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

DR. CHARLES FERRIS
Postdoctoral Researcher
charles.ferris[at]mail.mcgill.ca
I am a memory researcher interested in the neural correlates of autobiographical episodic memory who completed his Ph.D. in Cognition and Development at Emory University working with Dr. Stephan Hamann. Following completion of my Doctorate, I worked as a postdoctoral researcher at The Ohio State University with Dr. Baldwin Way using neuroimaging approaches to examine brain development in adolescents. My research interests focus on how the underlying content of memories is represented, how that content can change based on access processes (e.g., modality, goal, context) and how the retrieval of memory content is supported by networks of brain regions.

JAMIE SNYTTEPhD Student in Experimental Psychologyjamie.snytte[at]mail.mcgill.caI am currently interested in how impairments in cognition manifest in clinical disorders such as depression. Specifically, the goal of my research is to characterize the… — JAMIE SNYTTE
PhD Student in Clinical Psychology
jamie.snytte[at]mail.mcgill.ca
I am currently interested in how impairments in cognition manifest in clinical disorders such as depression. Specifically, the goal of my research is to characterize the link between medial temporal lobe structure and function, and autobiographical memory deficits. Under the co-supervision of Dr. Natasha Rajah, my work also focuses aging processes, and how sex contributes to the risk for disorders such as depression and Alzheimer's disease.

CAN FENERCI

PhD Student in Experimental Psychology

can.fenerci[at]mail.mcgill.ca

My research program investigates how aging affects the retrieval of complex episodic events. Specifically,The goals of my PhD research are to (1) identify how aging changes the way we encode and recollect our experiences, (2) determine how these age-related behavioral changes are reflected in the brain.

CHRISTIANE MARIE CANILLO
MA Student in Experimental Psychology
cm.canillo[at]mail.mcgill.ca
I am interested in the distinct ways it is possible to represent a complex memory and how we remember negative experiences. Building on prior work conducted in the lab, my research program will investigate goal reinstatement effects between memory at encoding and retrieval.

AZARA LALLA
PhD Student in Experimental Psychology
azara.lalla[at]mail.mcgill.ca
My research program investigates how episodic processes support decision-making. Broadly, I would like to answer the question of how imagining the future in different ways influences what we choose to do and how we feel about those decisions.

MIKAILA TOMBE
MA Student in Experimental Psychology
mikaila.tombe[at]mail.mcgill.ca
I am interested in the intersection between music and event memories, as well as autobiographical memory. Under the co-supervision of Dr. Caroline Palmer my current research program focuses on how tempo evoked arousal impacts event memories in time and space.

undergraduate students

TING TING LIU
I completed my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology in 2023 and am currently working as a research coordinator for the Sheldon Memory Lab. This year, I will be working with Dr. Sheldon on a study that investigates how rescripting social anxiety memories affects the sense of self.

LUCY JAGGER
My name is Lucy, and I am a third year psychology major. This year, I will be completing my honours thesis with Dr. Ferris on his project, which investigates how reducing sensory stimulation post-encoding, using TMS, affects memory.

DORIS SIYUAN CHEN
Hello! My name is Siyuan (Doris). I am in my final year of the Cognitive Science program (Neuroscience Stream) with a minor in Interdisciplinary Life Science. This semester, I will be completing my Honours Research Project with Dr. Ferris, focusing on the importance of post-encoding processing in memory.

KAILIN SUMMERS
My name is Kailin, I recently completed my undergraduate studies in Cognitive Science (Computer Science stream) and am now working as a research assistant in the Sheldon Memory Lab. I am working with Dr. Sheldon to apply natural language processing (NLP) techniques to study autobiographical memories.

JESSICA BAKAR
My name is Jessica, and I'm a U2 Psychology and Political Science major. I will be completing my Honours Thesis and working with Jamie to investigate how concept familiarity impacts episodic memory encoding and recall.

ANNA BOGDAN
Hi! My name is Anna, and I am a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology with a minor in Interdisciplinary Life Sciences. This year, I will be working in the Sheldon Memory Lab with Jamie to complete a research project investigating the effects of aging and familiarity on episodic memory.

SARA TOCA
Hi! My name is Sara Toca, and I am a psychology major in my final year of undergraduate studies. This year, I will be completing my honours thesis and finishing up a project on episodic memory processing and aging.

SOPHIE TOUMA-SAWAYA

Hi! My name is Sophie and I am a third-year Psychology major. This year, I will be working with Dr. Sheldon to study the role of conceptually reconsidering autobiographical memories in updating schemas in social anxiety.

SYDNEY SMITH
Hi, my name is Sydney and I'm a U2 student studying Cognitive Science. I'm thrilled to be helping Dr. Sheldon with her project on disrupting anxiety schemata and rescripting memories. This will be my first year volunteering in the lab.

ALEX LU
Hello! I’m Alex, I’m a U2 Cognitive Science student (computer science stream), minoring in linguistics, and lab volunteer! I will be helping out in the lab with any automation scripting or software development-related tasks, and I am interested in NLP-memory exploration led by Kailin.

ALIX LAUGIER
Hi! My name is Alix, and I am a fourth-year student majoring in psychology with a minor in behavioral science. This year, I am writing my thesis while working with Amy on a study examining how knowledge about a person in a distressing scenario may influence empathetic responses.

LAUREN NORDSTROM
Hi! My name is Lauren Nordstrom and am a U2 Psychology Major with a double minor in behavioural sciences and sociology. This year I am returning to the lab as a volunteer working alongside Azara, on a project that looks at flashbulb memories.

JADE GORDON
Hello! My name is Jade and I’m a fourth-year psychology student. This year, I’ll be working with Azara on a project that looks into the stability of flashbulb memories regarding the solar eclipse!

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

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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