Aaron Cochrane

Researcher of learning in cognition and perception

The way we think, the way we interact with the world, the ways that our brains work… they are all dynamically changing, updating as we learn and adapt. I am fascinated by this adaptivity to our environments.
How is perception shaped by experience, which is in turn shaped by our actions and perceptions? What are the neural mechanisms that regulate this experience-dependent change? How is our working memory optimized through learning? How do children and adults differ in their plasticity (good change) and their resilience (resistance to bad change)?

I address these questions interdisciplinarily.
I start from a foundation of computationally modeling visual perceptual learning, and I extend these methods and lines of inquiry into the study of visual attention, neuroplasticity, working memory, cognitive development, fluid intelligence, associative learning, math cognition, and more.
Above all, collaborations with a wide variety of researchers are what motivate me. I’ve loved working with brilliant scientists to investigate social effects on learning, mechanisms of implicit racial bias, longitudinal predictors of educational success, and even finding ways to reduce bias in occupational screening.