The Cognitive Communication Science Lab was founded in August 2016. The lab is housed in the Department of Communication at the University of California, Davis. The lab is also affiliated with the Center for Mind and Brain and the Designated Emphasis in Computational Social Science. Lab members are ordered according to length of lab tenure.
Richard Huskey
Principal Investigator
About
Richard Huskey (PhD, University of California Santa Barbara) is an associate professor in the Department of Communication and the Cognitive Science Program at the University of California Davis. He is the Founder and Director of the Cognitive Communication Science Lab and an affiliated faculty member at the Center for Mind and Brain, Center for Neuroengineering & Medicine, and Designated Emphasis in Computational Social Science. He is the former Chair of the International Communication Association Communication Science and Biology interest group, and serves as an Associate Editor at the Journal of Communication.
Research Focus
Why do we stay motivated, even when faced with challenges? What drives us to engage with information, change our attitudes, and make decisions? Dr. Huskey investigates these questions by studying how the brain processes motivationally significant information, particularly related to persuasion, media processing and effects, and decision-making. His lab combines neuroimaging (fMRI, EEG), computational modeling—including reinforcement learning and AI-driven predictive models—and behavioral experimentation to examine how reward-driven learning shapes media selection, attitude updating, behavior change, and complex choices. Drawing from cognitive neuroscience, communication science, and computational social science, his work develops mechanistic models of cognitive control, motivation, and information processing.
Graduate Students
Rachael Kee
Graduate Student Researcher
Rachael Kee is a PhD student in the Department of Communication at UC Davis working out of the Cognitive Communication Science Lab. In 2023, she graduated with a double major in Psychology and Communication, and a Master’s degree in Psychology from California Polytechnic State University, Humboldt. She currently studies neurobiological explanations of human communication, with a particular interest in sleep neuroscience and the role media play in shaping these processes. She is also pursuing a designated emphasis in computational social science. Rachael enjoys using a variety of techniques to research these questions, including: electroencephalography (EEG), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), computational methods and lab-based experiments.
Allyson Snyder
Graduate Student Researcher
Allyson is Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication and an M.S. candidate in the Human Development Graduate Group at the University of California Davis. She studies how children learn STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) skills from interactive media, such as virtual reality and video games. Allyson works with both community partners (SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, Early Childhood Lab School) and corporations (LingoKids, Newsela) to study how to best design digital technologies for learning. In her free time, Allyson arranges flowers and crochets.
Ziyu Zhao
Graduate Student Researcher
Ziyu Zhao is a PhD student in the Department of Communication at UC Davis. She received her Masters in Communication Management from University of Alabama at Birmingham. Ziyu’s research interests are focused on people’s cognitive processes, behaviors, and attitudes changes during communicative interactions on social media as investigated with behavioral, neuroscientific, and computational techniques. Her passion for studying problematic communicative behaviors on social media is continued at UC Davis.
Jocelyn (Yachen) Xie
Graduate Student Researcher
Jocelyn (Yachen) Xie is a PhD student in the Department of Communication at UC Davis. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Communication from The Ohio State University, graduating magna cum laude with Distinction in Research in Psychology. While at OSU, she worked with Dr. Dylan Wagner on moral character and mental representation using the reverse correlation technique, and with Dr. Brittany Shoots-Reinhard on decision-making and traffic behaviors. Jocelyn is broadly interested in cognition and media narratives, especially in how moral judgment and decision-making affect people’s preferences and evaluations of media content and characters. She researches these processes using Affective Disposition Theory (ADT) and computational as well as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques.
Camren Allen
Graduate Student Researcher
Camren Allen is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Communication at UC Davis. He earned his B.A. in Communication summa cum laude in 2020 and his M.A. in Communication in March 2025. His research examines how messages that use gender stereotypes can influence individuals’ behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs. Using experimental, computational, and neurophysiological approaches—including EEG—he investigates the mechanisms underlying stereotype effects. Camren is also interested in virtual reality technologies as a tool for studying and designing immersive educational experiences. His work advances Stereotype Threat theory in communication research, with the broader goal of improving the ethical and effective use of visual messages in health communication strategies.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
Laasya Madgula
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Laasya Madgula is a senior at UC Davis studying Statistics/Machine Learning and Computer Science. She is passionate about human-centered, multimodal learning and health technologies. At CCSL, she is helping refine an iOS sleep app for research distribution.
Lab Alumni
- Valerie Klein: Valerie completed her undergraduate degree at UC Davis in 2025.
- Sophia Sarieva: Sophia completed their undergraduate degree at UC Davis in 2025.
- Xuanjun (Jason) Gong: Jason is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M University.
- Aliakbar (Ali) Mehdizadeh: Ali is pursuing his PhD in Communication at UC Davis.
- Wenjun Liu: is pursuing her PhD in Communication at the School of Journalism and Communication at Shanghai International Studies University.
- Raymond Kang: Raymond completed his undergraduate degree at UC Davis in 2024.
- Stefanie Mutialu: Stefanie completed her undergraduate degree at UC Davis in 2023.
- McNoah Vinoya: McNoah is pursuing his PhD in Communication at Stanford University.
- Ellie Ross: Ellie is pursuing her PhD in Communication at the University of Washington.
- Taylor David: Taylor was an Undergraduate Research Assistant.
- Tsepten (Teaden) Gurung: Teaden was an Undergraduate Research Assistant.
- Shelby Wilcox: Shelby is pursuing her PhD in Communication at Michigan State University.
- Leandro Calcagnotto: Leandro completed his MA in Communication at The Ohio State University.
- Yue Li: Yue is pursuing her PhD in Communication at The Ohio State University.
- Natalie Petit: Natalie was an Undergraduate Research Assistant.
- Zoltan Roemer: Zoltan was an Undergraduate Research Assistant.
- Jacob Spaulding-Schecter: Jacob was an Undergraduate Research Assistant.