She received her doctorate in cognitive neuroscience at UCLA where she studied the neural mechanisms supporting flexible vs. habitual learning using fMRI with Russell Poldrack and Barbara Knowlton. She continued her training as a postdoctoral fellow with Daphna Shohamy, Ph.D. in order to examine the contribution of dopamine to multiple forms of learning and memory. She received an individual NRSA fellowship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke in support of this work.