About

I am a fourth-year PhD student in MIT's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) department and Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence (CSAIL) lab at MIT, where I am advised by Aude Oliva. I am a computational neuroscientist where I study how both humans and machines process visual and auditory information. Towards this aim, I am actively engaged in the collection of human neuroimaging data (MEG and (f)MRI), the analysis of neural data, and the implementation of state-of-the-art machine learning and deep learning models. I have recent industry experience at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Microsoft, where I was able to apply these skills with a clinical focus and product focus, respectively.

Prior to joining MIT, I graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in biomedical engineering. While there, I was first introduced to the world of research through Professor Robert Reinhart and Professor John White. After graduating from Boston University, I joined MIT on a PhD track where I subsequently earned a M.S. degree in EECS in 2022.

Visit my informal, non-academic blog where I write about whatever I find interesting at the moment.

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Publications

• Cochlea to categories: The spatiotemporal dynamics of semantic auditory representations.
  Matthew X. Lowe*, Yalda Mohsenzadeh*, Benjamin Lahner, Ian Charest, Aude Oliva and Santani Teng.
  Cognitive Neuropsychology, 2022; doi:10.1080/02643294.2022.2085085
  Project Page - PDF - Fusion Video
• The Algonauts Project 2021 Challenge: How the Human Brain Makes Sense of a World in Motion.
  Radoslaw Martin Cichy, Kshitij Dwivedi, Benjamin Lahner, Alex Lascelles, Polina Iamshchinina, M Graumann, Alex Andonian, NAR Murty, K Kay, Gemma Roig, Aude Oliva
  arXiv 2021, arXiv:2104.13714
  Project Page - PDF
• Emergence of visual center-periphery spatial organization in deep convolutional neural networks.
  Yalda Mohsenzadeh, Caitlin Mullin, Benjamin Lahner, and Aude Oliva.
  Scientific Reports 2020, 10, 4638; doi:10.1038/s41598-020-61409-0
  PDF
• Reliability and generalizability of similarity-based fusion of fMRI and MEG data in the ventral and dorsal visual streams.
  Yalda Mohsenzadeh*, Caitlin Mullin*, Benjamin Lahner, Radoslaw Cichy, and Aude Oliva.
  Vision 2019, 3, 8; doi:10.3390/vision3010008
  Project Page - PDF - Fusion Video
• The Algonauts Project: A platform for communication between the sciences of biological and artificial intelligence.
  Radoslaw Martin Cichy, Gemma Roig, Alex Andonian, Kshitij Dwivedi, Benjamin Lahner, Alex Lascelles, Yalda Mohsenzadeh, Kandan Ramakrishnan, and Aude Oliva.
  arXiv 2019, arXiv:1905.05675
  Project Page - PDF
• Tracking the Spatio-Temporal Neural Trace of Memorability.
  Benjamin Lahner*, Caitlin Mullin*, Yalda Mohsenzadeh*, and Aude Oliva.
  Submitted
  Fusion Video
• Brain responses to 1102 natural movies measured with fMRI to distinguish computational model of naturalistic human vision.
  Benjamin Lahner, Kshitij Dwivedi, Polina Iamshchinica, Monika Graumann, Alex Lascelles, Gemma Roig, Alessandro Thomas Gifford, Bowen Pan, SouYoung Jin, Ratan Murty, Kendrick Kay, Aude Oliva+, Radoslaw Cichy+
  In Progress
  Project Page
• Machine-learning analysis of a wearable digital insole versus gold standard clinical gait assessments for digital endpoint development.
  Matthew F. Wipperman*, Allen Z. Lin*, Kaitlyn Gayvert*, Benjamin Lahner, Selin Somersan-Karakaya, Xuefang Wu, Joseph Im, Minji Lee, Bharatkumar Koyani, Ian Setliff, Malika Thakur, Daoyu Duan, Aurora Breazna, Fang Wang, Wei Keat Lim, Yamini Patel, Mickey Atwal, Jennifer D. Hamilton, Clo Huyghues-Despointes, Oren Levy, Andreja Avbersek, Rinol Alaj, Sara C. Hamon, Olivier Harari
  In Progress
• Theta phase specific modulation of hippocampal memory neurons.
  Bahar Rahsepar, Jad Noueihed, Jacob F. Norman, Benjamin Lahner, Melanie H. Quick, Kevin Ghaemi, Aashna Pandya, Fernando R. Fernandez, Steve Ramirez, and John A. White
  In Progress

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Selected Conference Abstracts

• Modality-specific parameters and interference contribute to better-fitting bimodal associative learning models.
  Han D. Huang, Frederik R. Baumgardt, Benjamin Lahner, Robert M. G. Reinhart.
  Society for Neuroscience, Virtual (2021)
• The Emergence of Early Sound Categorical Responses in the Human Brain.
  Benjamin Lahner, Santani Teng, Matthew X. Lowe, Ian Charest, Aude Oliva, Yalda Mohsenzadeh. The Emergence of Early Sound Categorical Responses in the Human Brain. CNS, Boston, MA (2020)
  CNS, Boston, MA (2020)
• The Emergence of Early Sound Categorical Responses in the Human Brain.
  Benjamin Lahner, Santani Teng, Matthew X. Lowe, Ian Charest, Aude Oliva, Yalda Mohsenzadeh.
  NeurIPS SVRHM Workshop, Vancouver, Canada (2019)
• Assessing Reproducibility of MEG and fMRI Data Fusion Method in Neural Dynamics of Object Vision.
  Benjamin Lahner, Yalda Mohsenzadeh, Caitlin Mullin, Radoslaw Cichy, Aude Oliva.
  Vision Science Society, St. Petersburg, Florida (2019)

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Active Community Involvement

• Education Volunteer, The Educational Justice Institute (TEJI) at MIT
  I teach computer science courses to inmates for them to earn college credit and/or explore career opportunities in CS.
• Mentor, Project Short
  I mentor one prospective graduate student per application cycle through the graduate school application process. I assist with SOPs, mock interviews, networking, and any general advice.