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I am a researcher in cognitive neuroscience motivated by a fundamental question: how does the brain give rise to individual differences in perception, memory, and social cognition? My work sits at the intersection of precision fMRI, computational modeling, and open-source research infrastructure.
Currently a Research Coordinator in the Poldrack Lab at Stanford University, I serve as the primary analyst for two of the largest dense-sampling fMRI datasets in the field — the Network study (N=46, 12 hrs/subject) and the RDoC study (N=65, 16.5 hrs/subject). I am applying to Ph.D. programs in Neuroscience with the goal of understanding how the brain infers others' mental states and encodes what we see and remember.
I am committed to open and reproducible science. All of my analysis code is publicly available, I use standardized data formats (BIDS) and validated preprocessing pipelines (fMRIPrep), and I contribute to open-source tools that make neuroimaging research more transparent and accessible to the community.
» Research Areas
Precision Functional Neuroimaging
Leading analysis of two precision fMRI studies — the Network study (N=46, 12 hrs/subject) and the RDoC study (N=65, 16.5 hrs/subject) — among the largest dense-sampling acquisitions in cognitive neuroscience. Exploring whether task-regressed residuals from diverse cognitive control tasks can substitute for resting-state scans in estimating individual-level functional networks.
Cognitive Control & Neural Ontology
Applying exploratory factor analysis to fMRI contrast maps across multiple cognitive control paradigms to test whether NIMH RDoC constructs correspond to separable neural circuits. Initial results reveal both domain-general factors reflecting task-positive activation and contrast-specific factors — a step toward a data-driven ontology of cognitive control.
Individual Differences & Computational Methods
Implementing MVPA and hierarchical Bayesian parcellation methods to characterize individual differences in functional architecture. Earlier work applied drift-diffusion models to quantify how face masks affect evidence accumulation for facial emotion processing.
Research Software Engineering
Building open-source tools and infrastructure for reproducible neuroimaging research. Refactored the lab's end-to-end fMRI pipeline encompassing BIDS conversion, preprocessing orchestration (fMRIPrep, MRIQC, QSIPrep), and reproducible GLM specification. Built CI/CD infrastructure with DataLad for complete data provenance.
» Publications
PreprintSharing control with a machine impairs human response inhibition
Bissett, P., Achyutuni, K., Rios, J. H., Jones, H. M., Bennett, L., & Poldrack, R.
Preprint (2025)
Arbitrary stimuli are not devalued by stopping action: A registered replication of Wessel et al. (2014)
Bissett, P. G., Achyutuni, K. G., Li, J. K., Jones, H. M., Shim, S., Rios, J. A. H., Bennett, L. J., et al.
Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 154(11), 2935--2943 (2025) · DOI
Within-Person Temporal Associations Among Self-Reported Physical Activity, Sleep, and Well-Being in College Students
McGowan, A. L., Boyd, Z. M., Kang, Y., Bennett, L., Mucha, P. J., Ochsner, K. N., Bassett, D. S., Falk, E. B., & Lydon-Staley, D. M.
Psychosomatic Medicine, 85(2), 141--153 (2023)
» Selected Presentations
Shared control impairs cognitive control: Human response inhibition slows when machines fail to inhibit
Bissett, P., Achyutuni, K. G., Rios, J. H., Jones, H. M., Bennett, L., & Poldrack, R.
The Cognitive Science Society, San Francisco, CA (2025)
Characterizing cognitive control networks using a precision neuroscience approach
Bissett, P. G., Shim, S., Bennett, L. J., Rios, J. A. H., Jones, H. M., Hagen, M. P., et al.
Organization for Human Brain Mapping (2025)
Mapping task measures to latent constructs: An expert survey of the NIMH RDoC cognitive domain
Bissett, P. G., Bennett, L., Rios, J. A. H., Shim, S., McKee, P. C., Iyer, C. S., Ram, N., Poldrack, R. A.
Organization for Human Brain Mapping (2024)
» Cognitive Task Demo
The stop-signal task is one of the most widely used paradigms for studying response inhibition. On each trial you see an arrow and must press the corresponding key as quickly as possible -- unless the arrow turns red, in which case you should withhold your response. Try it below.
Press left/right arrow keys to match the arrow direction.
If the arrow turns red, do not press anything.
12 trials · ~30 seconds