Anthony Cruz

I'm a PhD Candidate at the University of Western Ontario, studying psychology with a focus on cognitive, developmental, and brain sciences. I am supervised by Dr. John Paul Minda in the Minda Lab. Before coming to Western, I earned my B.A. in Mathematics and Psychology at Ohio University.

I study the basic cognitive science of how we learn, remember, and abstract. I mostly focus on category learning, the process by which we learn to  organize the world into meaningful groups. Whether distinguishing a dog from a wolf or a melanoma from a benign skin lesion, categorization plays a fundamental role in how we learn, make decisions, and develop expertise.

I am also passionate about science communication and outreach. I served as a Science Communication Intern for a Psychonomic Society, where I contributed 5 articles to their Featured Content Blog and conducted an interview for their podcast All Things Cognition. I have also been a host and producer of GradCast, a podcast highlighting graduate student research at Western, since July 2023.

Outside of the lab, I enjoy running, horror films, video games, and live music.