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 2017

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)
Reuven Dukas, B.A. (Hebrew), Ph.D. (North Carolina State)
Paul A. Faure, B.Sc. (Hons.), M.Sc. (Calgary), Ph.D. (Cornell)
Geoffrey Hall, B.Sc., M.Sc. (Guelph), Ph.D. (McMaster)
Bruce Milliken, B.A., M.A., Ph.D. (Waterloo) /Chair
Kathryn M. Murphy, B.A.(Hons.) (Western), M.A., Ph.D. (Dalhousie)
Mel Rutherford, B.A. (Yale), Ph.D. (California, Santa Barbara)
Sukhvinder S. Obhi/B.Sc. (Loughborough), M.Sc. (Manchester), Ph.D. (University College, London)
Louis A. Schmidt, B.A. (Maryland), M.S. (Baltimore), Ph.D.(Maryland)
David I. Shore, B.Sc.(Hons.) (McMaster), M.A., Ph.D. (British Columbia)
Laurel J. Trainor, B.Mus., M.A., Ph.D. (Toronto)

Associate Professors

Paul Andrews, B.Sc. (Arizona), J.D. (Illinois), Ph.D. (New Mexico)
Steven Brown, M.A., M. Phil., Ph.D. (Columbia)
Richard B. Day, B.A. (Massachusetts), M.A. (Iowa), Ph.D.(McMaster)
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)/ Associate Chair (Graduate)
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)/ Associate Chair (Undergraduate)

Facilities for Research

The Department maintains extensive facilities for research in a variety of experimental areas including: Animal Behaviour, Cognition & Perception, Behavioural & Systems Neuroscience, Developmental Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Social & Evolutionary Psychology. The Department possesses (or has access to) extensive facilities for human and non-human animal research.

The 20,680 square foot state-of-the-art animal facility has a full-time animal care staff with holding rooms for bats, rats, mice, gerbils, fish, cats, quail, and insects. Procedure rooms include a physiological optical imaging laboratory, confocal microscopy, cryostat, transgenic procedure suite, two animal surgery suites, electrophysiology and neurochemistry suites, liquid scintillation counter, and an automated 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) and state-of-the-art systems for eye-tracking (head mounted and remote), virtual reality studies, transcranial magnetic stimulation, and electroencephalography (EEG). Human researchers enjoy access to a 3T fMRI magnet and Imaging Research Centre through ongoing collaborations with faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences and St. Joseph’s Healthcare. As well, in conjunction with Brock University, we have created a mobile human electrophysiology and eye-tracking laboratory. This unique 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.

The most recent infrastructure addition to the Psychology Complex is the LIVE (Large Interactive Virtual Environment) Lab. The central space is a 100-seat concert hall with an array of microphones, loudspeakers, and advanced digital virtual acoustics systems that can mimic the natural acoustics of almost any setting. Some concert seats are wired to measure audience electrophysiological responses to performances. From the stage, dense-array EEG and motion capture systems enable the study of how musicians and other artists interact/synchronize when playing, conversing, or dancing. High precision synchronization between equipment systems enables cutting edge, multi-faceted analyses of complex questions related to music, hearing, vision, movement, learning, and human interaction.

In addition to these facilities, the Department maintains full-time technical staff available to members of the faculty and their students. Department technicians are well equipped to construct specialized laboratory apparatus, maintain computers, and develop/repair instrumentation. Detailed descriptions of the research interests of of our faculty and lists of representative publications are available on the Department website.

Programs

• Psychology, M.Sc.

• Psychology, Ph.D

• Psychology Courses

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