People

Dr. Casey L. Roark
she/her

Casey Roark is the director of the Computation, Learning, and Representation (CLEAR) Lab and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire. Dr. Roark received her PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience from Carnegie Mellon University and then completed an NIH-NRSA postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. She joined the Department of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire in Fall 2023. She is interested in understanding the computational and neural mechanisms involved in perceptual category learning. She investigates these mechanisms through behavioral analysis, computational models, and pupillometry.

Curriculum Vitae
Email: [email protected]

Graduate Students

Hooman Amiri
he/him

Hooman is a second year Ph.D. student in Psychology at the University of New Hampshire. Hooman previously received a PhD from Payame Noor University in Marketing Management with a focus on neuromarketing and consumer decision-making. His current research interests center on multisensory category learning, perceptual decision-making, and the cognitive mechanisms that underlie decisions in multisensory environments resembling real-world settings. Hooman is particularly interested in connecting concepts from cognitive psychology to real-world consumer psychology, and is motivated to contribute to the growing intersection of these fields.

Email: [email protected]

Lyra Joson
she/her/hers

Lyra is a first year PhD student in Psychology at the University of New Hampshire. She is a proud alumnus of the University of New Hampshire where she pursued a double major in Psychology and Linguistics. Her academic interests lie in psycholinguistics, exploring the fascinating intersection of language and cognitive processes. Passionate about research, she is dedicated to understanding how people acquire, process, and use language.

Email: [email protected]

Ghazal Koohkansaadi
she/her

Ghazal is a second-year PhD student in Psychology at the University of New Hampshire working primarily with Dr. Brett Gibson. She earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree while pursuing research in behavioral neuroscience. Her interests focus on learning across species and understanding how it develops in both animals and humans especially children.

Email: [email protected]

Hedieh Nejatmand Malari
she/her

Hedieh is a second year PhD student in Psychology at the University of New Hampshire.

Email: [email protected]

Undergraduate and Post-Baccalaureate Student Researchers

Crystal Acuna-Wyatt
she/her

Crystal is a graduate student in the Mind, Brain, and Education program at the University of Texas at Arlington, where she is also completing a certificate track in Instructional Learning Design Technology. A licensed New Hampshire educator, Crystal has nearly a decade of classroom experience and LETRS Science of Reading training. Her research interests center around the science of learning, examining how cognitive load interacts with phonological processing deficits during reading. She aims to better understand how people learn and how instruction can support learners with dyslexia through early identification and intervention.

Hayden Anderson
he/him

Hayden is a junior majoring in Psychology with a dual minor in Spanish and Justice Studies. He has a passion for learning and serving his community, and aspires to be a school principal. His strong interest in being a change maker comes from his admiration of his hardworking parents and influential childhood role models. In his own words, "I look forward to working with ambitious, like-minded people and helping researchers achieve their goals."

Ellie Brisland
she/her

Elizabeth (Ellie) is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of New Hampshire. Ellie is majoring in psychology with a minor in Spanish. Having a passion for research, she aims to broaden her skills in the lab environment. She plans on going into clinical research psychology after she graduates. Outside of the academics, Ellie is a member of the UNH women's club ice hockey team.

Gabriela Bueno
she/her

Gabriela is a senior majoring in Psychology with a minor in Child Life. In Gabriela's words: "As a bilingual person, I’ve always been fascinated by how the brain adapts to learning and using multiple languages. This curiosity has inspired my interest in how language induces neuroplasticity and the differences between bilingual and monolingual brains. I’m especially interested in how early language experiences shape brain development and influence cognitive flexibility." After college, Gabriela hopes to become a Child Psychologist and engage in research exploring how language and environment affect children’s cognitive and emotional development.

Aiden Fortier

Aiden is currently a junior psychology major. In Aiden's own words: "When it comes to research my main interests are addiction studies and psychopathology but I'm excited to be apart of the lab given that there's focus on language here, and growing up in a family that speaks French a lot, it's nice to learn and explore about more on the psychology of language! "

Isabella Giampa

Isabella is a senior at the University of New Hampshire majoring in psychology and minoring in justice studies and forensics. Isabella serves as president of the UNH chapter of Psi Chi, the psychology honors society. She wants to continue her education in the field of neuropsychology, and wants to earn a graduate degree. She is also interested in broadening her understanding of psychology in areas such as social learning and communication.

Caitlin Lalley
she/her

Caitlin is a sophomore at UNH majoring in Psychology and minoring in English. With a passion for understanding complex cognitive processes and human behavior, she enjoys engaging in research that deepens her knowledge of various subfields within psychology. Outside of academics, she is an active member in her sorority.

Meredith Meats
she/her

Meredith is a senior majoring in neuroscience with a minor in linguistics. Her current research is focusing on how specificity of learning can affect one expertise in that area. This ties into her academic interests of cognitive development and how language and memory impact our understanding of the world around us.

Ana Nikolenko
she/her

Ana is a senior psychology major, minoring in Russian. She studied abroad at the University of Edinburgh during her junior spring semester. She hopes to return to Edinburgh in the future. Her interests lie in the cognitive processes of language, how people learn and acquire new languages.

Alicja Perdrizet
she/her

Alicja is a freshman majoring in Neuroscience and Behavior at UNH. She grew up speaking both Polish and English, which led to an interest in the brain and how it processes language and learning. She is looking forward to gaining research experience and discovering her specific interests within neuroscience.

Sara Trudu
she/her

Sara is a second-year undergraduate student double majoring in psychology and linguistics. She is also in the Hamel Honors College. She grew up hearing her parents speak Italian at home, and has taken twelve Spanish classes from primary school to college. She always felt she had a knack for language. She hopes to continue research in graduate school, where she plans on investigating second language education and acquisition.

Virginia Schwarz
she/her

Virginia is a senior psychology major with hopes to minor in forensics. She is also on the UNH rowing team.

Althea Wilcox
she/her

Althea is a freshman at UNH majoring in Neuroscience. She has been interested in linguistics and language since studying Spanish in school, and has also taught herself some Swedish and Korean in her spare time. Althea is also interested in psychology and how humans acquire and store knowledge.

Lab Alumni

Graduate Students

2025 Nusrat Zaman, M.A. Linguistics

Undergraduate Student Researchers

2025-2025 Claire Lotspeich
2024-2025 Stephanie Dodson
2024-2025 Mauricio Fridlund
2024-2025 Kay McGeehan
2024-2025 Megan Thibeault
2024-2025 Kaylie Ukstins
2024-2024 Kevin Baker
2024-2024 Michael Leger
2023-2024 Darrin Beasley
2023-2024 Marissa Montagna

The CLEAR Lab is recruiting undergraduate research assistants! Prospective research assistants should fill out an application here.

Dr. Roark is not admitting PhD students for Fall 2026, but prospective graduate students should reach out to Dr. Roark directly for more information about future applications ([email protected]).

CLEAR Lab
University of New Hampshire
McConnell Hall
Room 164
15 Academic Way
Durham, NH, 03824

[email protected]