Think. Discuss. Reconsider.
Frequent understanding checks, partner discussions, and data interpretation activities give students opportunities to test their ideas and revise their reasoning as understanding grows.
Neuroscience · Teaching · Inquiry
Understanding minds.
Inspiring curiosity.
I’m Riley Kendall, a PhD candidate in Behavioral Neuroscience at UCLA and a part-time lecturer at Chapman University. I study how experience shapes decisions and help students connect neuroscience to their lives.
University of California, Los AngelesPhD candidate · Behavioral Neuroscience
Chapman UniversityPart-time lecturer · Physiological Psychology · Functional Human Neuroscience
About me
A scientist.
An educator.
A lifelong learner.
My work brings together neuroscience, computational analysis, and a commitment to helping students develop as thoughtful, independent learners. At UCLA, I work in the Wikenheiser Lab to investigate decision making through foraging behavior, computational modeling, and hippocampal electrophysiology.
At Chapman, I design and teach Physiological Psychology and have co-taught Neuroscience II in the doctoral physical therapy program. I enjoy making complex ideas approachable through discussion, hands-on activities, and immersive fictional cases.
My academic background spans biochemistry and molecular biology, computational and data sciences, and psychology. Across these fields, I’m drawn to the same process: asking questions, examining evidence, and revising our understanding.
Teaching & mentorship
Learning that travels beyond the classroom.
I want students to connect course concepts to their personal and professional lives and feel equipped to approach unfamiliar problems. My teaching makes room for questions, practice, and the gradual development of confidence.
Neuroscience in context.
Immersive hospital mysteries and space mission case studies invite students to examine fictional clinical evidence, connect concepts, and explain their conclusions.
Many paths to participation.
I learn about students’ preparation, goals, and circumstances, then provide clear expectations, thoughtful feedback, and opportunities to develop unfamiliar skills.
Research
When do we exploit?
When do we explore?
My research examines how experience shapes decisions to leave a current opportunity and what to pursue next.
Foraging & decision making
I investigate how reward availability, time, effort, and experience influence rats’ choices between foraging opportunities, using behavioral analysis and computational models.
Neural representations
Using wireless recordings from Neuropixels probes, I examine hippocampal activity as rats navigate and decide where to seek rewards.
Human search & information seeking
These foraging questions also inform my interest in human search and information seeking: how experience, expectations, and uncertainty shape decisions to stick with what's familiar or move on.
Selected scholarship
Research & teaching contributions.
Designing an Immersive Mystery Case Study to Promote Applied Learning in Physiological Psychology
Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience Workshop · Teaching presentation
Rats pursue food and leisure following the same rational principles
Coauthor · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(44), e2520884122 · Read paper
Quitting while you’re ahead: Patch foraging and temporal cognition
First author · Behavioral Neuroscience, 136(5), 467–478 · Read paper
Kynurenine suppresses osteoblastic cell energetics in vitro and osteoblast numbers in vivo
Coauthor · Experimental Gerontology, 130, 110818 · Read paper
Curriculum vitae
An interdisciplinary foundation.
Science, computation & education
My experience includes university teaching, undergraduate mentorship, electrophysiology, computational modeling, and data analysis in Python, R, and MATLAB.
Interviews & moments
Media
Undergraduate research & mentorship poster fairs
Moments from research, presentations, and learning together.
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Podcast interview · December 16, 2022
My path into neuroscience
A conversation about my path into neuroscience and finding my niche.
Contact
Let’s connect.
I welcome conversations about neuroscience education, undergraduate mentorship, and decision-making research.