Current Members

• Dr. Caroline Palmer (caroline.palmer (at) mcgill.ca), Professor, Distinguished James McGill Professor, Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance, McGill.
• Dr. Andrii Smykovskyi (andrii.smykovskyi (at) mail.mcgill.ca), Postdoc fellow, McGill. 
• Dr. Chihiro Honda (chihiro.honda (at) mail.mcgill.ca), Postdoc fellow, McGill.
• Wenbo Yi (wenbo.yi (at) mail.mcgill.ca), PhD candidate, McGill.
• Ted Cameron (ted.cameron (at) mail.mcgill.ca), MMus, Sound Recording McGill. 
• Catherine Lin (catherine.s.lin (at) mail.mcgill.ca), MSc student, Psychology, McGill. 
• Mikaila Tombe (mikaila.tombe (at) mail.mcgill.ca), MSc student, Psychology, McGill.
• Oren Liebenthal (oren.liebenthal (at) mail.mcgill.ca), B.A student, Psychology, McGill.
• Simone Hedley (simone. hedley (at) mail.mcgill.ca), BASc student, Neuroscience, McGill.
• Asha Tafarodi (asha.tafarodi (at) mail.mcgill.ca), BASc student, Psychology, McGill.
• Lara Piros (lara. piros (at) mail.mcgill.ca), BASc student, Cognitive Science, McGill.

Dr. Caroline Palmer

Caroline Palmer's research program combines two related issues in cognitive psychology: how people remember long sequences typical of speech and music, and how they produce those sequences. Many theories of memory for speech, written language, pictures, and other human endeavors focus on the problem of serial order: knowing what comes next in a sequence. What most theories do not address is the time course of retrieval: when particular sequential (serial order) information is available, and for how long. We focus on the time course of serial order in music performance and in speech, the most complex of human skills.

See Dr. Palmer's webpage for more information (including contact information).

See selected publications. 

Dr. Andrii Smykovskyi

Andrii joined the SPL lab as a Marie Curie postdoc in September 2024. He earned a master's in sport psychology from the National University of Physical Education and Sport of Ukraine in 2013, and a master's in Human Movement Sciences from the University of Montpellier in 2019, where he later completed his PhD in 2023. His research addresses interactional synchronization in a range of behaviors. His work in the SPL focuses on how emotions influence joint behavior from a multimodal perspective.

• Smykovskyi, A., Janaqi, S., Pla, S., Jean, P., Bieńkiewicz, M. M. N., & Bardy, B. G. (2024) Negative emotions disrupt intentional synchronization during group sensorimotor interaction. Emotion, 24(3), 687–702. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001282
• Smykovskyi, A., Bieńkiewicz, M. M. N., Pla, S., Janaqi, S., & Bardy, B. G. (2022) Positive emotions foster spontaneous synchronisation in a group movement improvisation task. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 16, 944241. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2022.944241.
• Bieńkiewicz, M. M. N., Smykovskyi, A. P., Olugbade, T., Janaqi, S., Camurri, A., Bianchi-Berthouze, N., Björkman, M., Bardy, B. G. (2021) Bridging the gap between emotion and joint action. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 131, 806–833. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.08.014.

Dr. Chihiro Honda

Chihiro joined the SynchMuse project and SPL lab as a postdoc in December 2025. She earned her master's degree in Psychology and a PhD in Cognitive Psychology from the University at Buffalo (State University of New York) where she studied perception and production of music and language. Her current research in the SPL investigates the effect of virtual agents on human temporal coordination.

• Honda, C., Pruitt, T. A., Greenspon, E. B., Liu, F., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2023). The effect of musical training and language background on vocal imitation of pitch in speech and song. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 49, 1296–1309. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001146

• Honda, C., & Pfordresher, P. Q. (2023). An acoustic analysis and comparison between remotely collected and in-person laboratory collected data in vocal imitation of pitch. Auditory Perception & Cognition, 6, 215–232. https://doi.org/10.1080/25742442.2023.2210050

• Pfordresher, P. Q., Honda, C., Greenspon, E. B., Chow, K. (2021). Generalization of novel sensorimotor associations among pianists and non-pianists: More evidence that musical training effects are constrained. Psychological Research, 85, 1932-1942. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-020-01362-9 

Wenbo Yi

Wenbo joined the SPL as a PhD student in September 2022. He studied Sound Recording at the Bachelor's and Master’s levels in China, then completed a Master’s degree in Music, Communication and Technology at the University of Oslo, Norway. Wenbo also worked at the RITMO Center of Excellence in Oslo, where his research included rhythm perception and production, linguistic rhythm, and cardiac synchrony in musical ensembles. His current research focuses on group dynamics in complex music activities.

• Høffding, S., Yi, W.​, Lippert, E., Sanchez, V. G., Bishop, L., Laeng, B., Danielsen, A., Jensenius, A. R., & Wallot, S. (2023). Into the Hive-Mind: Shared Absorption and Cardiac Interrelations in Expert and Student String Quartets. Music & Science, 6. https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043231168597 

Ted Cameron

Ted joined the SPL in Fall 2026. He is pursuing a MMus degree in Sound Recording at McGill University and holds a BFA in Oboe Performance from Concordia University. Ted has extensive experience working with advanced recording systems, studio hardware, and brings a strong technical foundation in music technology, audio electronics, and audio computing to his position at the SPL.
 

Catherine Lin 

Catherine joined the SPL as a MSc student in September 2024, after completing a Bachelor's degree from Western University with an honour's specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience and a Minor in Biology. Her current research is focused on investigating tempo drift in synchronized solo and group performance of music.

Mikaila Tombe

Mikaila joined the SPL lab as a MA student in September 2024. She completed her Bachelor’s degree from Vancouver Island University with an Honours in Psychology. Mikaila is co-supervised by Dr. Caroline Palmer and Dr. Signy Sheldon in the Sheldon Memory Lab, with her current research focused on musical tempo-evoked arousal and event memories.

Oren Liebenthal

Oren joined the SPL in Winter 2025. He is in his third year at McGill, pursuing a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. In collaboration with Dr. Palmer and Andrii Smykovskyi, Oren examines how people synchronize with a partner and how feedback affects their performance.

Simone Hedley

Simone Hedley joined the SPL in Fall 2026 for a year-long Psych 349 research project. She is a third-year student completing a BSci degree in Neuroscience. Simone is studying how speakers coordinate using EEG with Dr. Palmer and Dr. Honda.

Asha Tafarodi

Asha joined the SPL in Fall 2025 and is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a minor in Neuroscience. He is collaborating with Catherine Lin and Dr Palmer on research examining leader–follower dynamics and behavioural and physiological synchronization in trios' music performances.

Lara Piros

Lara is a fourth-year Honors Cognitive Science student pursuing a B Arts & Science. She joined the SPL in Fall 2026 where she is conducting her COGS444 Honors project. She is working with Dr. Palmer and Dr. Honda on an EEG study on speech chants.