McGill Psychology Department

10/01/2026

New research from Prof. Jennifer Bartz's lab studied 217 mother-child pairs, measuring mothers' gut-level "implicit" attitudes toward their child with a quick reaction-time test rather than relying on self-report. Mothers with more positive implicit attitudes were warmer and more attuned during play with their child — an effect driven mainly by mothers of sons — while those same attitudes predicted more responsive behavior in sons but less in daughters. Recently published in Emotion.

09/29/2026

A widely used measure of racism-related trauma holds up well across very different students New from Dr. Keita Christophe's lab: using survey data from more than 5,500 racially and ethnically diverse college students nationwide, this study tested whether a scale measuring trauma symptoms from racial discrimination works the same way across groups defined by race, gender, international student status, and year in school. The measure held up consistently across all these groups, meaning it can be used with confidence to compare experiences fairly. Gender-diverse students and women reported higher racial trauma symptoms than men, and Black and Middle Eastern students reported the highest levels overall — differences the authors say likely reflect real disparities in experience rather than measurement bias. Psychology of Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy ·

09/21/2026

Congrats to our own Dr. Sonia Krol, a regular voice on CJAD! Her latest interview: "Fighting with your family? Going no-contact is becoming a trend" — a smart, research-informed take on a topic many are navigating. Always great to hear our faculty sharing psychology with the public.
listen here:

Going “no contact” with your family. McGill Psychologist Dr. Sonia Krol on why more and more people are choosing to cut off family rather than working on issues.

09/17/2026

New research from Prof. Sarah Racine's lab followed 237 women for two weeks, pinging them five times a day to capture stress and coping in real time. Women with eating disorders faced more frequent, more severe stress and relied more on unhelpful coping — yet when they used a strategy they found helpful, they were less likely to binge eat afterward. The work points to emotion regulation in everyday moments as a promising target for support. Recently published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.

Objective Emotion regulation difficulties are known risk/maintenance factors for eating disorders (EDs). Few studies have investigated use of adaptive/maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in pe...

09/15/2026

New research from Prof. Mathieu Roy's lab tested how music shapes pain across two experiments, varying the arousal and emotional depth of unfamiliar pieces during a mild heat-pain task. Energetic music made pain feel worse and calming, "deep" music brought relief — but both effects ran entirely through how pleasant listeners found the music. It is enjoyment and reward, not the musical qualities themselves, that drive music's pain-relieving power. Recently published in Pain.

Music effectively reduces pain, yet the mechanisms underlying music-induced hypoalgesia remain poorly understood. We investigated how latent...

09/11/2026

A huge congratulations to Prof. Eric Hehman for his induction into the Royal Society of Canada ! Prof. Hehman is one of 7 McGill scholars in the 2026 Class
https://reporter.mcgill.ca/seven-mcgill-scholars-honoured-by-the-royal-society-of-canada/

more information from the RSC : https://rsc-src.ca/en/about/publications/2026-class-fellows-and-college-members

Seven McGill scholars, including President Deep Saini, are honoured by the Royal Society of Canada

09/10/2026

New research from Prof. Signy Sheldon's lab tracked how people remembered the 2024 total solar eclipse — a rare, overwhelmingly positive shared event — over time. By following the same memories across multiple time points, the team could watch how recollections of a real public event form and gradually reshape, offering an unusual window into how strong, positive collective memories change. Just published in Memory.

Autobiographical memories encompass both personally experienced events and shared public events, each thought to serve distinct functions in daily life. A memory for a given event is known to chang...

08/27/2026

Thrilled to share that McGill Psychology is hiring for two additional assistant professor positions!
🧠 One in Developmental Psychology
🧩 The other in Child Clinical Psychology

Great colleagues/department, strong interdisciplinary ties (MUHC, The Neuro), in a city worth moving for. Apply within 40 days—please spread the word! Links below:

https://mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/McGill_Careers/job/McGill-College-2001/Tenure--Track-Position--Assistant-Professor---Child-Clinical-Psychology--Department-of-Psychology_JR0000079375

https://mcgill.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/McGill_Careers/job/McGill-College-2001/Tenure-Track-Position--Assistant-Professor---Developmental-Psychology--Department-of-Psychology_JR0000079367

Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at McGill University), do not apply through this Career Site. Login to your McGill Workday account and....

08/19/2026

New research from Prof. Signy Sheldon's lab shows that mentally pre-experiencing an activity makes us more likely to choose it — but the nudge is short-lived. Across three experiments, simulated activities were picked more often than unsimulated ones, yet the boost faded as the same choices recurred, and it was strongest when people vividly imagined rather than merely planned an activity. Recently published in Consciousness and Cognition.

08/17/2026

Congratulations to Professor Caroline Palmer, who has received the 2026 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC) — the society's highest honour!

Prof. Palmer has profoundly shaped music cognition by establishing music performance as a model system for understanding memory, timing, movement, interpersonal synchronization, and emotional communication. Her McGill lab is renowned as a powerhouse of ideas and a generous training ground for the next generation of researchers — a career defined by both scientific rigour and deep dedication to her students.

The award joins a remarkable record of recognition, including a Tier I Canada Research Chair, the Distinguished James McGill Professorship, and Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada. Richly deserved.

2026 Lifetime Achievement AwardCaroline Palmer It is an incredible honor to present to Caroline Palmer the SMPC lifetime achievement award. She is incredibly deserving of this recognition, and to be considered among the other amazing researchers in this group.This award is also personal for me, as l...