Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour

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The Department of Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour provides facilities for students intending to proceed to the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees.

Enquiries: 905 525-9140 Ext. 23298
Fax: 905 529-6225
E-mail: riddeln@mcmaster.ca
Website: http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/psychology/graduate-studies.html

Faculty/Fall 2013

Professors

Sigal Balshine, B.Sc. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Cambridge)
Suzanna Becker, B.A., M.Sc. (Queen’s), Ph.D. (Toronto)
Patrick J. Bennett, B.Sc. (Tufts), Ph.D. (California, Berkeley) /Chair
Denys DeCatanzaro, M.A. (Carleton), Ph.D. (British Columbia)
Reuven Dukas, B.A. (Hebrew), Ph.D. (North Carolina State)
Daphne M. Maurer, B.A. (Swarthmore), M.A. (Pennsylvania), Ph.D.(Minnesota)
Bruce Milliken, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (Waterloo)
Kathryn M. Murphy, B.A.(Hons.) (Western), M.A., Ph.D. (Dalhousie)
Mel Rutherford, B.A. (Yale), Ph.D. (California, Santa Barbara) / Associate Chair (Graduate)
Louis A. Schmidt, B.A. (Maryland), M.S. (Baltimore), Ph.D.(Maryland)
Allison B. Sekuler, B.A. (Pomona), Ph.D. (California, Berkeley) / Associate Vice-President & Dean, School of Graduate Studies
David I. Shore, B.Sc.(Hons.) (McMaster), M.A., Ph.D. (British Columbia) / Associate Chair (Undergraduate)
Laurel J. Trainor, B.Mus., M.A., Ph.D. (Toronto)

Associate Professors

Steven Brown, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. (Columbia)
Richard B. Day, B.A. (Massachusetts), M.A. (Iowa), Ph.D.(McMaster
Paul A. Faure, B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc. (Calgary), Ph.D. (Cornell)
David Feinberg, B.Sc. (Hons.) (Rutgers), Ph.D. (St. Andrews)
Deda C. Gillespie, B.Sc. (Yale), Ph.D. (California, San Francisco)
Dan Goldreich, B.Sc. (California, San Diego), Ph.D. (California, San Francisco)
Karin R. Humphreys, B.A. (Queensland), M.A., Ph.D. (Illinois)
Judith M. Shedden, B.Sc. (Alberta), M.S., Ph.D. (Pittsburgh)
Hongjin Sun, B.Sc., M.Sc. (Peking), M.A. (Western), Ph.D.(Queen’s)
Scott Watter, B.Med.Sc., M.B.B.S. (Queensland), A.M., Ph.D.(Illinois)

Assistant Professors

Paul Andrews, B.Sc. (Arizona), J.D. (Illinois), Ph.D. (New Mexico)

Professors Emeriti

Martin Daly, B.A. (Toronto), M.A. (McGill), Ph.D. (Toronto)
Bennett G. Galef, A.B. (Princeton), M.A., Ph.D. (Pennsylvania)
Larry E. Roberts, B.A., Ph.D. (Minnesota)

Facilities for Research

The Department maintains extensive facilities for research in a variety of experimental areas including: Animal Behaviour & Learning, Behavioural & Cognitive Neuroscience, Cognition & Perception, Developmental Psychology, and Social & Evolutionary Psychology.

The Department possesses extensive facilities for human and animal research. The 20,680 square foot state-of-the-art animal facility houses rats, mice, gerbils, fish, cats, quail, and insects; a new bat colony is now operational. The procedure rooms include a physiological optical imaging laboratory, transgenic procedure suite, two animal surgery suites, electrophysiology and neurochemistry suites, and an automatic cage washing facility.

The recently renovated 19,700 square feet of human research facilities provide trainees with access to modern computing resources (Macintosh, Windows, and Linux environments), state-of-the-art eye-tracking systems (head mounted and remote), virtual reality systems, a transcranial magnetic stimulation system, and several electroencephalography (EEG) systems (the largest number of EEG systems in any single department in Canada). Human researchers also enjoy access to a 3T fMR system and an MR compatible EEG system at the Imaging Research Centre in nearby St. Joseph’s Hospital through our ongoing collaborations with faculty in the Brain-Body Institute. As well, in conjunction with Brock University, we have created a mobile human electrophysiology and eye-tracking laboratory. This unique mobile facility is particularly useful in ongoing research with special populations, school-aged children, and seniors-participants for whom access to our Department-based facilities may be difficult.

A recent addition to the research infrastructure in the department is the LIVE Lab (Large Interaction Virtual Environment). The central space in the LIVE Lab is a 100-seat concert hall with an array of microphones and loudspeakers that create and advanced digital virtual acoustics system, allowing the room to mimic the natural acoustics of almost any setting, from a concert hall to a train station. Audience seats are wired to measure physiological responses (heart rate, breathing rate, EEG, etc.) so that genitive and emotional responses to performances can be measured. From the stage, dense-array EEG and motion capture equipment enable the neuroscientific study of how musicians and others interact and synchronize when playing music, conversing or dancing. The recording equipment and Disklavier piano enable detailed analyses of the music produced and the timing and velocity of the key presses that created it. The high precision synchronization between equipment systems that is available in the LIVE Lab enables cutting edge multi-faceted analysis of complex questions in human interaction related to music, hearing, vision, movement and learning. In addition to these facilities, the Department maintains a full-time technical staff of 5 persons, available to members of the faculty and their students as required. Departmental technicians are well equipped to construct specialized laboratory apparatus and maintain computers and instrumentation.

Detailed descriptions of the research interests of each member of our faculty and lists of representative publications are available on our graduate studies website.

Programs

• Psychology, M.Sc.

• Psychology, Ph.D

• Psychology Courses

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