Meet the Team
Principle Investigator
Laura Corbit, PhD
Laura completed her PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles, studying the neural basis of goal-directed learning and Pavlovian influences on responding. She then moved to the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco where she completed postdoctoral training studying the role of habits in alcohol use and abuse. From there she moved to the University of Sydney, Australia where she continued her work on the neural bases of instrumental learning with a focus on how experiences such as exposure to drugs, stress or different diets impact the circuits that underlie goal-directed and habitual control. In 2017 she joined the Department of Psychology at the University of Toronto where her lab continues this work.
Graduate Students
Zac Pierce-Messick, MA
I earned my Master’s Degree in Psychology from Wake Forest University in North Carolina and am now entering my fifth year of PhD studies at UofT. My Master’s thesis explored the relationship between impulsivity and binge-like eating in rats that were maintained on a limited access schedule to highly palatable food (Oreo cookies). I am currently interested in the relationship between cognitive load and behavioral control. In my free time, I enjoy writing music and playing traditional folk/Celtic songs.
Ashleigh Brink
I completed my undergraduate studies here at the University of Toronto in the psychology research specialist program, conducting projects under the supervision of Dr. Laura Corbit and Dr. Junchul Kim. I am now in the second year of my PhD in CSB, where I am investigating the role of the locus coeruleus (LC), and more broadly, the intersection of noradrenaline and dopamine in appetitive prediction error learning. I am also currently implementing the lab’s new fibre photometry system. Outside of the lab, I enjoy playing music and watching F1.
Undergraduate Students
(left to right) Gabrielle Desilets, Elaine Xu, Ellie Yao, Shivahn Garvie
Lab Alum
(left to right) Benjamin-Israel Moke (MSc), Jaec Emtage (MSc), Simon Lui (Postdoc), Megan Shipman (Postdoc)