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RESOURCES
For many years now, we’ve been sharing useful resources and media stories related to our research projects. As a leading Science Laboratory in the San Francisco area, it’s important for us to engage with the community and keep them informed about the incredible work and developments they’re helping to support.
RESOURCES
For many years now, we’ve been sharing useful resources and media stories related to our research projects. As a leading Science Laboratory in the San Francisco area, it’s important for us to engage with the community and keep them informed about the incredible work and developments they’re helping to support.
BJÖRN HERRMANN
I am interested in how our brains support hearing in younger and older adulthood. We use a wide range of behavioral, physiological, and brain recording tools (including psychophysics, pupillometry, EEG, MEG, fMRI). Before starting my Scientist and Assistant Professor position at the Rotman Research Institute and University of Toronto, I was a postdoc in the CONCH lab at Western University (Canada) and a postdoc in the Auditory Cognition lab at the Max Planck Institute CBS (Germany). I enjoy traveling, hanging out with good people, and playing squash.
Principal Investigator
SIGNE LUND MATHIESEN
Signe is a postdoc who obtained her PhD in Food Science from Aarhus University, Denmark, examining how sound and music influences eating behavior. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods, Signe brings insights on how to study auditory perception and its relation to everyday life experiences. Her current research explores experiential aspects of listening to podcasts and audiobooks among older adults with vision loss. Outside of work, Signe is a coffee nerd, bakes sourdough bread, and cruises around Toronto on her bike.
Postdoctoral fellow
YUE REN
Yue is a postdoctoral researcher at the Rotman Research Institute. Coming from a biomedical engineering background, she obtained a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Munich (LMU), Germany. Her current research focuses on auditory perception in senior groups using both psychophysical and electrophysiological approaches. Her other research interests include interval timing, Bayesian optimization, and Absolute Pitch(AP) perception. She is a Radiohead nerd and amateur musician on classical piano and guitar.
Postdoctoral fellow
YULIA LAMEKINA
Yulia is a postdoctoral fellow at the Rotman Research Institute. She obtained a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from the University of Leipzig and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Germany, where she investigated rhythmic neural entrainment to prosody in human speech. Her current research explores the perception and recall of naturalistic speech in younger and older adults, using a variety of behavioral, neuroimaging, and computational approaches. Outside work, Yulia is a fan of traveling and sci-fi movies and literature.
Postdoctoral fellow
GENEVA MARIOTTI
Geneva is a PhD student at co-supervised by Drs. Björn Herrmann and Jennifer Ryan. She completed her BSc at York University in Psychology. Geneva is interested in how vision, listening, and cognitive processes integrate at the behavioural and neural level, with the aim to promote healthy aging. Her research involves eye-tracking, fMRI, behavioural testing, and computational models. Outside the lab, Geneva is either buried in the latest hot novel, starting a crochet project that will never be finished, or biking around Toronto's nature trails.
Graduate student
RYAN PANELA
Ryan is a PhD student in psychology. He completed his HBSc in Biological Physics, Mathematics, Psychology at UofT. Ryan is interested in learning about how humans listen and attend, and aims to understand how humans encode and retrieve events through memory networks within the auditory domain. Ryan was previously the Peer Mentor for the Victoria College First Year Learning Community where he facilitated community building and academic success. Beyond his work, Ryan is an avid traveller, enjoys playing tennis, and going for runs in the warm weather.
Graduate student
ERIC CUI
Eric (twitter: @mecui22) is a graduate student in psychology, co-supervised by Björn and Allison Sekuler. He is interested in the interactions between bottom-up and top-down processing in humans, especially in the aging population, by using both behavioural and neuroimaging methods. He completed his HBSc at the Mississauga campus, where he studied age-related differences in visual perception and listening effort at the human communication lab. In addition to being an active researcher, he enjoys exploring new hiking trails around the GTA.
Graduate student
PRIYA RAKESH PANDEY
Priya is a PhD student at the UofT and the RRI. She completed her HBSc in 2024 from UofT, specializing in Cognitive Neuroscience and minoring in Psychology. Priya joined the Auditory Aging lab in 2023 as a co-op student, and worked on multiple eye-tracking and EEG projects. As a graduate student in the lab, she is interested in studying how hearing and listening deficits affect cognitive abilities such as working memory in people with mild cognitive impairment. Outside the lab, Priya loves to read, browse bookstores and libraries, and meditate.
Graduate student
TARA RAESSI
Tara (she/they) is a PhD student at UofT and the RRI. They completed a Bachelors of Commerce and Bachelors of Arts at Toronto Metropolitan University. Tara is interested in investigating auditory processing in naturalistic listening contexts. Beyond her research interests, Tara enjoys watching hockey and Formula 1, playing tennis, and weightlifting.
Graduate student
SARAH BOBBITT
Sarah is a research assistant in the Auditory Aging lab. She completed her MSc in Neuroscience at Western University, where she investigated how spoken stories can be used as more naturalistic listening materials in studies of listening effort in children. Sarah is broadly interested in the cognitive processes behind listening and how these change over our lifespan, and she is excited to lend her support to the many ongoing research projects in the lab. Outside of the lab, Sarah enjoys knitting, baking, and playing in local bands.
Research assistant
LISA D'SOUZA
​Lisa is a third year undergraduate student at the UofT where she is pursuing a specialist degree in Neuroscience. Prior to joining the Auditory Aging lab, she was a Research Assistant in the Cognitive Neuroscience and Sensorimotor Integration lab at the UofT where she gained hands-on experience in setting up and running EEG experiments. Lisa is interested in the cognitive processes underlying perception and is excited to learn more about how aging interacts with hearing. Outside of research, she enjoys reading, hiking and going on bike rides with her sister.
Co-op student
CAROLYN KORTJE
​Carolyn is a third year undergraduate at the UofT, specializing in Mental Health Studies with a minor in Linguistics. She is interested in how the brain reacts to auditory stimuli as we age, and has done some previous work with EEG while working in the Computation and Psycholinguistics Lab at UofT. She is very enthusiastic about linguistics and is currently completing a study course on the morphophonology of Tagalog name blends. Outside of school and work, she enjoys going to concerts, collecting CDs, watching as many movies as she can, and taking long walks.
ckortje@research.baycrest.org
Co-op student
Research volunteers
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Andrew Cole
Previous team members
Postdocs
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Aysha Motala: 2019 - 2022
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Tysen Dauer: 2020 - 2021
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Graduate students
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Frauke Kraus: 2021-2024
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Francesca Copelli: 2021-2023​
Undergraduate students
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Saba Junaid: 2024
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Christie Tsagopoulos: 2021-2024
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Tiffany Lao: 2023
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Tazeen Atif: 2022
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Silvia Margarian: 2022-2023
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Naman Sharma: 2021-2023
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Garima Sharma: 2021-2022
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