iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

If you’re attending SBN, be sure to stop by graduate student Beatriz Brandao’s poster 2.29 “Hormonal Context, Symptom Expression, and Emotion Regulation Across the Menstrual Cycle” today (Fri, July 10) from 4:30-6:30 in Cascades Ballroom 2! #SBN2026

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

Honored to hood not one but two PhD students this year! They’ve grown into outstanding scientists, and I’m grateful to have been part of their journey. So proud. 🥹 Congratulations, Dr. Morales-Calva @morales-calva.bsky.social & Dr. Clark! 🎓 @ricegradschool.bsky.social

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I am immensely proud of Dr. Fernanda Morales-Calva @morales-calva.bsky.social for successfully defending her dissertation today! Her research examining how culture shapes memory is so important, and I’m lucky to have worked beside her these past 5 yrs. Congratulations Dr. Morales-Calva! 🥹

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 08/04/2026

I am immensely proud of Dr. Kayla Clark for successfully defending her dissertation last week. Her research examining post-encoding music effects on memory have been outstanding, and I’m so lucky to have been a part of seeing her grow as a scientist. Congratulations Dr. Clark! 🥹

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

📣Call for papers on the “Management of depression in older adults”. 📣 I am guesting editing this collection at Scientific Reports. Feel free to reach out to determine fit in the collection! Submissions due May 21, 2026. www.nature.com/collections/...

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 03/09/2025

🚨Attending ISPNE in New Orleans?🚨 Be sure to stop by graduate student Beatriz Brandao’s poster today 9/3 5:30 - 8 pm. She will be discussing results from her recently published Hormones & Behavior paper examining emotion regulation and memory in hormonal contraceptive users!

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

When examining memory, we found that HC users who applied ER strategies during encoding showed reduced negative lure discrimination and increased positive lure discrimination.

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

Participants rated their negative and positive affect during encoding. Then, we tested participants memory for the images. We found that HC users showed more successful ER use, particularly those using the distancing and immersion strategies.

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 28/08/2025

We trained participants in several emotion regulation strategies (distancing and reinterpretation towards negative images and immersion towards positive images). Participants applied these strategies during encoding of an emotional mnemonic discrimination task.

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 27/08/2025

Check out our latest paper published in Hormones & Behavior! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... We found that hormonal contraceptive users were better able to apply trained emotion regulation strategies, which reduced negative memory!

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 18/08/2025

What we discover at UCLA goes far beyond our lab - this work is meant to make an impact on society to change how we treat conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, depression, and PTSD. #ResearchPowersProgress 🧠🎼💙💛 newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/mus...

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 14/07/2025

🚨Attending SBN?🚨 Stop by graduate student Beatriz Brandao’s poster tomorrow Tuesday July 15 4:30-6:30pm (Poster Session 2, #32) examining the impact of hormonal contraceptive use on memory and emotion regulation! #SBN2025

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 23/05/2025

🚨Attending APS 2025?🚨 Be sure to stop by @morales-calva.bsky.social poster TODAY from 4-5pm! Fernanda will be presenting her work examining cultural impacts on perception and memory. Details below. #APS25DC

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

So incredibly proud of the two graduates from the lab today!! Lorena is the first PhD student to graduate from my lab, and Maddie received her Masters along the way to her PhD! Enjoy and celebrate these moments! 💙

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Congratulations to graduate student @morales-calva.bsky.social for winning the 2025 Excellence in Research, Teaching, & Service Award in the Psychological Sciences Department at Rice University! So proud of you!

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

Congratulations to the Leal Lab RAs for presenting their research projects at the Undergraduate Research Symposium! Great job! Extra congrats to Jacob, Ahi, and Giselle for winning awards for their presentations! 🎉

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 03/04/2025

Congratulations to Madelyn Castro for successfully defending her masters thesis today AND for being awarded the 2025 Laughery Award for the Best Master’s Thesis in Psychology! So proud of you!❤️

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 29/03/2025

Congratulations to the first graduate student in my lab, Dr. Lorena Ferguson, who successfully defended her dissertation today! So proud of you and all your accomplishments 🥹

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

Attending SAS? Come see graduate student Beatriz Brandao’s flash talk on the effects of hormonal contraceptives on emotion regulation and emotional reactivity on Sat, March 22 11:15am! Details below 👇🏻

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

My lab at UCLA is recruiting a research coordinator to start ASAP, who will be involved in lab and research management and take the lead in MRI & PET imaging data collection & analysis in aging! Please reach out if interested (& please share widely). Apps due by Feb 16! jobs.ucla.edu/careers-home...

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Stephanie Leal (Leal Memory Lab) @lealmemorylab.bsky.social · 16/12/2024

🚨New paper out in Learning & Memory!🚨 We examined how current perceived stress impacts emotional memory and found that high AND low current perceived stress enhanced emotional memories. learnmem.cshlp.org/content/31/1...

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