Keynotes 2026
The EPA program committee is excited to offer a program of keynote addresses from outstanding researchers across the broad spectrum of psychological specialties. Be sure to join us February 26th through 28th for another exciting EPA conference featuring these lectures plus papers, posters and symposia that explore the frontier of basic science and application.
Presidential Invited Keynote
Nathan M. Holmes, Ph.D.
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia
Title: Two States of Information Processing in the Basolateral Amygdala and Perirhinal Cortex
Description: My laboratory uses sensory preconditioning protocols to study how fear spreads to past associates of stimuli that signal danger. Using these protocols, we have shown that the spread of fear is due to formation of mediated associations involving the past associates and danger; and that these mediated associations are supported by two regions of the medial temporal lobe - the basolateral amygdala complex and perirhinal cortex. Here, I argue that the specific roles of the basolateral amygdala and perirhinal cortex in sensory preconditioning can be grounded in a modification of Wagner's (1981) information processing theory: Standard Operating Procedures in Memory (mSOP). Specifically, I argue that the basolateral amygdala instantiates a focal state of information processing with limited capacity and that the perirhinal cortex instantiates a peripheral state of information processing with a much greater capacity. I then consider the potential utility of mSOP as a general theory of information processing in the basolateral amygdala and perirhinal cortex.
EPA Presidential Keynote
Jef Lamoureux, Ph.D.
Associate Dean, Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences;
Boston College
Title: Context and Attention in Extinction: A First-Generation Scientist’s Story
Description: First-hand experience in research increases a sense of academic belonging for under-represented students. Here, I describe my journey as a first-generation college student into science and academia, including my current work supporting students from a variety of under-represented groups. I will focus on the research my colleagues and I have conducted suggesting that a change in learned predictive contingencies (e.g., extinction training) causes both humans and non-humans to increase their attention to environmental context cues.
Teaching of Psychology Keynote: APA Harry Kirke Wolfe Lecture
Bridgette Martin Hard, Ph.D.
Professor of the Practice of Psychology and Neuroscience
Duke University
Title: Better Together: Evidence-Based Strategies to Foster Collaborative Thinking
Effective collaboration is crucial for students’ future success. This presentation offers innovative, evidence-based strategies to nurture collaboration in the classroom. We will explore methods for scaffolding collaboration in group projects to improve student outcomes and a reimagined framework for class participation that transforms discussions into collaborative learning experiences.
Psi Chi Keynote
Elizabeth A. Kensinger, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology & Neuroscience,
Boston College
Title: The Life of an Emotional Memory
Description: Any experience can become a durable memory, but this transition is more likely to occur when experiences evoke emotion. Emotional memories are born via a cascade of processes that shape what information is retained or forgotten. Over time, and especially during offline periods such as sleep, these memories develop, and select aspects are highlighted. When brought to mind via retrieval, another cascade of processes unfolds, further molding the memory and guiding its impacts on judgments and behaviors. In this talk, I will review research with my laboratory members and collaborators to understand the life of a negative, positive, or mixed-valence emotional memory. I also will consider how the life of an emotional memory differs over the course of adulthood, particularly in how the memory is framed.
Developmental Keynote
Elizabeth Spelke, Ph. D.
Marshall L. Berkman Professor of Psychology
Harvard University
Title: Educability
Description: All healthy infants and preschool children have numerical and geometrical concepts that can support learning of mathematics in primary school. Despite this endowment, however, many children fail to learn math up to their potential. By drawing on the results of studies of learning of mathematics in preschool children, as well as some randomized evaluations of recent curricular interventions for mathematics in primary schools, I will discuss some factors that may foster all children’s learning in school.
R.L. Solomon Behavioral Neuroscience/Learning Keynote
Michael J Frank, Ph.D.
Edgar L Marston Professor of Cognitive & Psychological Sciences; Director of Center for Computational Brain Science, Brown University
Title: Disentangling working memory contributions to reinforcement learning using computational modeling and EEG
Description: Learning from rewards and punishments is essential to survival and facilitates flexible human behavior. It is widely appreciated that multiple cognitive and reinforcement learning systems contribute to decision-making, but the nature of their interactions is elusive. We leverage methods for extracting trial-by-trial indices of reinforcement learning (RL) and working memory (WM) in human electro-encephalography to reveal single-trial computations beyond that afforded by behavior alone. Neural dynamics confirmed that increases in neural expectation were predictive of reduced neural surprise in the following feedback period, supporting central tenets of RL models. Within- and across-trial dynamics revealed a cooperative interplay between systems for learning, in which WM contributes expectations to guide RL. This interaction leads to paradoxical improvements in future retention of stimulus-response contingencies when working memory is overloaded, due to enhanced neural prediction errors. Together, these results provide a deeper understanding of how multiple neural systems interact for learning and decision-making and facilitate analysis of their disruption in clinical populations.
Teaching of Psychology Invited Speaker
Sue Frantz
Professor (Emerita) Highline College
Title: An Intro Psych Course That Matters: What Our Neighbors Need to Know
Cognitive Keynote
Timothy Vickery, PhD
Title: Local organization and the perception of spatial relationships
Description: Grouping and segmentation give rise to graded levels of perceptual organization, from loosely associated elements to clearly defined objects. Perceptual organization leads to systematic spatial distortions. The distortions are maximal for clearly defined objects, but variations in the strength of organization produce distortions in proportion to the apparent degree of organization of the local regions. Spatial distortions offer a window into how the visual system structures space.
