Terri L. Scott, PhD

Hi! I'm a cognitive neuroscientist working in the Chang Lab at the University of California - San Francisco! I'm interested in the representations and computations that support high-level cognitive abilities, such as language and working memory. I have used a variety of experimental and computational techniques to study these questions, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electrocorticography (ECoG - electrodes on the surface of the human brain), computational modeling, and machine learning.

I completed my doctorate in the Graduate Program for Neuroscience at Boston University. My thesis work was completed in the Communication Neuroscience Research Lab, under the mentorship of Tyler Perrachione. My dissertation, "Neural Bases of Phonological Working Memory," describes my work using fMRI to understand how phonological working memory draws upon neural functionality that may be shared with language processing and/or other types of working memory.

Before coming to Boston University, I worked as a Technical Assistant in the Kanwisher Lab at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. There I worked on various projects on face and visual word perception. Additionally, I worked with Evelina Fedorenko to study language processing using ECoG and developed a efficient and fun task for identifying language regions in individuals using fMRI.

I have broad interests in scientific research and education. I received my Bachelor's degree in physics from New York University and gained my first experience in research in the Applied Mathematics Lab studying the biomechanics of snake locomotion. After college, I taught science classes and teambuilding at an outdoor education center in southern California, as well as at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth. I also hold a Master's degree in astronomy from Boston University, where I studied properties of supermassive black hole jets.