Rate My Professor Aaron Mattfeld

Aaron Mattfeld is an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at Florida International University, where he serves as Director of the Neuroscience of Memory and Development (MaD) Lab. He earned his BS in Biological Sciences from Montana State University, MA in Cognitive Neuroscience from Johns Hopkins University, PhD in Neurobiology and Behavior from the University of California, Irvine in 2012, and completed postdoctoral training in developmental neuroscience at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 2012 to 2014. He joined Florida International University as an Assistant Professor in 2014 and was promoted to Associate Professor. Earlier roles include Research Coordinator and Research Assistant in Cognitive Neurology at Johns Hopkins University.

Dr. Mattfeld's research examines the neurobiological mechanisms supporting learning and memory, including how these mechanisms change with development and neurodevelopmental disorders such as ADHD. The MaD Lab employs multimodal imaging methodologies like fMRI and computational models of associative learning to study interactions between different learning and memory systems in the brain, with applications to improve teaching practices, diagnoses, and treatments for developmental disorders. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications, including 'Dissociation of working memory impairments and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in the brain' (NeuroImage: Clinical, 2016), 'Resting-state functional connectivity in a longitudinal study of ADHD children grown-up reflects persistent diagnostic status' (Brain, 2014), 'Functional contributions and interactions between the human hippocampus and subregions of the striatum during arbitrary associative learning and memory' (Hippocampus, 2015), 'Anxiety severity moderates the relation between pineal parenchymal volume and objective sleep problems in peri-adolescent youth' (Scientific Reports, 2026), 'Nucleus reuniens: Modulating emotional overgeneralization in peri-adolescents with anxiety' (Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 2025), and 'Sleep fails to depotentiate amygdala-reactivity to negative emotional stimuli in youth with elevated symptoms of anxiety' (Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience, 2023). Mattfeld received the Achievement Rewards for College Scientists Scholar award in 2010 and has contributed to university service, including as a faculty judge for the Graduate Scholarly Forum and on the Cognitive Neuroscience Faculty Search Committee at Florida International University.