The Ekstrand Neuroimaging Lab congratulates Niayesh Allahdad on successfully defending her Master's thesis in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge.
Niayesh's research investigated neural synchrony between romantic couples and roommate dyads using EEG and phase lag index analysis while participants viewed emotionally evocative stimuli. Relationship type showed limited and inconsistent effects on synchrony, while relationship duration was positively associated with theta-band synchrony in both couples and roommates. The findings suggest that shared experience and social proximity, rather than relationship category alone, may better explain neural alignment during naturalistic emotional processing.
Congratulations, Niayesh! We look forward to seeing this work published.

The Ekstrand Neuroimaging Lab congratulates Alireza Taheritorbati on successfully defending his Master's thesis in the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge.
Alireza's research examined theta-gamma phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) during episodic memory encoding, comparing a live theatrical performance to a 2D screen-based condition in 62 healthy young adults. He found stronger frontal theta-gamma PAC in the 2D condition, with PAC predicting recall only there, suggesting PAC may act as a compensatory mechanism when the encoding environment lacks naturalistic structure.
Congratulations, Alireza! We look forward to seeing this work published.