Our Team

Anna Czepiel is a postdoctoral researcher in the LAMA lab, at the UTM, exploring how the brain tracks real-world speech and song. She gained a Bachelor’s in music (University of York) and a Master’s in Music, Mind, and Technology with Cognitive Neuroscience (University of Jyväskylä). After an internship at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Anna completed her doctoral work in 2023 on responses to music in real-world contexts at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics and Maastricht University. In her spare time, Anna enjoys baking, playing piano and violin, and singing.

Anna is a graduate student in Psychology at the University of Toronto. She received her BSc in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour at McMaster University. She is mainly interested in how bilingualism and other diverse linguistic environments influence our perception and development. Specifically, her work explores the experiential factors that drive our attention towards speech. Outside of the lab, she enjoys songwriting, drawing animals, and spending time with friends and family.

Meyha is a graduate student in Psychology at the University of Toronto, co-supervised by Drs. Christina Vanden Bosch der Nederlanden and Laura Cirelli. She received her HBSc in Neuroscience from UofT in 2023 and has been at the LAMA lab since its opening in 2022. Meyha is interested in the intersection between language development, social-emotional development, and music, particularly in infants and children. She hopes to use both neural and behavioural measures to answer such questions in the lab. In her free time, Meyha enjoys singing, playing the harmonium, teaching English to her students, and spending time with friends and family. 

Matt is a second-year PhD student undergoing an external research project in the LAMA Lab. His main research interests focus on the perception of chord progressions and how we interpret harmonic content in music. In his spare time, Matt enjoys playing the classical guitar, reading about history, and pondering anything related to music theory.

Farhia is a fifth-year undergraduate student at UTM, specialising in Psychology with a minor in Forensic Science. Her interests lie in developmental, social and educational psychology.  As an Individual Research Project student, her work examines how speech and song compare in their impact on learning. Outside of academics, Farhia works as a tutor, enjoys reading, swimming, and spending time with family and friends.

Veronica is a fifth-year student at UTM, pursuing a specialist in psychology with a minor in French studies. In the lab, she is studying how song versus speech facilitates learning of math concepts, and whether background instrumental music impacts this learning. Outside of academia, she loves learning new languages and doing crossword puzzles with her grandfather and mother.

Joy is a fourth-year undergraduate student, pursuing a Psychology Specialist degree. She is interested in the social, emotional, and physical benefits of music, as well as how the brain processes music and speech. She is also passionate about sharing the research conducted by the LAMA Lab. She believes it is important for this research to be accessible to others, where they can be informed and take away meaningful findings that can impact their lives. In her spare time, she enjoys travelling, spending time with others, trying new things, and painting. 

Julia is a fourth-year undergraduate student double-majoring in Music and Psychology at UTSG.
She is passionate about the perception of music and how musical training influences auditory
attention and cognitive processing. Through the LAMA lab, she is interested in exploring the role
that music and emotion play throughout individuals' daily lives. In her free time, Julia enjoys
playing the piano, reading, and swimming.

Sofia is a fourth year undergraduate student specializing in Neuroscience and minoring in Biomedical Communications at UTM. She is interested in how the brain processes language, music and sound and how it shapes development throughout life. Through the LAMA lab, she is excited to continue to build her research skills through her contribution to EEG projects. Outside of the lab, Sofia enjoys reading, creative writing and travelling.

Diana is a second-year student majoring in Psychology with minors in Creative Writing and Linguistics. She is thrilled to continue her ROP at the LAMA lab where she gets to pursue her interest in the intersection of music, language, and psychology. She's currently working on neural tracking in the classroom, studying EEG and other aspects of neuroscience, as well as looking at the impact of music on people's lives. In her spare time, she enjoys swimming, songwriting, and adding to her alarmingly large collection of ducks. 

Gurpreet graduated from the University of Toronto Mississauga in 2023 with a B.Sc. in Biology for Health Science, along with minors in Chemistry and Sociology. He is currently a volunteer with the LAMA Lab and is excited to explore the relationship between music and language, as well as how tools like EEG and other experimental measures can help us better understand language acquisition. Outside of the lab, Gurpreet enjoys exploring new places, being outdoors, swimming, playing tennis, and spending time with family and friends.

Malina is a third year student at UTM majoring in psychology and minoring in political science and english. She is passionate about developmental psychology and aspires to become a clinical psychologist. She is excited to be a part of the LAMA lab as she hopes to gain more knowledge on how music and children's attention intersect along with building her research skills and experience. She is ready to make her contribution and learn new things through this lab. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, going on walks and spending time with her friends and family.

Elizabeth Phillips is a postdoctoral researcher exploring oral storytelling—including through song and poetry—as a mechanism of cultural transmission. She holds a Bachelor of Music (Piano Performance) and a Bachelor of Science (Neuroscience) from the University of Nevada, Reno, and a PhD in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour from the NeuroArts lab at McMaster University. She is generally interested in how humans evolved to communicate and how we process and categorize different utterances. Elizabeth cares deeply about open and reproducible scholarship and is a bonafide library enthusiast, and also enjoys outdoor recreation, musical composition, writing poetry, and caring for animals.

Anne is a graduate student in the Psychology department at the University of Toronto. Her work explores how we develop knowledge specific to music and language, particularly through observing children's vocal production. She is also interested in how children conceptualize the impact of music on emotions, aiming to better understand how we develop the ability to use music for emotion regulation in everyday life. Outside of research, Anne enjoys listening to podcasts and playing music with her friends.

Sarah is a graduate student in psychology at the University of Toronto. She received her BA in Comparative Human Development and English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago and worked as a research specialist in the Computation and Language Lab at UC Berkeley. She is interested in studying how children make sense of noisy auditory environments. Specifically, she hopes to explore how auditory processing depends on situational context. Outside of research, Sarah enjoys climbing, playing ultimate frisbee, and plant and animal IDing.

Christopher recently graduated from the University of Toronto with an Honours Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology and Chemistry. He has been a member of the CLASS Lab for the past three years, where, through an NSERC USRA, he developed an EEG study exploring whether infants learn better from their mother’s voice compared with unfamiliar voices. He is excited to join the LAMA Lab as Lab Manager, supporting the lab’s day-to-day operations while continuing to lead his study. Outside the lab, Christopher enjoys going on road trips, hiking, and drone filming.

Joscelyn is a fourth-year student pursing a Psychology Specialist. She is interested in infant and child development, psycholinguistics, and clinical research. Outside of acadmia, she coaches preschool gymnastics and enjoys crocheting and playing the piano. 

Ayesha is an undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga specializing in Psychology. With a background in graphic design and a passion for understanding the human mind, she is particularly interested in how research can be communicated in engaging and accessible ways. As a Knowledge Translation student with the LAMA Lab, Ayesha is excited to learn more about the intersection of music, language, and children’s attention while developing her research and knowledge translation skills. She looks forward to gaining hands-on research experience and contributing to the lab’s outreach and knowledge translation initiatives. In her free time, Ayesha enjoys exploring new hobbies, including sewing, jewelry making, painting and reading.

Anhthu is a fourth-year student at UTM, completing a Neuroscience specialist and minors in Psychology and Biology. She is working on the lab’s infant projects on music and learning, connecting her background in music to infant development. Outside of the lab, she loves going to choreography classes for fun, spending time with her loved ones, getting sweet treats (strawberry iced matcha lattes!), shopping, and travelling!

Reva is a fifth-year undergraduate student at UTM, completing a Neuroscience Specialist with minors in Psychology and Biology. Her research interests include neuroplasticity and the relationship between brain function and behaviour. In the lab, she is exploring the relationship between spontaneous synchronization to speech and sensorimotor synchronization in adults, as well as the role of musical experience. Outside of research, she enjoys going to music festivals and concerts, reading, exploring cafés, and spending time with friends and family.

Ashley is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto pursuing a Specialist in Psychology. She is especially passionate about developmental and child Psychology, with a strong interest in understanding how early experiences shape learning. She is excited to be a part of the LAMA lab and is inspired to learn more about how music and language affect the attention of young children and how this effect may differ across different populations. Ashley is deeply inspired by research that meaningfully supports children’s lives and hopes to learn more about how psychological research can connect to real-world situations. Outside of academics, Ashley enjoys weightlifting, playing instruments, baking sweet treats, crocheting gifts, exploring new cafes, and unwinding with video games.

Kalsang is a fifth-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga who specializes in psychology. From a young age, she has been interested in mental health and understanding how the brain works, which led her to pursue a degree in psychology. As her academic career has progressed, she has developed a strong interest in developmental psychology, cognition, and neurodiversity, particularly in how differences in attention and perception shape communication and learning across individuals. She is currently a ROP student involved in the ASBA project, which examines how children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) process and attend to different auditory and social ​information. In her free time, she enjoys going on long walks with her dogs, reading books, and listening to music.

Lucas is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto Mississauga, pursuing Neuroscience with a minor in Psychology. He is eager to be part of LAMA Lab and explore how the brain processes music, and how it affects various cognitive functions. Outside of the lab, Lucas enjoys camping, hiking, and painting.