Author Archives: Allison Chen

Former lab manager Allison Chen, graduate student Maggie Vashel, Professor Mariam Aly, and Silvia have submitted a new manuscript that explores individual-level neural overlap in anterior lateral prefrontal cortex (aLPFC) during memory retrieval and relational reasoning. While there are many hypotheses regarding the function of aLPFC, the first step to understanding whether a unifying hypothesis is even possible is to test for neural overlap within the same individual. This study highlights a potential area of interest in posterior aLPFC – Glasser parcel p47r.

Preprint coming soon!

Check out this video from our team describing fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy) for kids!

Silvia, Kevin Weiner, and former postdoc Suvi Häkkinen recently published a paper discussing the relationship between functional connectivity and individual sulcal morphology in children and adolescents. The findings underscore the relevance of sulcal morphology in understanding how the brain functions. Read the press release here!

Full link to the press release: https://news.berkeley.edu/2025/05/21/are-groovy-brains-more-efficient/

Paulo Laurence, a previous collaborator, recently wrote a Journal Club piece discussing Silvia’s published commentary on expanding the field of executive function research. While there is a general understanding of what executive functions are, researchers use different terminology and lack a consensus of what the core executive functions are. Newer approaches such as neural methods and computational modeling may help integrate our understanding of these mental processes.

Read Paulo’s piece here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44159-025-00437-x

Read Silvia’s commentary here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mbe.12403