Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik, PhD
Assistant professor
Université du Québec en Outaouais
Gatineau, Quebec, Canada
About Me
My name is Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik (she/her), and I am a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychoeducation and Psychology at the Université du Québec en Outaouais. My research uses behavioral, computational, and neuroimaging tools to uncover the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying the interactions between what we see and what we remember, and how these interactions change as we age.I completed my PhD in Psychology with Dr. Morgan Barense at the University of Toronto, followed by a postdoctoral position with Dr. Maureen Ritchey at Boston College. Most recently, I was an NSERC-funded postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Jennifer D. Ryan’s lab at the Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Health Sciences.I am currently establishing my new lab, the Visual Memory and Aging Lab, at UQO. Stay tuned for updates on our research, new lab members, and more!
Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik, PhD
Assistant professor
Université du Québec en Outaouais
Research
How do visual perception and memory interact to support flexible cognition?
Our experience of the world depends on continuous interactions between what we see and what we remember. My research examines how brain regions involved in perception and memory communicate to construct meaningful representations of our environment, and how these interactions allow us to flexibly draw on different dimensions of past experience. Using approaches including neuroimaging, eye tracking, and EEG, this work investigates how visual information is represented and exchanged across perceptual and memory systems as our goals and experiences change.
How does aging change our representations of visual and spatial experience?
Healthy aging is accompanied by changes not only in how much we remember, but also in the precision and organization of what we remember. My research investigates how aging affects representations of visual objects, scenes, and spatial relationships, with particular emphasis on the medial temporal lobes in the brain. This work uses structural and functional neuroimaging, along with eye tracking, to ask which aspects of experience remain stable across the lifespan, which become less precise or differentiated, and how changes in the way spatial information is represented may shape memory-guided behaviour.
How does memory allow us to predict what we will see next?
Memory does more than preserve the past: it allows us to anticipate what is likely to happen next. A major focus of my current research is understanding how memories of visual and spatial experience generate predictions that guide ongoing perception and visual exploration. By combining eye tracking with neuroimaging and electrophysiology, this work examines how memory-based predictions emerge, how we respond when those predictions are violated, and how our memories are updated to support future predictions. An important goal of this research is to understand how these processes change with aging.
Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik, PhD
Assistant professor
Université du Québec en Outaouais
Publications
Where we look, what we know: how hippocampal predictions shape, and are shaped by, eye movements
Ladyka-Wojcik, N., Flick, G., Liu, Z-X., & Ryan, J.D. (2026). Where we look, what we know: how hippocampal predictions shape, and are shaped by, eye movements . Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 381, 1954, 20250248. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/rstb/article/381/1954/20250248/482494/Where-we-look-what-we-know-how-hippocampal
Novelty discrimination of configural objects in the perirhinal and anterolateral entorhinal cortices is impacted by aging
Ladyka-Wojcik, N., Liang, J.Y, Allen, S.D., Ryan, J.D., Olsen, R.K., & Barense, M.D. (2026). Novelty discrimination of configural objects in the perirhinal and anterolateral entorhinal cortices is impacted by aging. Journal of Neuroscience, 46, 19, e1462252026. https://www.jneurosci.org/content/46/19/e1462252026
Effective connectivity between the medial temporal lobes and early visual cortex modulated by unrestricted viewing predicts memory retrieval and gaze reinstatement
Ladyka‐Wojcik, N.*, Liu, Z.-X.*, & Ryan, J.D. (2025). Effective connectivity between the medial temporal lobes and early visual cortex modulated by unrestricted viewing predicts memory retrieval and gaze reinstatement. Imaging Neuroscience, 3, IMAG.a.133. https://doi.org/10.1162/IMAG.a.133
*co-first authorship
Neural signatures of recollection are sensitive to memory quality and specific event features
Ladyka‐Wojcik, N.*, Schmidt, H*, Cooper, R.A., & Ritchey, M. (2025). Neural signatures of recollection are sensitive to memory quality and specific event features. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 37(10), 1757-1773. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocna02335
*co-first authorship
Surveying the neuroimager's connectivity toolbox: Comment on "Connectivity analyses for task-based fMRI" by Huang, De Brigard, Cabeza, & Davis
Ladyka‐Wojcik, N. & Ritchey, M. (2024). Surveying the neuroimager's connectivity toolbox: Comment on "Connectivity analyses for task-based fMRI" by Huang, De Brigard, Cabeza, & Davis. Physics of Life Reviews, 51, 101-103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plrev.2024.09.012
Experience transforms crossmodal object representations in the anterior temporal lobes
Li, A. Y., Ladyka‐Wojcik, N., Qazilbash, H., Golestani, A., Walther, D. B., Martin, C. B., & Barense, M. D. (2024). Experience transforms crossmodal object representations in the anterior temporal lobes. eLife, 13, e83382. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.83382
Impaired perceptual discrimination of complex objects in older adults at risk for dementia
Jiang, L., Robin, J., Shing, N., Mazloum‐Farzaghi, N., Ladyka‐Wojcik, N., Balakumar, N., ... & Olsen, R. K. (2024). Impaired perceptual discrimination of complex objects in older adults at risk for dementia. Hippocampus, 34(4), 197-203. https://doi.org/10.1002/hipo.23598
Sleep differentially and profoundly impairs recall memory in a patient with fornix damage
Matorina, N., Tseng, J., Ladyka-Wojcik, N., Olsen, R. K., Mabbott, D. J., & Barense M. D. (2023). Recollection and prior knowledge recruit the left angular gyrus during recognition. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 35(10), 1635-1655. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocna02038
Recollection and prior knowledge recruit the left angular gyrus during recognition
Bellana, B., Ladyka-Wojcik, N., Lahan, S., Moscovitch, M., & Grady, C. L. (2023). Recollection and prior knowledge recruit the left angular gyrus during recognition. Brain Structure and Function, 228, 197-217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-022-02597-5
Unrestricted eye movements strengthen causal connectivity from hippocampal to oculomotor regions during scene construction
Ladyka-Wojcik, N.*, Liu, Z.-X.*, & Ryan, J. D. (2022). Unrestricted eye movements strengthen causal connectivity from hippocampal to oculomotor regions during scene construction. NeuroImage, 260, 119497. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2022.119497
*co-first authorship
The influence of cerebrovascular pathology on cluster analysis of neuropsychological scores in patients with mild cognitive impairment
Romero, K.*, Ladyka-Wojcik, N.*, Heir, A., Bellana, B., Leach, L., & Proulx, G. B. (2022). The association between visual discrimination and cognitive decline prior to clinical diagnosis. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology 37(7), 1480-1492. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acac043
*co-first authorship
Flexible use of spatial frames of reference for object-location memory in older adults
Ladyka-Wojcik, N., Olsen, R.K., Ryan, J.D., & Barense, M.D. (2021). Flexible Use of Spatial Frames of Reference for Object-Location Memory in Older Adults. Brain Sciences, 11(11), 1542. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11111542
The influence of prior knowledge on the formation of detailed and durable memories
Bellana, B., Mansour, R., Ladyka-Wojcik, N., Grady, C. L., & Moscovitch, M. (2021). The influence of prior knowledge on the formation of detailed and durable memories. Journal of Memory and Language, 121, 104264. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2021.104264
Reframing spatial frames of reference: What can aging tell us about egocentric and allocentric navigation?
Ladyka‐Wojcik, N., & Barense, M. D. (2021). Reframing spatial frames of reference: What can aging tell us about egocentric and allocentric navigation?. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, e1549. https://doi.org/10.1002/wcs.1549
Giving evolution its due in memory systems research
Bouffard, N.R.*, Ladyka-Wojcik, N.*, Barense, M.D., Giving evolution its due in memory systems research (2019). [Invited review of the book Evolution of Memory Systems, by Murray, E., Wise, S., & Graham, K.] Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 72(5), 1282-1283S, https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021819832227
*co-first authorship
Natalia Ladyka-Wojcik, PhD
Assistant professor
Université du Québec en Outaouais
Teaching
Looking for materials to use in your courses? If you are interested in using or adapting any of my teaching materials, figures, or other resources for your own courses, please don’t hesitate to contact me at natalia.ladyka-wojcik [ at ] uqo.ca. I’m always happy to share materials when possible.
Course Instructor
PSY2403 Psychologie du vieillissement
Département de psychoéducation et de psychologie, Université du Québec en Outaouais
Fall 2026PSY201 Introduction to Statistics
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Summer 2022PSY493 Cognitive Neuroscience
Department of Psychology, University of Toronto
Fall 2021
Teaching Assistant
PSY100 Introduction to Psychology
Fall 2021, Winter 2023, Fall 2023PSY202 Introduction to Statistics II
Guest Lecture: Repeated-Measures analysis of variance (ANOVA)
Winter 2019, Summer 2019, Summer 2020, Summer 2021PSY240 Introduction to Abnormal Psychology
Guest lecture: Dissociative and Somatic Symptom Disorders
Fall 2019, Winter 2021PSY260 Learning & Plasticity
Fall 2021, Fall 2023PSY270 Introduction to Cognitive Psychology
Guest lectures: (1) Visual Imagery, (2) Everyday Memory and Memory Mistakes
Fall 2018, Winter 2021, Winter 2023, Summer 2023PSY305 The Treatment of Psychological Data
Guest Lecture: Panel host on graduate student life and research
Winter 2022PSY372 Human Memory
Guest lectures: (1) Memory Across the Lifespan, (2) Introduction to Scientific Writing
Winter 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2022