Dr. Indre Viskontas Principal Investigator

Dr. Viskontas (she/her) is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of San Francisco. Well, you probably already knew that since you’ve navigated to her website.

Rosalie Juviler -

Research Assistant

Rosalie Juviler is a fourth-year psychology major with a neuroscience minor at USF. She is also a multimedia artist which informs her interest in exploring the mutually beneficial relationship between artistic expression and scientific practices.

Sarah Purcell -

Lab Manager

Sarah Purcell is a senior psychology major with neuroscience and philosophy minors at USF. As an artist, she is invested in understanding the intersection of creativity and neuroscience. Within the lab, Sarah helps supervise and organize our ongoing projects. Please feel free to email her with any questions: spurcell@dons.usfca.edu.

Sanya Ansari -

Research Assistant

Sanya Ansari (she/her/hers) is currently a senior at USF. She is interested in the connection between creativity and mental health, particularly how creative expression intersects with and impacts people who are experiencing grief. As well as how creativity is implemented in therapeutic techniques and how these intersections impact people of different communities, cultures, and in different places in the world.

Fania Villarreal -

Research Assistant

Fania Villarreal (she/her/hers) is a junior Honors College student studying Psychology and Music at USF. She is a lifelong, classical violinist and is working toward a career that integrates music and psychology. Her interests also include making art and learning to play guitar.

Former Lab Members

Alexis Callanta- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Alexis Callanta (she/her) is a recent USF graduate and a non-traditional pre-medical student majoring in psychology with a minor in neuroscience and child and youth studies. Though she wants to pursue medicine in the future, she currently works with kids, this profession intertwining with her research interest. This research interest focuses on how creativity is developed in the formative years of children as well as how creativity can affect behavior.

Laynee Daniels- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Laynee Daniels (she/her) is a USF graduate who double major in Psychology and Performing Arts/Social Justice (Music concentration) with minors in Neuroscience and Health Studies, and is interested in studying the intersection of various music-related interventions with autistic individuals. 

Isabella Hartley- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Isabella Hartley (she/her) is a senior psychology major with a neuroscience minor at USF. Her interests are directed towards the neuronal effects of dance and music and how we can benefit from their application to therapies. 

Emma Gaut- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Emma Gaut (she/her/hers) is Psychology major in the Honors College and dance has always been an important aspect of her life. Because of her years of experience as a dancer and a ballet instructor, Emma is especially interested in exploring the impact that creativity through somatic movement, such as dance, can have.

Adrian Mercado- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Adrian Mercado (he/him/his) is a USF graduate and was a lab assistant for the Creative Brain Lab! He is interested in testing the endowment effect and creative decisions! 

Olivia Flores- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Olivia (she/her/hers) is currently a Junior Psychology major at USF. She is interested in studying the relationship between creativity and anxiety. Previous research has demonstrated that when individuals are given a creative task, it results in higher levels of anxiety (Daker et al., 2020). To further the research in this field, Olivia plans to focus on the different characteristics of creativity that potentially induce anxiety (ambiguity, lack of structure, absence of clear 'right' or 'wrong') to determine what exactly about creativity creates feelings of anxiety in individuals.

Ashwini Pullur- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Ashwini Pullur (she/her) is a junior Biology major and Neuroscience minor. She is interested in studying creativity in dance and the brain, specifically I'm projects related to performance anxiety in order to see the effects dance has on mental health. Dancing has always been a big part of her life and she is excited to be a part of this lab to study it from a psychological perspective. 

MJ Schneider- Undergraduate Research Assistant

MJ graduated with a B.A. in psychology from the University of San Francisco in 2021 and now works as a Research Specialist in the Princeton Social Neuroscience Lab. MJ studies social cognition, memory, and social connection using behavioral and fMRI techniques. Twitter: @MJSchneider5

Divya Shridar- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Divya Shridar (she/her/hers) is a junior Data Science major and is interested in studying the intersection of neuroscience and creativity, specifically, the relationship between dance, neural connections, and neurodegenerative disorders. 

Stephanie Amoukhteh- Lab Manager

Stephanie Amoukhteh (she/her) is a senior psychology major with a minor in neuroscience. She is interested in neuropsychology as well as the neuroscience behind creativity.

Taro Boyd- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Taro Boyd (he/him/his), is currently a 4th year at USF and is interested in studying exercise, motivation, sleep, and circadian rhythm.

Vi Thuy Vo- Undergraduate Research Assistant

Vi Thuy Vo (she/her) is a USF graduate with a Psychology major. She has been drawing for most of her life and is really interested in learning how different forms of artistic creativity can impact the brain processes and functions.

Participate in our studies or get in touch!