Steven Brown, Ph.D., Assistant professor
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
(905) 525-9140 ext. 23892
stebro@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: Neural, cognitive, anthropological and evolutionary aspects of the arts, as well as the inter-relationships among the arts themselves. My lab training is in molecular biology and human brain imaging. In addition, I am a classical pianist and avid Argentine tango dancer.

Ivan Chow, Ph.D., Postdoctoral fellow
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
(905) 525-9140 ext. 21443
chowiv@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: Speech prosody, phonetics, and the syntax-prosody interface. My background is in linguistics, languages and music. My research combines concepts in music and linguistics to model the rhythm and melody of utterances based on their morpho-syntactic structure.

Michel Belyk, B.A., Ph.D. student
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
(905) 525-9140 ext. 21443
belykm@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: Human vocal production and its relation to the structure, evolution and development of music and language. My background is in psychology with an emphasis on the production and perception of sound. I am currently using fMRI to study the production of emotive vocalizations and speech prosody.

Ye Yuan, B.Sc., Master's student
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
(905) 525-9140 ext. 21443
yuany4@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: Cognitive neuroscience, cognitive psychology, psycholinguistics, and the origins of language. My background is in psychology, specializing in music cognition, and in life sciences, specializing in origins research. I am currently working on a visual arts project exploring the neural basis of drawing and writing using functional MRI.

Lauren Kutcher, B.Sc., Master's student
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
(905) 525-9140 ext. 21443
kutchel@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: The performing arts; theory-of-mind; and clinical psychological populations. My background is in psychology as well as in music and languages. I am currently working on a project that examines the neural basis of role-playing and perspective-taking in trained actors.

Matthew Poon, Honours student
School of the Arts (Music)
(905) 525-9140 ext. 21443
poonm5@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: Music perception and music theory as related to performance and compositional techniques. My background is in musical performance, theory, and conducting. I am currently working on speech rhythm and melody in Cantonese as well as on the acoustic parallels between music and speech.

Brittney Hartle, Honours student
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
(905) 525-9140 ext. 21443
hartleba@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: Cellular biology, cognitive neuroscience, and cognitive psychology. My background is in psychology and biology. My current research involves exploring the neural basis of both writing and drawing using functional MRI.

Adam Kendal, Honours student
Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour
(905) 525-9140 ext. 21443
kendalab@mcmaster.ca

Research Interests: Cognitive neuroscience, sensory perception, evolutionary psychology, and the effects of music on the brain's reward system. My background is in psychology with a focus on neuroscience. I am currently working on an imaging project that investigates the neural foundations of religious belief and prayer. In addition, I am a lover of art, with primary interests in the visual arts and music.

PAST MEMBERS
Tom Rzeszutek
Pat Savage (Tokyo University of the Arts)
Jordan Milko (Queens University)
Cassandra Cetlin (McMaster University)
Julie Conder (McMaster University)
Marco Varella (Universidade de São Paulo)
Kyle Weishaar (University of Toronto)
Rayna Friendly (McMaster University)
Jacqueline Ravensbergen
Loren Tisdelle
Osamu Takai (University of British Columbia)
Marc Paquet (Simon Fraser University)
Kim Meier (University of British Columbia)
Jade Pai
Grant Christian