People

A number of specific issues concerning the structure of lexical forms and their relation to grammatical, morphological and semantic information are being pursued. These issues are addressed through research with brain-damaged and normal subjects. The analysis of the impaired performance of brain-damaged subjects provides a window into the organization and structure of normal language processes and their possible neural substrates. Some of the specific issues currently being pursued are: 1) the structure of lexical-orthographic representations; 2) the representation of grammatical class information; and 3) the representation and processing of morphological structure. A related set of interests concerns the organization of the naming, reading and spelling systems as revealed through the analysis of acquired anomia, dyslexia, and dysgraphia. For example, what are the implications of the production of semantic errors in naming, reading and spelling for the structure of these processes? That is, what can we learn about the structure of semantic representations from the distribution of semantic errors in various word recognition and production tasks? Other issues being pursued in this area include 1) the organization of lexical and nonlexical processes in pronouncing and spelling words, and 2) the role of the graphemic buffer in reading and spelling.A more recent interest in my laboratory concerns a set of problems about visual perception and attention that have arisen from the investigation of patients with visual-spatial neglect and other visual processing neurological disorders. Visual neglect is a disorder in which a patient fails to attend or respond to a spatially-specific part of a stimulus. In our earlier research we have shown that there are several different types of visual-spatial neglect resulting from damage at different levels of visual representation. In our current work we are pursuing several questions: 1) what can we learn about the structure of different levels of representation in object recognition from the performance of neglect and agnosic patients? 2) what is the fate of the neglected part of a representation? and, 3) what is the role of attention at different levels of visual representation?
Research in my laboratory has principally focused on problems of lexical processing -- to understand the organization and processing structure of the lexical system and the nature of lexical representations.

Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory

I grew up in Lisbon, Portugal, where I received my BA in Psychology (2003; Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon). There I worked with Leonel Garcia Marques on topics of person perception, and Paulo Ventura on semantic memory. I then moved to Cambridge MA, USA, where I did my PhD (and MA) in Psychology at the Department of Psychology Harvard University (2011) with Alfonso Caramazza in the Cognitive Neuropsychology Laboratory and Ken Nakayama in the Vision Sciences Lab. I focused on the kinds of information that are processed unconsciously under continuous flash suppression, and on the processing of tools/manipulable objects. After my PhD I started working on the neural processing of tool items, focusing on how different types of tool-related information are processed in the brain and on how tool-related regions modulate the signal in other tool-related regions.

I am currently an Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences – University of Coimbra, Portugal. I am now focusing on how object-related information is mapped in the brain and how local object-selectively is defined within domain-specific networks via long-range connectivity. To do so I use fMRI, neuromodulation and behavioural testing. I am currently the PI of the first ERC grant in the field of Psychology in Portugal – ContentMAP. My core research topics are cognitive neuroscience, object recognition, neural organization of conceptual knowledge, category specificity in the brain, neuroplasticity, and effects of neurostimulation on neural processing. I am also dedicated to developing the cognitive sciences in Portugal and disseminating the importance of basic science – within both academia and society at large.

Proaction Lab

I study visual prediction in dynamic scenes, focusing on the rich environments that we navigate and interact with every day. I'm interested in questions such as: What are the mental and neural processes that allow us to predict how objects will behave in the coming moments? How do physical predictions shape perception and attention? How does the "mental physics engine" interact with other facets of cognition such as action planning, social cognition, and abstract reasoning? My lab studies a variety of topics related to these core questions using psychophysics and functional brain imaging. Much of our work is built on interactive experiments that engage participants in real-world and virtual reality games to assess their physical prediction abilities.
I studied mathematics as an undergraduate (BS, Mathematics, Pepperdine University, 2002) before shifting my focus to the neural mechanisms of visual attention in my PhD work (PhD, Psychology, University of California, Berkeley, 2012). I was a postdoctoral fellow at MIT for three years before joining the faculty of the Psychological and Brain Sciences at Johns Hopkins University in 2016. In September of 2024, I moved my lab to the University of Coimbra and joined the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences as an Associate Professor.

Dynamic Perception Lab

I am deeply fascinated by the brain's remarkable ability to process complex and rapidly-changing visual information to create a stable perception of the world. Throughout my scientific career, I have focused on two main goals: a) developing a comprehensive understanding of the brain's organization and cortical wiring through advanced computational models and novel methodologies, and b) unraveling the neural basis of visual processing in both health and disease. My passion for neuroscience was sparked during my undergraduate internships at Philips Research and the Wyss Institute. I hold a degree in Biomedical Engineering and Biophysics (2015) from the University of Lisbon. I later pursued a PhD in Computational Visual Neuroscience at the University of Groningen, where I combined MRI data with advanced computational models to investigate visual neuroplasticity in various health conditions. In 2020, I joined the Preclinical MRI Lab at the Champalimaud Foundation as a postdoctoral researcher, where I developed innovative, non-invasive methods to map rodent brain topography and ultrafast approaches to measure the directionality of information flow. Since September 2024, I have been an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the University of Coimbra. I am establishing my own lab in visual cognitive neuroscience, where I aim to advance our understanding of visual perception, predictive mechanisms, and neuroplasticity through computational modeling.

Visual Neuroscience Laboratory

Hoda Taghilou studied physics and cognitive neuroscience, and her research focuses on the perception of time and its neural underpinnings. Her background in physics—particularly Einstein’s theory of relativity—sparked her early interest in the subjective experience of time and its relation to the physical structure of the universe. These philosophical and scientific questions continue to shape her work.
Hoda's doctoral research examined how altered states of consciousness, such as hypnosis, influence time perception. She explored how brain activity patterns distinguish between subjective time overestimation and underestimation. This led her to broader questions about how the brain encodes the passage of time and how this encoding supports memory, anticipation, and the continuity of conscious experience.
More recently, her research has shifted toward visual neuroscience, with an emphasis on how the brain processes temporal information in dynamic visual scenes. Hoda uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate how temporally structured or static visual environments influence subjective time estimation and shape activity in the visual cortex and associated brain networks.
Hoda is especially interested in how visual predictions support temporal judgments and how the brain constructs a continuous experience of time from fragmented visual inputs. Her approach integrates experimental paradigms involving naturalistic visual stimuli, real-world dynamics, and immersive environments to better understand the neural basis of temporal awareness. As she continues her research, she focuses on visual neuroscience, particularly how visual context contributes to time perception, using fMRI and computational modeling.

Rebecca Lowndes obtained her PhD by Publication and MPSYCH degree in Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging at the University of York. She was a research technician at the York Neuroimaging Centre for six years, before becoming a research associate. At York, Rebecca's research focused on chromatic vision and using pRF methods in fMRI. She is currently a post-doc researcher at CogBooster. Currently, Rebecca is working on object perception and manipulation and exploring the idea of contentopic maps using fMRI and eye tracking methods.

Xingnan ZHAO received her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience (July 2023), an MSc in Developmental Psychology from Peking University (China), and a BSc in Psychology from China University of Political Science and Law. During her master's studies, she investigated children's cognition and reading development. For her PhD, she focused on the neuronal and computational mechanisms of visual perception, using two-photon calcium imaging on awake macaques. She also conducted psychophysical experiments to explore perceptual learning and the transfer of time perception in human adults.
Currently, Xingnan is a postdoctoral fellow at the CogBooster. Her main academic interests focus on how object knowledge is organized and represented both neurally and cognitively, using psychophysics, fMRI, and machine learning methods.

Azizeh Akbari holds a Bachelor's and a Master's degree in Biomedical Engineering from Hakim Sabzevari University. During her Master’s studies, she developed a strong interest in neuroscience through her research on fMRI-based classification of Alzheimer's disease using deep learning techniques. This experience sparked a broader curiosity about brain function, cognition, and neuroimaging methods. She has contributed to several research projects, including radiomics-based prediction for cancer diagnosis and survival, as well as fMRI-based classification methods for neurodegenerative disorders.

Azizeh is currently a research assistant in the Visual Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Coimbra, contributing to the CogBooster project. Her current work focuses on fMRI analysis and computational modeling of visual processing in the brain.

Beatriz Janicas did her Bachelor's in Psychology and a Cognitive Neuropsychology Research Master's at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She discovered her passion for Neurosciences during her studies at the University of Coimbra, and she knew since then that she wanted to do neuropsychological research and later teach. She's intrigued by how language changes our perception of the world and how humans make decisions. For the past year, she has been a part of the Junior Researcher Programme, investigating the interplay between metabolic state, impulsivity, self-control, and their combined effects on risk-seeking behaviour. She is working within the CogBooster project in research on language deficits.

José Gomes graduated in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Aveiro in 2022 and completed his Master's degree in Biomedical Research at the University of Coimbra in 2024. With a deep-rooted interest in neuroscience, José has long been fascinated by philosophical questions about the human brain, such as how we think, form memories, and experience emotions, and more recently, how we perceive and recognize objects in the visual world. This curiosity fuels his passion to understand the mind and explore the tools that allow us to study its complex processes.

During his Master's thesis, José worked with fMRI data and machine learning algorithms to identify patterns of neural activity. Now, as a Research Assistant, he aims to continue developing his expertise in cognitive neuroscience and machine learning, applying these techniques to further investigate how the brain processes visual information and recognizes objects.

Luca Serrière has obtained a BSc in Psychology and a MSc in Neuropsychology at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. He has conducted research concerning visual cognitive processing of simple stimuli, identifying biases and completion strategies of partially occluded objects. At CogBooster Luca's focus is on visual perception, studying how the different properties of visual objects will affect their processing in our brain.

Patrícia Fernandes did her Bachelor's in Psychology and her Master's in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Coimbra. She has long been interested in neuroscience and this interest grew deeper when she had contact with the field of consciousness neuroscience. For the past three years she has been working on decision-making and consciousness projects. With a desire to expand her knowledge of cognitive neuroscience, she joined the Dynamic Perception Lab to study intuitive physics.

Leonor Pais is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Coimbra, Portugal. Portuguese Coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Work, Organizational, and Personnel Psychology. Member of the Center for Research in Neuropsychology and Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (CINEICC), her research interests mainly focus on knowledge management, human resources management, and decent work. She has been a Principal Investigator and team member in National and European-funded projects and the scientific supervisor of several Ph.D. and Master Theses. As visiting professor, she was in mobility at the University of Portland, the Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Puerto Rico (United States), the University of Guelph (Canada), the Universities of Barcelona and Valencia (Spain), the University of Bologna (Italy), IFZ (Austria), the University of Prague (Czech Republic), the University of Leipzig (Germany), UNISINOS and the University of Caxias do Sul (Brazil) and the University of Katyawala Bwila (Angola). She carries out university management tasks and has been an evaluator of proposals for scientific projects (Funding Agency for Science, Research, and Technology). She has published books, book chapters, and articles in national and international journals as an author and co-author.

Maria Paula Paixão is currently Associate Professor of Psychology at the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences of the University of Coimbra. She teaches Motivation and Emotion at the undergraduate level and several courses in Educational Psychology both at the Master and at the Doctoral levels of the Psychology training programme at the University of Coimbra. She currently serves as Dean of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences. She has several international publications on the topics of counseling psychology and motivation and time perspective.

Óscar F. Gonçalves is currently a Full Professor at the Portucalense Infante D. Henrique University and a retired Full Professor of Neuropsychology at the University of Coimbra, Portugal. He has held teaching positions at the University of Porto (Assistant Professor), University of California Santa Barbara (Assistant Professor) and Northeastern University (Full Professor and Chair of the Department of Applied Psychology), as well as Full Professor and Director at the School of Psychology of the University of Minho. He graduated in Psychology from the University of Porto, in Portugal, and completed two doctorates: one in Psychotherapy and Counseling at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst – USA; and another in Neurosciences from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Santiago de Compostela – Spain.

Professor Óscar Gonçalves is a board-certified specialist in clinical and health psychology, with advanced specialties in both neuropsychology and psychotherapy. He is currently Coordinator of the PhD Program in Clinical Psychology and Counseling at Portucalense University. He is the author of more than 200 publications and 11 books. Professor Gonçalves is part of the editorial board of several international journals, being a former associate editor and current editor of the International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology (Elsevier). Among the various academic awards received, the Engº António de Almeida Foundation Award, the Aumni to Watch Award from the University of Massachusetts, the Research Award from the School of Psychology of the University of Minho, Honorable Mention from the Bial Prize for Clinical Medicine, the Research Award from the University of Coimbra and the Pedagogical Innovation Award from the University of Coimbra stand out.

Cláudia Cavadas is associate professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Coimbra and Group Leader of “Neuroendocrinology and Aging group” at Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Coimbra.
Cláudia Cavadas is co-author of 100 international publications and principal investigator, supervised more then 50 students, and coordinates several funded national and international projects. She was the former elected President of the Portuguese Society of Pharmacology (since 2016); and Vice-director of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra (2011-2013). As a PhD student, with a national grant, Claudia Cavadas spent 3 years at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland.

Cavadas was the former Vice-rector for research of the University of Coimbra (2019-2023), and Director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research of the University of Coimbra (2019-2023).

Paul Downing bachelor’s degree was in Cognitive Science from UCLA (1992), after which he completed a PhD in Psychology at Princeton University with Prof Anne Treisman (1998). After postdoctoral work at MIT with Prof Nancy Kanwisher (1998-2000), he was appointed Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Bangor University. In 2010 he was promoted to Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience. From 2008-17, Paul Downing served as Deputy Head of College (Research) for the College of Health and Behavioural Sciences, and for academic year 17/18 he was acting Dean of the College. He currently chairs the School’s MRI Steering Group which oversaw the tender and selection process for their new 3T system, which was installed in October 2019. From September 2020 he has been associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for research at Bangor University.

Downing Lab

Mel Goodale is a Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Western University. His early work, in which he demonstrated that the visual control of action is functionally independent of conscious visual perception, laid the foundation for the Goodale-Milner ‘duplex’ account of high-level vision. This account provides a convincing resolution to conflicting accounts of visual function that have characterized much of the work in the field for the last one hundred years. Over the last two decades, he has carried out neuroimaging and psychophysical research that has refined and extended the two-visual-systems proposal. These ideas have had an enormous influence in the life sciences and medicine, and the two-visual-systems proposal is now part of almost every textbook in vision, cognitive neuroscience, and psychology.

In 1999, Goodale was awarded the Donald O. Hebb Distinguished Contribution Award (CSBBCS). In 2007, he was awarded the Hellmuth Prize for Scientific Achievement (Western) and, in 2008, the Richard C. Tees Award for Distinguished Leadership (CSBBCS). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Royal Society of London (UK). In 2016, he was appointed as an Ivey Fellow by the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Zoe Kourtzi is Professor of Computational Cognitive Neuroscience at the Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge. Her experimental work aims to understand the role of lifelong learning and brain plasticity in enabling humans of all ages to translate sensory experience into adaptive behaviours. Her computational work aims to develop predictive models of brain and mental health based on large-scale population data. Her work has translational impact in the early diagnosis and design of personalised interventions in healthy ageing, dementia and mental health disorders. Zoe received her PhD from Rutgers University and was postdoctoral fellow at MIT and Harvard University. She was a Senior Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics and then a Chair in Brain Imaging at the University of Birmingham. She moved to the University of Cambridge in 2013 and she is the Angharad Dodds John Fellow at Downing College. She is a Royal Society Industry Fellow, Fellow and Cambridge University Lead at the Alan Turing Institute, and the Science Lead for Alzheimer's Research UK Initiative on Early Detection of Neurodegenerative Diseases (EDoN).

Adaptive Brain Lab

Angelika Lingnau is Heisenberg Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Regensburg. Her research focuses among other things on imaging processes, perception, planning and recognition of actions, and organizational principles of the brain.

Isabel Pavão Martins is a neurologist who completed her medical training in Neurology at the Hospital de Sta Maria in Lisbon and also at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London. She is currently Associate Professor of Neurology at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Lisbon (FMUL), Investigator at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular and Consultant Neurologist at the Hospital de Sta Maria.
She is currently the Coordinator of the Curricular Unit of Neurosciences and Psychiatry and of the Foundation skills of FMUL. She was President of the Portuguese Society of Neurology (2008-2010) and President of the Pedagogic Council of the Lisbon Faculty of Medicine (2015-2017). Her main research interests are Headache and Behavioral Neurology. She has 180 scientific publications in those fields.

Pedro B. Albuquerque is Associate Professor of the Department of Basic Psychology of the School of Psychology (University of Minho). He is the President of the Ethics Committee for Research in Social and Human Sciences at the University of Minho and published several articles in peer-review journals, mainly on human memory, and has several published chapters.

He also supervised several PhD students, almost all funded by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT).

His major area of interest is the Psychology of Memory, with several studies ongoing in the Research Group in Human Memory of the Psychology Research Center - University of Minho.

Human Memory of the Psychology Research Center

Mariana Coimbra obtained her BA and Master’s degree in Communication and Journalism from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and she's now doing a PhD in Communication Sciences. She worked as a journalist in national newspapers like Público (as a trainee) and in Expresso. Shortly after, Mariana developed an interest in corporate communication and became a Communication Specialist, working in different areas. For more than a decade Mariana was a Communication and Corporate Social Responsibility Manager of a Health Clinic. Mariana is now working on the communication and project management of the CogBooster.