Mihaela D. Iordanova

Mihaela D. Iordanova serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Concordia University, where she leads the Iordanova Lab within the Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology. Holding a Canada Research Chair Tier 2, her work bridges formal learning theory with causal neuroscience techniques to investigate how the brain learns to predict future events and updates erroneous predictions.

Her educational journey began with a Bachelor's degree with Honors in Psychology from the University of New South Wales (2001), followed by a PhD from the same institution (2006) examining accumbal opioid and dopamine transmission in fear conditioning. Postdoctoral training included stints at Cardiff University with Rob Honey and Mark Good studying mnemonic integration, then at the University of Maryland and National Institute on Drug Abuse with Geoffrey Schoenbaum investigating amygdala neural activity during reward prediction errors.

Dr. Iordanova's research program integrates behavioral paradigms with optogenetics, chemogenetics, high-density neuronal recording, and neuropharmacology to dissect neural mechanisms of learning. Her work reveals how dopamine transients function as temporal difference prediction errors, identifies distinct cortical substrates for different fear reduction methods, and demonstrates sex differences in reward expectancy updating. She particularly examines how prediction errors drive behavioral modification in fear and reward contexts.

Analysis of her 15 most recent publications shows consistent focus on neural substrates of learning (73%), prediction error mechanisms (60%), and fear/reward processing (53%), with increasing emphasis on sex differences and causal neural manipulations since 2018. Her work predominantly employs rodent models and combines behavioral analysis with advanced neuroscience methodologies.

Her scientific recognition includes:

• Canada Research Chair Tier 2
• NARSAD New Investigator Award from Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation
• FRQNT Nouveau Chercheur award
• NIH Pathways to Independence (K99/R00) Award

Research funding is secured through multiple competitive grants including CIHR Project Grant, NSERC Discovery Grant, Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and Concordia University Horizon Postdoctoral Fellowships. The Iordanova Lab maintains active collaborations with neuroscience groups at Cardiff University, University of Maryland, and NIDA, focusing on translating basic learning mechanisms to inform anxiety and addiction treatments.