Current Members

• Dr. Caroline Palmer (caroline.palmer (at) mcgill.ca), Professor, Canada Research Chair in Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance, McGill.
• Dr. Bavo Van Kerrebroeck (bavo.vankerrebroeck (at) mail.mcgill.ca), Postdoc researcher, McGill.
• Dr. Andrii Smykovskyi (andrii.smykovskyi (at) mail.mcgill.ca), Postdoc fellow, McGill. 
• Wenbo Yi (wenbo.yi (at) mail.mcgill.ca), PhD candidate, McGill
• Kai Mikkelsen (kai.mikkelsen (at) mcgill.ca), MA student, Music Technology, 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.
• Liam Curry (liam.curry (at) mail.mcgill.ca), BASc student, Cognitive Science, McGill.
• Emilie Jackson (emilie.jackson (at) mail.mcgill.ca), BASc student, Neuroscience, McGill.
• Emilia Zarb (emilie.zarb (at) mail.mcgill.ca), BASc student, Psychology, McGill.
• Asha Tafarodi (asha.tafarodi (at) mail.mcgill.ca), BASc student, Psychology, 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. Bavo Van Kerrebroeck

Bavo joined the SPL as a post-doc in March 2023. He is a researcher in embodied music cognition, extended reality, and human-computer interaction. He obtained a master’s in engineering and computer music at the KUleuven and Sorbonne University (IRCAM) and completed his PhD at Ghent University (IPEM). He currently works on the development of musical agents to investigate the emergent qualities in collective music making.

• Van Kerrebroeck, B., Wanderley, M. M., Demos, A. P., & Palmer, C. (2025). Virtual partners improve synchronization in human−machine trios. Cognitive Science, 49(2), e70040. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.70040
• Van Kerrebroeck, B., Wanderley, M., Demos, A. P, & Palmer, C. (2024). Human-machine trios show different tempo changes in musical tasks. In L. K. Samuelson, S. L. Frank, M. Toneva, A. Mackey, & E. Hazeltine (Eds.), Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 46, 650-656. 
• Van Kerrebroeck, B., Crombé, K., de Leymarie, S. M., Leman, M., & Maes, P. J. (2024). The virtual drum circle: polyrhythmic music interactions in mixed reality. Journal of New Music Research, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2024.2339244
• Campo A, Michałko A, Van Kerrebroeck B, Stajic B, Pokric M, Leman M. (2023). The assessment of presence and performance in an AR environment for motor imitation learning: A case-study on violinists. Computers in Human Behavior. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0747563223001619
• Rosso M, van Kerrebroeck B, Maes PJ, Leman M. Embodied perspective-taking enhances interpersonal synchronization. (2023). A body-swap study. iScience. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004223021764?via%3Dihub
• Van Kerrebroeck, B., Caruso, G., & Maes, P. J. (2021). A methodological framework for assessing social presence in music interactions in virtual reality. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 663725. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.663725
• Van Kerrebroeck, B., & Maes, P. J. (2021). A breathing sonification system to reduce stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 623110 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.623110

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.

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 

Kai Mikkelsen

Kai joined the SPL as a technical assistant in Fall 2023. He earned a Bachelors degree in Software Engineering from the University of Victoria and is currently pursuing his Masters of Arts in Music Technology at McGill. His research interests include Digital Signal Processing and Music Information Retrieval.

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.

Liam Curry

Liam joined the SPL in Spring 2025 with a SURA award. He is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts and Science degree in Cognitive Science with a focus in Neuroscience. He is working with Wenbo Yi on his research about respiratory, cardiac, and EEG signal synchronization between dyads of performing musicians.

Emilie Jackson

Emilie joined the SPL in Fall 2025 for a two-semester research thesis. She is a second-year neuroscience student pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree at McGill in the cognitive stream with a minor in biology. Working with Dr. Andrii Smykovskyi and Dr. Palmer, she studies how emotion induction affects dyadic synchronization through behavioral (tapping, eye gaze) and physiological (pupil dilation) measures.

Emilia Zarb

Emilia joined the SPL in Fall term 2025 where she is pursuing a Psych 450 research project. In her fourth year at McGill, Emilia is pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with a minor in Linguistics. Working with Dr Palmer and Wenbo Yi, Emilia's 450 project examines duet musicians who try to perform in synchrony while their respiration rhythms are manipulated.

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.