Former Team Members

Jule is a visiting graduate student from Radboud University in the Netherlands where she is pursuing a MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience with a major in Language and Communication. She has completed her BSc in Psychology at Leiden University. While she usually spends her summers organizing fun holiday programs for kids, she is visiting the LAMA lab this summer as part of the Beyond the Frontiers Honours program. Her interests include the development of language and music skills in young children. In her free time, Jule plays the flute in a student orchestra and enjoys being outdoors, playing tennis, and swimming.

Yimeng is an undergraduate student from Mitacs Globalink Research Internship program. Her current major is chemistry, but she is very passionate about neuroscience and psychology. She is interested in perception and speech. In the lab, she has a keen interest in using EEG and time-frequency methods to explore attention and speech. She hopes to explore more about the brain in the future. In her free time, Yimeng enjoys going to the cat cafe, reading various novels, cooking and jogging.

Aalia Rangnekar recently completed her BSc Honours at UTM with a double major in Psychology and Biology for Health Sciences. Working as a piano and voice teacher for the past few years has sparked her interest in music cognition research. Particularly, she is interested in music acquisition in young children and how music training can benefit other cognitive domains. She is excited to gain invaluable research skills and experience at the LAMA Lab. In her spare time, she works at an urgent care clinic and plays piano at a senior lifestyles residence.

​Myra is an undergraduate student at UTM completing a Neuroscience specialist. She is interested in perception and language development with the aim of bridging these interests at the LAMA lab. She has a keen interest in data analysis and hopes to learn more about what goes into designing and carrying out a study for perception research. In her free time, Myra enjoys knitting and studying languages.

Teia is currently an undergraduate student at UTM. She is actively working towards a specialist in Psychology with a minor in Women and Gender Studies. Her primary goal is to gain research experience through studies and programs on campus, as well as through extracurricular activities pertaining to psychology, especially clinical psychology. Teia hopes to gain valuable and applicable experience here for future endeavours.  In her personal life, Teia enjoys spending time with her cats and trying out new coffee spots.  

​Ryan is an undergraduate student pursuing a specialist in Neuroscience at UTM. His interests include understanding how music influences neurocognitive development and exploring the clinical implications of music paradigms. He enjoys playing classical piano, volleyball, and reading philosophy. Aside from his research interests and hobbies, he teaches piano and works at a metabolic clinic.

Jessica is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga, specializing in Psychology. She will be doing an IRP this fall and she is interested in developmental psychology in children with experiments related to music as studied in the LAMA lab. Jessica wants to look into how auditory training can help develop skills needed in other domains. Growing up, she was put into music lessons by her parents and gained a passion for instrumental music.

Maira is an undergraduate student entering her third year at UTM and hopes to specialize in Psychology. Maira has worked as an RA at the ChiLD Lab and has extensive experience tutoring young children. Through her experiences, she has developed an interest in developmental psychology; specifically, language learning. She hopes to learn more about how children acquire language, and how this process applies to children with various disorders, injuries, and speech or auditory impediments. Maira hopes to develop great research, experimenting, and data analysis skills through her time at the LAMA Lab. She is also very excited to utilize the EEG technology at the lab! Outside the lab, she likes fashion and watching dramas from various countries.

Katie is an undergraduate pursuing a major in Biology for Health Sciences with double minors in Chemistry and Anthropology. She is interested in studying the influence of musical features on early cognitive development. With more than 10 years of classic music training, Katie helps teach young students to learn and love their instruments. Between her studies, she enjoys playing the piano, going on nature walks and reading classic literature.

​Giuliana is in her final year of her undergrad at UTM studying biology, psychology, and forensic science. She has a deep passion for speech, language, and human anatomy, and loves to dive into the field of auditory and communicative disorders. She played the saxophone in high school, which really sparked her interest in music and neuroscience. She is hoping to get her Master of Science degree in clinical speech-language pathology in the coming years, while also feeding her love for forensic science and true crime! In her spare time, Giuliana volunteers in a swallowing rehabilitation lab, loves to swim, and creates photo albums for her friends and family!

Anh Tran is a fourth-year undergraduate student at UTM, specializing in Psychology and minoring in Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. At the LAMA Lab, Anh is gaining research experience and knowledge in music and auditory cognition with the aim of applying both to her strong interest in mental health-related research and interventions. Currently, Anh's ROP project is investigating how emotional valence within speech (i.e.. how happy or sad a voice sounds) influences people's attentional bias to it within busy listening environments and whether hidden hearing loss plays a role here. Outside of the lab, Anh enjoys long walks with their corgi, Tempra.

Grace is currently a 3rd year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga! She is specializing in Neuroscience with a minor in Creative Writing. With the LAMA laboratory, Grace is enrolled and set to complete an ROP (Research Opportunity Program) for the 2022 summer session! She is currently interested in how brain activity and perceptual attention may differ when hearing voices of different emotions.

Justin is an undergraduate student working towards a psychology and biology major. He loves teaching and tutoring and hopes to make it his career in the future, where he can educate children of all ages about the sciences. To forward this goal, he applied to the LAMA lab to better understand how children process music and language in the hopes of integrating what he has learned into his teaching skillset. Aside from occupational aspirations, his hobbies include learning to play new instruments, taking care of plants and fish, and playing tabletop games.

Emily is entering her second year at UTM studying psychology. Her experiences volunteering and working with children inspired her interest in child communication development. She has a strong interest in research and hopes to gain a greater understanding of how we process what we hear. In her free time Emily likes to read and spend time with her family.

Richard is an undergraduate UTM student completing a Psychology specialist. Earning his HBMus in piano performance and composition, he is interested in how music and psychology are related. He is interested in if the rhythmic nature of the language makes people perceive language from a myriad of noise more quickly. Outside of lab and school work, he enjoys a good sip of Japanese whiskey, as well as playing Jazz with his friends.

Selina graduated from UTM with a psychology specialty degree. She is interested in pursuing research on children’s learning, with a focus on language development. She is enthusiastic about working on hearing-related projects in the LAMA Lab. Apart from her strong interests in psychology research, she currently works as a retail supervisor and a medical receptionist. She enjoys watching crime documentaries, trying out new food locations, and spending time with friends and family.

Mia is entering her third year as an undergraduate student at UTM studying psychology. She has a strong interest in psychological research, specifically the study of interpersonal relationships and communication, as well as a long history in musical studies. She played the clarinet in her high school band and has also been a member of the musical theatre group in her hometown for 6 years. The LAMA Lab at UTM presented itself as a perfect opportunity for her to gain more experience doing research that combined two of her greatest interests.

Maha is in her final year of her undergraduate studies at UTM with a major in Biology for Health Sciences and double minor in Psychology and Philosophy of science. She has a keen interest towards understanding the process of music and language perception, as well as using music as a form of emotional expression. Outside of the lab, Maha composes her own original music and is heavily involved in on and off campus volunteering, such as with Harmonix Music Club at UTM, and the physiotherapy department at a nearby hospital!