Welcome to Lasell Cognition and aging Lab

Welcome to the Cognition and Aging Lab at Lasell University in Massachusetts! Our research explores the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying two remarkable human abilities: speech perception and self-awareness. We investigate how these abilities adapt across different contexts, including social media and aging, to better understand their resilience and evolution over time.

Our work is made possible through the generous support of the American Psychological Association (APA), Association for Psychological Science (APS), Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (SPSSI), Society for the Teaching of Psychology (STP), National Science Foundation (NSF), Psi Chi, and the Lasell Packard Fund.

We invite you to explore our research and join us in advancing psychological science!

Zheng Z. (in press) A shared perceptual inference for cross-modally induced illusions of self-attribution. Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice. [Link] 

Killikelly C, Kagialis A, Henneman S, Coronado H, Demanarig D, Farahani H, Özdoğru AA, Yalçın B, Yockey A, Gosnell CL, Jia F, Maisel M, Stelzer E, Wilson D, Anderson J, Charles K, Cummings JP, Faas C, Knapp B, Koneczny B, Koch C, Bauer LM, Cuccolo C, Edlund J, Heermans G, McGillivray S, Shane-Simpson C, Staples A, Zheng Z, Zlokovich M, & Irgens MS (2023) Measurement and Assessment of Grief in a Large International Sample. Journal of Affective Disorders, 327: 306-314. [Link]

Knutson D, Irgens MS, Flynn KC, Norvilitis JM, Bauer LM, Berkessel JB, Cascalheira CJ, Cera JL, Choi NY, Cuccolo K, Danielson DK, Dascano KN, Edlund JE, Fletcher T, Flinn RE, Gosnel CL, Heermans G, Horne M, Howell JL, Hua J, Ijebor EE, Jia F, McGillivray S, Ogba KTU, Shane-Simpson C, Staples A, Ugwu CF, Wang SC, Yockey A, Zheng Z, Zlokovich MS (2023) Associations between primary residence and mental health in global marginalized populations. Community Mental Health Journal: 59: 1083-1096. [Link]

Cuccolo K, & Zheng Z. (2022) What makes a NICE research collaboration? Eye on Psi Chi, 27:14-15. [Link]

Bouffard S, Giglio D, & Zheng Z. (2022) Social media and romantic relationship: excessive social media use leads to relationship conflicts, negative outcomes, and addiction via mediated pathways. Social Science Computer Review. 40:1523-1541. [Link]

Wong LS, Kwon J, Zheng Z, Styles SJ, Sakamoto M, & Kitada R. (2022) Japanese sound-symbolic words for representing the hardness of an object are judged similarly by Japanese and English Speakers. Frontiers in Psychology. 13:830306 [Link]

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Fahey S, Santana C, Kitada R, & Zheng Z. (2019) Affective judgment of social touch on a hand associated with hand embodiment. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. 72: 2408-2422. [Link]
                                                                                              

Fahey S, Charette L, Francis C, & Zheng Z. (2018) Multisensory integration of signals for bodily self-awareness requires minimal cognitive effort. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology. 72: 244-252. [Link]

Hill L & Zheng Z.  (2018) A desire for social media is associated with a desire for solitary but not social activities. Psychological Reports​. 121: 1120-1130. [Link]

Zheng ZZ, Vicente-Grabovetsky A, MacDonald E, Munhall K, Cusack R, Johnsrude I. (2013) Multivoxel patterns reveal functionally differentiated networks underlying auditory feedback processing of speech. Journal of Neuroscience 33: 4339-48. [Link]

Zheng ZZ, MacDonald E, Munhall K, & Johnsrude I. (2011) Perceiving a stranger's voice as being one's own: a 'rubber voice' illusion? PLoS One 6(4), e18655. [Link]

Zheng ZZ, Munhall K, & Johnsrude I. (2010) Functional overlap between regions involved in speech perception and in monitoring one's own voice during speech production. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 22: 1770-81. [Link]

Zheng ZZ, Wild C, & Trang HP. (2010) Spatial organization of neurons in the superior temporal sulcus. Journal of Neuroscience 30: 1201-3. [Link]

Tahmasebi AM, Abolmaesumi P, Zheng ZZ, Munhall K, Johnsrude I. (2009) Reducing inter-subject anatomical variation: effect of normalization method on sensitivity of functional magnetic resonance imaging data analysis in auditory cortex and the superior temporal region. NeuroImage 47: 1522-31. [Link]

Zheng ZZ. (2009) The functional specialization of the planum temporale. Journal of Neurophysiology 102: 3079-81. [Link]

Tahmasebi AM, Abolmaesumi P, Zheng ZZ, Munhall K, & Johnsrude I. (2007) Reducing inter-subject anatomical variation: analysis of the functional activity in auditory cortex and superior temporal region using HAMMER. Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, 31-38.

Anand CK, Sotirov R, Terlaky T, & Zheng ZZ. (2007) Magnetic resonance Tissue quantification using optimal bSSFP pulse-sequence design. Optimization and Engineering 8: 215-38. [Link]

Gao Q, Mo Z, & Zheng Z. (2003) An energy based dynamic partitioning algorithm for RNA secondary structure prediction. Journal of Mathematics, 23: 43-48.

Conference Proceedings

Kagialia, A., Zheng, Z., Lewis, M., Battista, N., & Prasai, R. (2025) Building stronger research communities: The NICER project. Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Eastern Psychological Association, New York. 

Zheng, Z., & Karaczun, R. (2025) Building Bonds Online: The Roles of Commenter Closeness and Comment Positivity in Social Media Connections. Proceedings of the Annual Convention of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Denver.

Karaczun, R, & Zheng, Z. (2024) Commenter closeness and comment positivity: key factors in promoting connections on social media. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, New York.

Boisvert, B^., Santana, C^., Montepare, J., & Zheng, Z. (2022) Differential patterns of body ownership for young and older adults. Proceedings of the Cognitive Aging Conference, Atlanta, GA.    

Zheng, Z., & Sroka, O^. (2020) The influence of context on attentional control in the lexical decision task. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Sciences Annual Convention, Chicago, IL. 

Bouffard, S^., Giglio, D^., & Zheng, Z. (2020) The effects of relationship conflicts and negative relationship outcomes on addiction of social media. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Sciences Annual Convention, Chicago, IL. 

Fahey S, Santana C, Kitada R, & Zheng Z. (2019) Affective judgment of social touch on a hand associated with hand embodiment. Proceedings of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Portland, OR.

Zheng Z, Sroka O, & Deenihan K. (2018) The effect of word frequency on lexical access with selective attention. Proceedings of the International Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Amsterdam.

Zheng Z, Coleman A, Penn L, DeCaro R, Wingfield A. A perceptual effect based on lexical processing of words during hearing. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Cognitive Hearing Science for Communication, Linkoping, Sweden.

Fahey S & Zheng Z. Emotional embodiment as a result of hand embodiment: A study on the rubber hand illusion . Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Science, Boston.

Sroka O & Zheng Z. The effect of attention on lexical access in the presence of interference. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Science, Boston.

​Hill L & Zheng Z. A preference for social media does not necessarily mean a preference for social interactions. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Science, Boston.
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Fahey S, Charette L, Francis C, & Zheng ZZ. How does sense of body ownership vary with cognitive effort? Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Boston.

Charette L, Francis C, & Zheng ZZ. Using an n-back rubber-hand illusion to assess the effect of focus on body ownership. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago.

Pendergast J & Zheng ZZ. The effect of short-term self-construal priming on body ownership. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago.

Farah K, Montepare J, & Zheng ZZ. Building capacity through faculty fellows. Proceedings of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education, Long Beach, CA.

Boisvert B, Montepare J, & Zheng ZZ. (2015) Age-related differences in the perception of body ownership. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Science, New York.

Boisvert B, Montepare J, & Zheng ZZ. (2015) Differential patterns of body ownership for young and older adults. Proceedings of Massachusetts Gerontology Association, Boston. [2nd poster award]

Wachutka J, Zheng ZZ, Alford W, & Wingfield A. (2015) Enhanced pupillary response to unexpected words in speech comprehension. Proceedings of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, San Francisco.

Fricke R, Wachutka J, Zheng ZZ, & Wingfield A. (2014) Pupil dilation in response to semantically unexpected words: a quantitative measure of language processing. Brandeis Undergraduate Research Conference, Boston.

Michelle M, Nakada Y, & Zheng Z. (2014) Using the Rubber-Hand Illusion as a cognitive model to examine self-representation. Lasell Connected-Learning Symposium.

​Zheng ZZ, Munhall K, & Johnsrude I. (2013) Perceived magnitude of the rubber-hand illusion predicts ownership of a stranger's voice. Proceedings of the Association for Psychological Science, Washington DC.

Zheng ZZ, Vicente-Grabovetsky A, MacDonald E, Munhall K, Cusack R, Johnsrude I. (2012) Representational similarity analysis reveals heterogeneous networks supporting speech motor control. Proceedings of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Beijing. [Trainee Abstract Award]

​Zheng ZZ, Vicente-Grabovetsky A, MacDonald E, Munhall K, Cusack R, Johnsrude I. (2012) Multivoxel patterns reveal functionally differentiated networks underlying speech motor control. Proceedings of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society, Chicago.

Zheng ZZ, Johnsrude I, & Munhall K. (2007) Activity in regions sensitive to auditory speech is modified during speech production: fMRI evidence for an efference copy. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 121 (Pt. 2 of 2), 3046.

Zheng Z & Anand CK. (2005) Optimal MR pulse sequence design and field map. Modeling and Optimization: Theory and Applications Conference, Windsor, Canada.

Zheng Z, Anand CK, & Terlaky T. (2005) Total variation based medical image segmentation and field mapping. Mathematical Programming in Data Mining & Machine Learning Conference, Hamilton, Canada.

Anand CK, Sotirov R, Terlaky T, & Zheng Z. (2005) Optimal MRI pulse sequence design for tissue quantification. Mathematics of Information Technology and Complex Systems Conference, Calgary, Canada.

Zheng Z, Anand CK, Sotirov R, & Terlaky T. (2004) Optimal SSFP pulse sequence design for tissue density estimation. South Western Ontario Operational Research Conference, Windsor, Canada. [Best Presentation Award]