McGill Psychology Department

This year, we had the privilege of celebrating 478 graduates who worked tirelessly to reach this milestone:
6 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
2 Master of Science (MSc)
66 Bachelor of Science (BSc)
31 Bachelor of Arts & Science (BA & Sc.)
373 Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Congratulations, Class of 2026!

New Research from Prof. David Ostry's lab published in PNAS: "Sensory basis of speech motor learning and memory"

Sensory basis of speech motor learning and memory | PNAS Changes to speech offer a quantifiable means to assess speech motor learning, and the resulting memory is thought to be motor in nature. Here, we e...

New Research by Profs Anna Weinberg and Keita Christophe, just published in Developmental Psychology:

The Association Between Parental Monitoring and Adolescent Cognitive Flexibility Across Neighborhood Contexts

https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2027-58973-001

Does knowing what you want in a relationship impact loneliness and well-being? PhD student Katya Kredl, Dita Kubin, PhD, and Professor John Lydon, PhD, explored this question in two studies with 375 single young adults. Using both cross-sectional and longitudinal methods, they examined participants’ dating experiences. Their findings showed that among single young adults who were actively dating, not having clarity about what they wanted in a romantic relationship predicted greater loneliness over time. In turn, this loneliness was linked to lower life satisfaction. This suggests that clarity about romantic goals during the early dating stages may play an important role in the well-being of single individuals.

Knowing What You Want: The Role of Relationship Clarity in Single Young Adults' Loneliness and Well‐Being The goal of the current study was to explore the role of relationship clarity—the extent to which someone understands what they want in a relationship—in single young adults' dating experiences. We h...

We've extended our Fall 2025 deadline for the Experimental Psychology Program!

We’re PSYCH-ed about convocation! This spring, we are thrilled to celebrate all of our graduates: 627 Bachelor’s degrees, 2 Master’s degrees, and 7 PhDs! Félicitations à tous et à toutes!

Congratulations to our PhD student, Jeffrey To, who was chosen as one of 25 finalists in the federal 2025 Social Science and Humanities Research Council Storytellers challenge! His powerful 3-minute video on his research about the multiple definitions and perceptions of diversity, equity and inclusion, was selected among 161 entries. As a finalist he will be competing in the in a live story telling competition at the Science Writers and Communicators of Canada (SWCC) conference. We’re cheering you on Jeffrey!

Emotions can shape what we remember — even events that happen before them! A study led by PhD student Jamie Snytte, Professor Signy Sheldon, and their team explored how emotion impacts memory for neutral events.

In two behavioural experiments, participants watched one emotional video and one either emotional or neutral video. They found that people remembered neutral videos worse if they were shown before an emotional one — but only when both videos were conceptually related (like scenes from the same TV show). When the videos weren’t related, emotion had no retroactive effect.

This study shows that context matters when it comes to how emotions influence memory! Read more here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40073692/

Exciting research & an upcoming event from the Roy pain lab!

Fibromyalgia isn’t just about pain—it also affects cognition. A new study from the Roy pain lab led by PhD Student Erika Gentile, Professor Mathieu Roy, PhD, explored the cognitive profile of fibromyalgia and the pain, psychological, and clinical predictors of this profile.

The team found that those with fibromyalgia showed worse verbal memory & executive function, with pain severity & poor sleep as key predictors. These findings offer insights for neuropsychological testing in this population and highlight potential treatment targets: better pain management & sleep improvements.

📖 Read more here: https://doi.org/10.1037/neu0000993
📅Meet Prof. Roy & learn more at the BRAMS-CRBLM Lecture Series on Wednesday, April 9th, 3-4:30 pm!
👉 https://brams.org/events/brams-crblm-lecture-series-conference-by-dr-mathieu-roy-mcgill-university-roy-pain-lab/

BRAMS-CRBLM Lecture Series – Conference by Dr. Mathieu Roy, McGill University, Roy Pain Lab – Brams BRAMS-CRBLM Lecture Series – Conference by Dr. Mathieu Roy, McGill University, Roy Pain Lab Come and meet him in person! Université de Montréal, Pavilion Marie-Victorin, Room D-427 : Please register via the Doodle link. The lecture will also be available via Zoom and will be recorded. No registr...

The Music4Pain Research Network is hosting a free webinar: Experimental Pain versus Clinical Pain in Mechanistic Research, scheduled for Wednesday, March 26, 2025, from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM (EST). This webinar will discuss the advantages, disadvantages, and related challenges of using experimental pain versus clinical pain in mechanistic research. Register here: https://tinyurl.com/yckyf4bz