Brandon Forys
Research Area
Education
B.A. Honours, University of British Columbia, 2020
M.A., University of British Columbia, 2022
About
I am a PhD student in the cognitive area co-supervised by Dr. Rebecca Todd and Dr. Alan Kingstone. I investigate the neural correlates and behavioural mechanisms that underpin how people make choices about cognitive effort to obtain rewards and avoid unpleasant situations; examine the decisions people make about interpreting sounds in different architectural contexts; and simulate and investigate the brain dynamics that underpin depression, through work in collaboration with Dr. Catharine Winstanley, Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, and Dr. Randy McIntosh at Simon Fraser University (SFU). I am also interested in computationally modelling biases and affective states that contribute to evaluations of effort cost, with the aim of better understanding the roles that differing cognitive mechanisms play in people’s perception of effort. Beyond my research, I am a sessional lecturer teaching PSYC 365 (Cognitive Neuroscience); I help organize and co-teach an annual fMRI brain camp for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from UBC and SFU, and I help organize the annual PsychFest conference for UBC Psychology graduate students.
Research
I’m interested in the cognitive processes and neural representations underpinning how people make choices about cognitive effort for reward, or deploying physical effort to avoid unpleasant outcomes and approach pleasant ones – from behavioural and neuroimaging perspectives. Separately, I also collaborate on a variety of fMRI data analysis and simulation projects, and have developed computer vision methods for closed-loop mouse behavioural analysis and mesoscale calcium imaging of the mouse cortex as well as statistical models of glucocortioids in mouse brain and immune tissues.
Publications
Forys, B. J., Qi, E., Todd, R. M., & Kingstone, A. (2025). Hear it here: Built environments predict ratings and descriptions of ambiguous sounds. PLOS ONE, 20(1), e0316187. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316187
Ehlers, M. R., Kryklywy, J. H., Beukers, A. O., Moore, S. R., Forys, B. J., Anderson, A. K., & Todd, R. M. (2024). Valenced tactile information is evoked by neutral visual cues following emotional learning. Imaging Neuroscience, 2, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00320
Forys, B. J., Winstanley, C. A., Kingstone, A., & Todd, R. M. (2024). Short-term memory capacity predicts willingness to expend cognitive effort for reward. eNeuro, 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0068-24.2024
Kryklywy, J. H., Forys, B. J., Vieira, J. B., Quinlan, D. J., Culham, J. C., & Mitchell, D. G. V. (2023). Dissociating representation of affect and motion in visual cortices. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioural Neuroscience, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-023-01115-2
Forys, B. J., Tomm, R. J., Stamboliyska, D., Terpstra, A. R., Clark, L., Chakrabarty, T., Floresco, S. B., & Todd, R. M. (2023). Gender impacts the relationship between mood disorder symptoms and effortful avoidance performance. eNeuro, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0239-22.2023
Ehlers, M. R., Kryklywy, J. H., Beukers, A. O., Moore, S. R., Forys, B. J., Anderson, A. K., & Todd, R. M. (2021). Reactivation of hedonic but not sensory representations in human emotional learning. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.25.469891
Xiao, D., Forys, B. J., Vanni, M. P., & Murphy, T. H. (2021). MesoNet: automated scaling and segmentation of mouse mesoscale cortical maps using machine learning. Nature Communications, 12(1), 5992. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26255-2
Hamden, J.E., Salehzadeh, M., Gray, K. M., Forys, B. J., & Soma, K. K. (2021). Isoflurane stress induces glucocorticoid production in mouse lymphoid organs. Journal of Endocrinology, 251(2), 137-148. https://doi.org/10.1530/JOE-21-0154
Hamden, J. E., Gray, K., Saledzadeh, M., Kachkovski, G. K., Forys, B. J., Ma, C., Austin, S., Soma, K. K. (2021). Steroid profiling of glucocorticoids in microdissected mouse brain across development. Developmental Neurobiology, 81(2), 189-206. https://doi.org/10.1002/dneu.22808
Forys, B. J., Xiao, D., Gupta, P., & Murphy, T. H. (2020). Real-time selective markerless tracking of forepaws of head-fixed mice using deep neural networks. eNeuro, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0096-20.2020
Awards
- Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, UBC, 2023
- Stanley Coren Prize in Psychology, UBC, 2023
- Four Year Fellowships (4YF) For PhD Students, UBC, 2022-2026
- President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, UBC, 2022-2026
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral, NSERC, 2022-2025
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s, NSERC, 2020-2022
- NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award, NSERC/UBC (2020)
- Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, UBC (2020)
- Trek Excellence Scholarship for Continuing Students, UBC (2019)
- ARTA Scholarship, Alberta Retired Teachers’ Association (2019)
- Wesbrook Scholar, UBC (2019)
- HSBC Emerging Leader Scholarship, UBC (2019)
- Suedfeld Scholar Award, UBC Psi Chi (2019)
- PSYC 217 Poster Award, 1st Place, UBC Psychology (2018)
- Student Scholarship in Arts, UBC Faculty of Arts (2018)
- Trek Excellence Scholarship for Continuing Students, UBC (2017)
- Stephen Straker Arts One Prize, UBC Arts One Program (2017)
- University of BC Sopron Memorial Scholarship, UBC (2016)
- Dean’s List, UBC Faculty of Arts (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20)
Research
Publications
Awards
Brandon Forys
Research Area
Education
B.A. Honours, University of British Columbia, 2020
M.A., University of British Columbia, 2022
About
I am a PhD student in the cognitive area co-supervised by Dr. Rebecca Todd and Dr. Alan Kingstone. I investigate the neural correlates and behavioural mechanisms that underpin how people make choices about cognitive effort to obtain rewards and avoid unpleasant situations; examine the decisions people make about interpreting sounds in different architectural contexts; and simulate and investigate the brain dynamics that underpin depression, through work in collaboration with Dr. Catharine Winstanley, Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, and Dr. Randy McIntosh at Simon Fraser University (SFU). I am also interested in computationally modelling biases and affective states that contribute to evaluations of effort cost, with the aim of better understanding the roles that differing cognitive mechanisms play in people’s perception of effort. Beyond my research, I am a sessional lecturer teaching PSYC 365 (Cognitive Neuroscience); I help organize and co-teach an annual fMRI brain camp for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from UBC and SFU, and I help organize the annual PsychFest conference for UBC Psychology graduate students.
Research
I’m interested in the cognitive processes and neural representations underpinning how people make choices about cognitive effort for reward, or deploying physical effort to avoid unpleasant outcomes and approach pleasant ones – from behavioural and neuroimaging perspectives. Separately, I also collaborate on a variety of fMRI data analysis and simulation projects, and have developed computer vision methods for closed-loop mouse behavioural analysis and mesoscale calcium imaging of the mouse cortex as well as statistical models of glucocortioids in mouse brain and immune tissues.
Publications
Forys, B. J., Qi, E., Todd, R. M., & Kingstone, A. (2025). Hear it here: Built environments predict ratings and descriptions of ambiguous sounds. PLOS ONE, 20(1), e0316187. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316187
Ehlers, M. R., Kryklywy, J. H., Beukers, A. O., Moore, S. R., Forys, B. J., Anderson, A. K., & Todd, R. M. (2024). Valenced tactile information is evoked by neutral visual cues following emotional learning. Imaging Neuroscience, 2, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00320
Forys, B. J., Winstanley, C. A., Kingstone, A., & Todd, R. M. (2024). Short-term memory capacity predicts willingness to expend cognitive effort for reward. eNeuro, 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0068-24.2024
Kryklywy, J. H., Forys, B. J., Vieira, J. B., Quinlan, D. J., Culham, J. C., & Mitchell, D. G. V. (2023). Dissociating representation of affect and motion in visual cortices. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioural Neuroscience, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-023-01115-2
Forys, B. J., Tomm, R. J., Stamboliyska, D., Terpstra, A. R., Clark, L., Chakrabarty, T., Floresco, S. B., & Todd, R. M. (2023). Gender impacts the relationship between mood disorder symptoms and effortful avoidance performance. eNeuro, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0239-22.2023
Ehlers, M. R., Kryklywy, J. H., Beukers, A. O., Moore, S. R., Forys, B. J., Anderson, A. K., & Todd, R. M. (2021). Reactivation of hedonic but not sensory representations in human emotional learning. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.25.469891
Xiao, D., Forys, B. J., Vanni, M. P., & Murphy, T. H. (2021). MesoNet: automated scaling and segmentation of mouse mesoscale cortical maps using machine learning. Nature Communications, 12(1), 5992. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26255-2
Hamden, J.E., Salehzadeh, M., Gray, K. M., Forys, B. J., & Soma, K. K. (2021). Isoflurane stress induces glucocorticoid production in mouse lymphoid organs. Journal of Endocrinology, 251(2), 137-148. https://doi.org/10.1530/JOE-21-0154
Hamden, J. E., Gray, K., Saledzadeh, M., Kachkovski, G. K., Forys, B. J., Ma, C., Austin, S., Soma, K. K. (2021). Steroid profiling of glucocorticoids in microdissected mouse brain across development. Developmental Neurobiology, 81(2), 189-206. https://doi.org/10.1002/dneu.22808
Forys, B. J., Xiao, D., Gupta, P., & Murphy, T. H. (2020). Real-time selective markerless tracking of forepaws of head-fixed mice using deep neural networks. eNeuro, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0096-20.2020
Awards
- Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, UBC, 2023
- Stanley Coren Prize in Psychology, UBC, 2023
- Four Year Fellowships (4YF) For PhD Students, UBC, 2022-2026
- President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, UBC, 2022-2026
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral, NSERC, 2022-2025
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s, NSERC, 2020-2022
- NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award, NSERC/UBC (2020)
- Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, UBC (2020)
- Trek Excellence Scholarship for Continuing Students, UBC (2019)
- ARTA Scholarship, Alberta Retired Teachers’ Association (2019)
- Wesbrook Scholar, UBC (2019)
- HSBC Emerging Leader Scholarship, UBC (2019)
- Suedfeld Scholar Award, UBC Psi Chi (2019)
- PSYC 217 Poster Award, 1st Place, UBC Psychology (2018)
- Student Scholarship in Arts, UBC Faculty of Arts (2018)
- Trek Excellence Scholarship for Continuing Students, UBC (2017)
- Stephen Straker Arts One Prize, UBC Arts One Program (2017)
- University of BC Sopron Memorial Scholarship, UBC (2016)
- Dean’s List, UBC Faculty of Arts (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20)
Brandon Forys
Research Area
Education
B.A. Honours, University of British Columbia, 2020
M.A., University of British Columbia, 2022
I am a PhD student in the cognitive area co-supervised by Dr. Rebecca Todd and Dr. Alan Kingstone. I investigate the neural correlates and behavioural mechanisms that underpin how people make choices about cognitive effort to obtain rewards and avoid unpleasant situations; examine the decisions people make about interpreting sounds in different architectural contexts; and simulate and investigate the brain dynamics that underpin depression, through work in collaboration with Dr. Catharine Winstanley, Dr. Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, and Dr. Randy McIntosh at Simon Fraser University (SFU). I am also interested in computationally modelling biases and affective states that contribute to evaluations of effort cost, with the aim of better understanding the roles that differing cognitive mechanisms play in people’s perception of effort. Beyond my research, I am a sessional lecturer teaching PSYC 365 (Cognitive Neuroscience); I help organize and co-teach an annual fMRI brain camp for undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty from UBC and SFU, and I help organize the annual PsychFest conference for UBC Psychology graduate students.
I’m interested in the cognitive processes and neural representations underpinning how people make choices about cognitive effort for reward, or deploying physical effort to avoid unpleasant outcomes and approach pleasant ones – from behavioural and neuroimaging perspectives. Separately, I also collaborate on a variety of fMRI data analysis and simulation projects, and have developed computer vision methods for closed-loop mouse behavioural analysis and mesoscale calcium imaging of the mouse cortex as well as statistical models of glucocortioids in mouse brain and immune tissues.
Forys, B. J., Qi, E., Todd, R. M., & Kingstone, A. (2025). Hear it here: Built environments predict ratings and descriptions of ambiguous sounds. PLOS ONE, 20(1), e0316187. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0316187
Ehlers, M. R., Kryklywy, J. H., Beukers, A. O., Moore, S. R., Forys, B. J., Anderson, A. K., & Todd, R. M. (2024). Valenced tactile information is evoked by neutral visual cues following emotional learning. Imaging Neuroscience, 2, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1162/imag_a_00320
Forys, B. J., Winstanley, C. A., Kingstone, A., & Todd, R. M. (2024). Short-term memory capacity predicts willingness to expend cognitive effort for reward. eNeuro, 11(7). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0068-24.2024
Kryklywy, J. H., Forys, B. J., Vieira, J. B., Quinlan, D. J., Culham, J. C., & Mitchell, D. G. V. (2023). Dissociating representation of affect and motion in visual cortices. Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioural Neuroscience, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13415-023-01115-2
Forys, B. J., Tomm, R. J., Stamboliyska, D., Terpstra, A. R., Clark, L., Chakrabarty, T., Floresco, S. B., & Todd, R. M. (2023). Gender impacts the relationship between mood disorder symptoms and effortful avoidance performance. eNeuro, 10(2). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0239-22.2023
Ehlers, M. R., Kryklywy, J. H., Beukers, A. O., Moore, S. R., Forys, B. J., Anderson, A. K., & Todd, R. M. (2021). Reactivation of hedonic but not sensory representations in human emotional learning. BioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.11.25.469891
Xiao, D., Forys, B. J., Vanni, M. P., & Murphy, T. H. (2021). MesoNet: automated scaling and segmentation of mouse mesoscale cortical maps using machine learning. Nature Communications, 12(1), 5992. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26255-2
Hamden, J.E., Salehzadeh, M., Gray, K. M., Forys, B. J., & Soma, K. K. (2021). Isoflurane stress induces glucocorticoid production in mouse lymphoid organs. Journal of Endocrinology, 251(2), 137-148. https://doi.org/10.1530/JOE-21-0154
Hamden, J. E., Gray, K., Saledzadeh, M., Kachkovski, G. K., Forys, B. J., Ma, C., Austin, S., Soma, K. K. (2021). Steroid profiling of glucocorticoids in microdissected mouse brain across development. Developmental Neurobiology, 81(2), 189-206. https://doi.org/10.1002/dneu.22808
Forys, B. J., Xiao, D., Gupta, P., & Murphy, T. H. (2020). Real-time selective markerless tracking of forepaws of head-fixed mice using deep neural networks. eNeuro, 7(3). https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0096-20.2020
- Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, UBC, 2023
- Stanley Coren Prize in Psychology, UBC, 2023
- Four Year Fellowships (4YF) For PhD Students, UBC, 2022-2026
- President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award, UBC, 2022-2026
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Doctoral, NSERC, 2022-2025
- Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s, NSERC, 2020-2022
- NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award, NSERC/UBC (2020)
- Faculty of Arts Graduate Award, UBC (2020)
- Trek Excellence Scholarship for Continuing Students, UBC (2019)
- ARTA Scholarship, Alberta Retired Teachers’ Association (2019)
- Wesbrook Scholar, UBC (2019)
- HSBC Emerging Leader Scholarship, UBC (2019)
- Suedfeld Scholar Award, UBC Psi Chi (2019)
- PSYC 217 Poster Award, 1st Place, UBC Psychology (2018)
- Student Scholarship in Arts, UBC Faculty of Arts (2018)
- Trek Excellence Scholarship for Continuing Students, UBC (2017)
- Stephen Straker Arts One Prize, UBC Arts One Program (2017)
- University of BC Sopron Memorial Scholarship, UBC (2016)
- Dean’s List, UBC Faculty of Arts (2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20)