in the aging brain. She examines how modulatory factors such as emotion, stress, and depression affect memory performance and function in the medial temporal lobes. She focuses on the interaction of mood dysregulation in depression and cognitive decline in aging and Alzheimer’s disease. Stephanie uses multimodal imaging (structural, functional, and diffusion MRI) to examine the human brain.
Stephanie will defend her dissertation in the Spring of 2016 and has accepted a position as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley with Dr. William Jagust where she will be investigating the effect of tau and amyloid pathology on memory consolidation in cognitively normal aging.
Awards and Honors:
- Robert and Dorothy Waldrop Research Fellowship
- Collaborative Student Research Award
- National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship Honorable Mention
- NIH T32 Predoctoral Training Fellowship
- Alzheimer’s Association International Conference Travel Fellowship
- Summer Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience Fellowship
Publications:
- Leal, S.L., Yassa, M.A. (2013) Perturbations of Neural Circuitry in Aging, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer’s Disease. Ageing Research Reviews 12(3):823-831.
- Leal, S.L., Tighe, S.K., Yassa, M.A. (2014) Asymmetric effects of emotion on mnemonic interference. Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, 111: 41-48.
- Anderson, B.A., Leal, S.L., Hall, M.G., Yassa, M.A., Yantis, S. (2014) The attribution of value-based attentional priority in individuals with depressive symptoms. Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Neuroscience. I14(4), 1221-1227.
- Leal, S.L., Tighe, S.K., Jones, C.K., Yassa, M.A. (2014) Pattern separation of emotional information in hippocampal dentate and CA3. Hippocampus, 24:41-48.
- Leal, S.L., Yassa, M.A. (2014) Effects of aging on mnemonic discrimination of emotional information Behavioral Neuroscience, 128(5), 539-547.
- Leal, S.L., Yassa, M.A. (2015). Chapter 2: The aging hippocampus: a cross-species examination. Preservation of Memory, Psychology Press (Taylor and Francis)
- Leal, S.L., Yassa, M.A. (2015) Neurocognitive Aging and the Hippocampus across Species Trends in Neurosciences 38(12):800-812.
- Reagh, Z.M., Ho, H.D., Leal, S.L., Noche, J.A., Chun, A., Murray, E.A., Yassa, M.A.(2016) Greater loss of object than spatial mnemonic discrimination in aged adults. Hippocampus. 2015 DOI: 10.1002/hipo.22562.
- Leal, S.L.*, Noche, J.A.*, Murray, E.A., Yassa, M.A. (2016) Positivity Effect Specific to Older Adults with Subclinical Memory Impairment. Learning and Memory. In Press. * Co-first authors
Posters:
- Leal, S., Yassa, M. (2014). Effects of aging on mnemonic discrimination of emotional information. Society for Neuroscience.
- Carlos, K., Leal, S., Roberts, J., Yassa, M. (2014). The effect of reward on discrimination in a visual pattern separation task. UCI MSTP Retreat, Lake Arrowhead.
- Anderson, B. A., Leal, S. L., Hall, M. G., Yassa, M. A., & Yantis, S. (2014). The attribution of value-based attentional priority in individuals with depressive symptoms. Paper presented at the annual Object Perception, Attention, and Memory (OPAM) conference, Long Beach, CA.
- Partow, C., Leal, S.L., & Yassa, M. (2014). The Relationship Between Sleep Hours, Emotional Memory, and Neurophysiological Response. JHU PURA Recognition Ceremony.
- Leal, S.L., Tighe, S.K., Jones, C.K, Yassa, M.A. (2013). High-resolution fMRI Reveals Amygdala and Hippocampal Dentate/CA3 Dynamics During Emotional Pattern Separation. Society for Neuroscience.
- Tighe, S., Leal, S.L., Stark, S.M., Stark, C.E., Yassa, M.A. (2013). Resting State fMRI Functional Connectivity in Individuals with Mild Cognitive Impairment. International Neuropsychological Society.
- Leal, S. , Tighe, S., Stark, S.M., Stark, C.E., Yassa, M.A. (2013). Age-related alterations in intrinsic functional connectivity networks measured with resting state fMRI. International Neuropsychological Society.
- Leal, S.L., McNary, G., Levitt, E., & Yassa, M.A. (2012). A dual role for amygdala-mediated emotional modulation of hippocampal pattern separation. Society for Neuroscience.
- Yassa, M.A., Leal, S.L., McNary, G., & Levitt, E. (2012). Pattern separation of negative emotional stimuli is enhanced in depressed adults. Society for Neuroscience.
- Tighe, S., Leal, S.L., Stark, S., Stark, C., Lyketsos, C., & Yassa, M. (2012). Anterior cingulate connectivity in depressed, cognitively impaired older adults. International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology.
Presentations:
- Leal, S.L. (2014). Emotional modulation of memory in depression and cognitive aging. UCI NeuroBlitz.
- Leal, S.L. (2014). Emotional modulation of memory: Alterations in the medial temporal lobe. UCI NeuroBlitz.
- Leal, S.L. (2014). Emotional modulation of memory: Alterations in the medial temporal lobe. Psychological & Brain Sciences Seminar.
- Leal, S.L. (2013). Pattern separation of emotional information. Psychological & Brain Sciences Biopsychology Area Seminar.
- Leal, S.L. (2013). Amygdala-mediated emotional modulation of hippocampal pattern separation. Psychological & Brain Sciences Seminar.
- Leal, S.L. (2013). Amygdala-mediated emotional modulation of hippocampal pattern separation. Datablitz presented at the Winter Conference for Neurobiology of Learning & Memory, Park City, UT.
- Leal, S.L. (2012). Amygdala-mediated emotional modulation of hippocampal memory. Psychological & Brain Sciences Biopsychology Area Seminar.
- Leal, S.L. (2012). Emotional modulation of hippocampal memory. Psychological & Brain Sciences Cognitive Area Seminar.
- Leal, S.L. (2011). Emotional modulation of hippocampal memory in healthy and depressed adults. Psychological & Brain Sciences Seminar.