Team

Chris graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2010 with a major in psychology and a minor in philosophy. He then completed a PhD in cognitive science in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences at Brown University in 2015. Following graduate school, he was a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In 2018, he joined the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland where he now teaches developmental psychology and directs the CMND Lab.

Wanzhen joined the CMND Lab in 2024 as a PhD student after completing her Master of Science with a major in cognitive psychology in China. With an undergraduate background in law, she developed a strong interest in how individuals regulate their behavior, which later led her to pursue research in intentional inhibition. Her current research focuses on understanding the nature of inhibitory control across different types of tasks. She is also interested in using VR tasks that better capture inhibitory processes in ecologically valid settings. Wanzhen is supervised by Chris Erb and Matthew Egbert.

Tom joined the lab in 2024 as a PhD student following the completion of a Master of Educational Psychology degree and a Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Psychology Practice at Victoria University of Wellington. A registered educational psychologist, Tom is interested in the complexities of numerical cognition and how this can further our understanding of developmental dyscalculia. He is supervised by Willow Sainsbury, Chris Erb, and Jason Stephens.

Max completed his BE(hons)/BSc conjoint in 2022 with majors in software engineering and cognitive psychology. In 2023, he joined the CMND lab as a research assistant and then as a PhD student. Max is interested in the use of virtual reality as an immersive and ecologically valid psychological testing tool. Supervised by Chris Erb, Reece Roberts, and Matthew Egbert, Max is using virtual reality to investigate visually-guided action and event segmentation effects in memory.

Inanna joined the CMND Lab as a Masters student in 2022 after completing her Bachelor of Science (Hons) in neuroscience and psychology. Her research uses electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate the developmental trajectories of cognitive control and frontal-midline theta brainwave oscillations. Inanna is co-advised by Ian Kirk, co-director of the Cognitive Neuroimaging, Neuroplasticity and Neurodevelopment Laboratory. 

Kai completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology in 2016. She spent three years working as a mental health counsellor before completing her postgraduate diploma in 2020. Kai’s MSc research focused on individual differences in the allocation of visual attention. Her PhD work explores individuals differences in cognitive control.

Alex joined the CMND lab in 2022 while completing a Graduate Diploma in Psychology. Alex has a BA and LLB (Hons) and has worked for the last 20 years in law, but is now interested in human cognition, machine learning and artificial intelligence, in particular the interplay of automatic and controlled processes in decision-making. Alex is currently conducting research investigating the links between curiosity, personality, and cognitive control.

Daniele completed his Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Communication at the University of Milan – Bicocca in 2018. He joined the University of Auckland in 2021 as an Honours student. He is now starting a PhD working with Paul Corballis, director of the Cognitive Psychophysiology Lab, and is co-advised by Christopher Erb. He is interested in investigating the neural correlates of consciousness using EEG, eye-tracking and whatever other machinery he can get his hands on. He has a second identity as a magician and his assistant is a tiny blue plunger.

Natasha completed her Bachelor of Advanced Science (Hons) in computational biology in 2024. She is interested in artificial life and helping us better our understanding what it means to “be alive”. Supervised by Matthew Egbert and Chris Erb, her PhD focuses on the perceptual experience and uses computational methods to analyse sensorimotor dynamics.

Sean joined the lab in 2021 as an Honours student after completing a BA in psychology and English literature. Sean’s main area of interest is how neurodivergence affects online cognitions and what this can tell us about learning disabilities. Sean is now pursuing a degree in Clinical Psychology and conducting research on the benefits of play for adults.

Himashi joined the CMND lab in 2025 as an Honours student after completing her Bachelor’s degree in psychology. Himashi’s research uses virtual reality and reach tracking to investigate the dynamics of perspective switching in adults.

Benjamin joined the CMND lab in 2024 as an Honours student, completing a Bachelors of Advanced Science in Psychology. Benjamin’s research utilises Virtual Reality to investigate the dynamics of attention captures in a 3D environment.