I am a first-year Clinical PhD student in the Forensic and Clinical Cognition Lab. I joined the Lab as a volunteer while completing my undergraduate degree in Psychology. I went on to undertake both my third-year placement and the Summer Research Award program (2022-2023) in the Lab, and then completed my Honours program with the Lab last year. My Honours thesis investigated the persistence/fading of discrete emotional reactions in memory following a trauma analogue (specifically, disgust and fear).

My current research aims to extend upon my Honours thesis and further explore the persistence of disgust reactions to traumatic events (e.g., using different stimuli and longer delay periods). Lingering feelings of disgust in memory following such events could facilitate the development of PTSD. Therefore, I am also interested in investigating strategies to reduce this persistence (e.g., cognitive reappraisal). My research has implications for informing PTSD theory and treatment approaches regarding the role of disgust reactions in the recollection of traumatic experiences.