Our Team

Principal Investigator

Signy Sheldon.jpg

Dr. Signy Sheldon

associate professor

Department of Psychology, McGill University

Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory

2014 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Rotman Research Institute, Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care, Toronto, ON, Canada
2011 Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Division of Neurosurgery, St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, ON, Canada
2011 Ph.D., Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
2006 M.A., University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada

Graduate Students

SYDNEY LAMBERT
PhD Student in Experimental Psychology
sydney.lambert[at]mail.mcgill.ca
My research interest focuses on the interaction between emotion and memory, particularly how affective states influence encoding, consolidation, and retrieval. I’m also interested in the role of neuromodulatory systems in memory enhancement and impairment, as well as how memory representations evolve over time through experience-driven schema updating.

CHANTELLE COCQUYT
Post-doctoral Research Fellow
chantelle.cocquyt[at]mcgill.ca
Hi, I'm Chantelle, a postdoctoral researcher in the Sheldon Memory Lab. I'm interested in how the brain represents and reconstructs past experiences during memory retrieval. During my PhD at the University of British Columbia, I investigated how emotion shapes memory retrieval and its underlying neural representations. My current research builds on this work by exploring how post-encoding processes, such as neural replay, and the flexibility with which we retrieve memories influence how the brain represents our experiences.

JADE GORDON
jade.gordon[at]mcgill.ca
Hi, I'm a research assistant at the SML! I recently earned my M.A. in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University and my B.Sc. in Psychology from McGill. This year, I'll be working on a project studying the effects of post-encoding intervention on memory with Chantelle. Outside of the lab, I enjoy playing guitar, running along the canal, and learning hockey!

CHRISTIANE MARIE CANILLO
MA Student in Experimental Psychology
cm.canillo[at]mail.mcgill.ca
I am interested in two lines of work: (1) the impact of encoding goals on the details we remember, building on prior work conducted in the lab on goal reinstatement effects between memory at encoding and retrieval, and (2) how culture influences what we remember and the way this impacts how we communicate what and why we remember.

MIKAILA TOMBE
PhD Student in Experimental Psychology
mikaila.tombe[at]mail.mcgill.ca

Hi! My name is Mikaila and I am a current PhD student in the Sheldon Memory Lab. I’m interested in how music intersects with memory, particularly event and autobiographical memory. My current research program focuses on how music can serve as an embodied cue to induce feelings of familiarity and enhance later memory for events. I’m also investigating how hippocampal connectivity during event encoding differs between musicians and non-musicians, to better understand how musical training shapes the way people perceive narratives at both the neural and behavioural level.

SUSANNE SEVCIK
PhD Student in Experimental Psychology
susanne.sevcik[at]mail.mcgill.ca
My research looks at how music, particularly timbre, can evoke different emotions and how that might impact event memory encoding and retrieval. My research is co-supervised by Stephen McAdams, and I am interested in an interdisciplinary approach to understanding cognition, language, music, and memory. I am also a classically trained pianist and love teaching and collaborating with other musicians outside of the lab.

SARA TOCA
PhD Student in Clinical Psychology
sara.toca[at]mail.mcgill.ca
My interests are centered around how cognition and memory are affected by different forms of psychopathology. My research is co-supervised by Dr. Ian Gold, and I am particularly interested in the relationship between memory and belief, and how it may contribute to memory distortions and delusions.

undergraduate students

SOFIA BALLARANO
Hi! My name is Sofia Ballarano, and I am a U3 undergraduate student in Honours Psychology with a minor in Anthropology. This year, I'll be working on my senior honours thesis, which examines how music-induced emotional arousal can be used as an emotion regulation intervention to alter the way negative events are remembered.

RUBY HA
Hi! My name is Ruby and I am a fourth year undergraduate psychology student with a double minor in history and behavioural science. This year I’ll be working on a research project to determine whether autobiographical memories of racial discrimination differ from non-discrimin

ALEC LA ROCHELLE
Hey! I’m Alec, and I’m a U2 Honours psychology student with a minor in philosophy. This year, I am very excited to be working on my honours thesis and to be helping Sydney with a project on the variability of memory assessments in people's daily lives.

SAMUEL HEPWORTH
Hi! My name is Sam, and I am a fourth-year undergraduate student in Psychology with minors in Philosophy and Behavioural Science. This year I'll be working with Sydney on a project investigating the effect of schema strength on memory recall and memory updating.

MAYA SCHMIDT
Hi! My name is Maya, and I am a U2 psychology major with a double minor in behavioural science and anthropology. This semester I will continue at the lab as a volunteer helping Christiane Marie with her project on encoding goals.

SHAWN CHINIAH
Hello, my name is Shawn, I'm a U3 psychology major with a double minor in behavioral sciences and education. This year I will be staying with the lab as part as a research course. I am currently working with Christiane Marie on her Encoding Goals study.

TARA VAN HEUSEN
Hey! My name is Tara Van Heusen, and I am entering my third year of my undergraduate studies with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Interdisciplinary Life Sciences. I am super excited to be working with Sydney's PUP and CRISP project and investigating how the different ways of remembering memories can evoke similar patterns in the brain!

LEYLIE MEH
Hi! My name is Leylie, and I am a U2 undergraduate student in Honours Psychology. This year, I am excited to be completing my honours research project with Susanne. My project will explore how musical timbre influences emotional states and, in turn, how these emotional responses may affect memory encoding.

DENITSA TOSKOVA
Hi! My name’s Denitsa and I’m a U3 Psychology major with a double minor in behavioural science and sociology. I am currently a volunteer at the lab and am working with Sara on a study looking at memory recall flexibility and aging.

KIARA BRETON
Hi! My name is Kiara, and I’m a U2 undergraduate student in Honours Psychology with a minor in Communications. I’m a research volunteer in the lab and currently work with Sara on her research exploring social anxiety.

ANAÏS CAUCHI
Hey, there! I’m Anaïs Cauchi, a U2 Psych major with a double minor in Behavioural Neuroscience and Philosophy. I’m working with Sara as part of the AnxMem project, where we’re examining the effects of memory rescripting on people’s self-concept!

ZOYA MIRZA
Hello! I’m Zoya, a U3 Psychology undergraduate student with a minor in Sociology. This year, I’m volunteering in the lab and working with Mikaila on her TOURMEM study, where we’ll investigate music and its effects on memory.

ALICIA ZIBREIRA
Hi! My name is Alicia and I’m a research assistant at the lab! This semester I’ll be finishing up my undergraduate degree in Psychology, with a double minor in Behavioural Science and Sociology. I am also working on my independent research project, examining how different implicit encoding strategies can affect the kinds of details reported at recall.

DANIELLE MEZHER
Hi! My name is Danielle Mezher and I am a U2 undergraduate student in Honours Psychology. This year, I am excited to be working with Mikaila on a research project investigating the effect of tempo evoked arousal on temporal memory, with a particular focus on temporal duration and sequence.

GAL BARNEA
Hi! I'm Gal, and I'm a U2 cognitive science major with a minor in math. This semester, I'm excited to be volunteering with Mikaila on her TOURMEM study, investigating how music affects our memory and experience of art.

OUR MASCOT: THE COG DOG

Click here to contact us if you are interested in being part of our team

COLLABORATORS

At McGill

Jennifer Bartz
Veronique Bohbot
Caroline Palmer
Lesley Fellows
Ross Otto
Mathieu Roy
Madeleine Sharp
Nathan Spreng
Natasha Rajah

At Other Universities

Brian Levine (UofT)
Morris Moscovitch (UofT)
Mary Pat McAndrews (UofT)
Nicole Anderson (UofT)
Carrie Esopenko (Rutgers)
Daniela Palombo (UBC)
Jens Pruessner (Konstanz)
Shayna Rosenbaum (York University)
Stefan Kohler (Western)
Louis Renoult (East Anglia)

alumni

Graduate Students

Louise Van Dijck
Jamie Snytte
Azara Lalla
Charles Ferris
Can Fenerci
Lauri Gurguryan
Rebecca Scheurich
Sarah Peters
Marianne Lévesque (collaborator)
Cherie Strikwerda-Brown (collaborator)
Jonas Nitschke (collaborator)
Greta Melega (collaborator)
Olivia Zaborowska (collaborator)
Dorothee Shoemaker

Undergraduate Students

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