Mojtaba Abbaszadeh, PhD

I am a neuroscientist interested in understanding how the brain supports executive functions such as working memory, dual-task performance, and the cognitive control of visual search, with a particular focus on the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) and behavior. My research explores how value influences these cognitive functions. For example, we recently demonstrated that high-value objects "pop out" among distractors by expanding their processing area in the LPFC. Currently, I am investigating how value modulates working memory and dual-task performance. Ultimately, my goal is to uncover how value and motivation shape cognition and influence information processing.

I am currently based in Ebitz's Lab in the Department of Neuroscience at the Université de Montréal. Before moving to Canada, I completed a three-year postdoc in the Ghazizadeh Lab at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM). I earned my PhD in cognitive neuroscience from IPM in 2020, advised by Maryam Vaziri-Pashkam and Gholam-Ali Hossein-Zadeh, focusing on information processing in dual-task interference using psychophysics and neuroimaging (fMRI and EEG).