Alexa Tompary

Alexa Tompary serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Drexel University. Her academic foundation includes a BA in Psychology from the University of Chicago (2010), MA (2014) and PhD (2017) in Psychology from New York University, followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Pennsylvania.

Her research centers on the neural mechanisms underlying episodic memory and conceptual knowledge, specifically examining how these systems interact through memory consolidation processes. The Memory and Concepts (MAC) Lab employs fMRI and TMS to investigate how the brain transforms long-term memories into new knowledge, how prior knowledge shapes new memories, and how conceptual knowledge updates through experiences. Current work explores connections to higher-order cognition including decision-making and creative problem-solving.

Dr. Tompary's publication record spans premier journals including Neuron, Journal of Neuroscience, and PNAS, with recent work focusing on memory distortions, category knowledge integration, and neural representational dynamics. Her research trajectory shows consistent emphasis on hippocampal-prefrontal interactions and memory-system transformations.

She teaches undergraduate PSY365: Memory and graduate PSY512: Cognitive Psychology, emphasizing clinical applications and real-world relevance of memory principles. Her NIH-funded research program demonstrates strong translational potential for memory-related disorders.

The MAC Lab operates as an integrated cognitive neuroscience unit investigating memory-concept interactions through multimodal approaches. Future work will expand into how memory interactions underpin complex cognitive processes like future planning and creative problem-solving.