J. Devin McAuley is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, Director of the MSU Cognitive Science Program and a member of the Neuroscience Program. He completed his undergraduate and graduate studies at Indiana University, receiving a B.A. in Mathematics and Computer Science, a M.S. in Computer Science, and a joint Ph.D. in Computer Science and Cognitive Science. He then went on to complete postdoctoral studies in Psychology at the University of Queensland and the Ohio State University where he was a Music Cognition Postdoctoral Fellow. Before joining the MSU faculty in 2009, Devin was a faculty member in the Department of Psychology at Bowling Green State University. Dr. McAuley’s research interests include auditory perception, attention, and memory, music cognition, cross-modal processing, timing and temporal control of behavior, and relationships between music and language processing.

Leigh VanHandel is a former Associate Professor of Music Theory at Michigan State University, and is now Associate Professor of Music Theory at the University of British Columbia.  Her research areas focus on music cognition with an emphasis on rhythm, meter, and tempo. She’s currently working on the Tempo Project, which is studying what musical cues influence our perception and determination of tempo. In her spare time, she officiates roller derby and plays bass guitar in a rock band.

Toni Smith is a fifth-year PhD student in the Psychology Department’s Cognition and Cognitive Neuroscience program. She graduated with a B.S. in cognitive science at the University of Connecticut in 2018, where she was an undergraduate research assistant in the Music Dynamics Lab. Here in the TAP Lab she has worked on the speech-in-noise project, looking at the role of rhythm and entrainment in the perception of speech in difficult listening situations. More recently, she has been working on a project investigating the role of movement in timing perception, and is also involved in a collaborative project with the University of Michigan on adults who stutter. In her free time, she enjoys reading, thrifting, and trying out new recipes in the kitchen.

Samantha Waddell is a second-year PhD student in Music Theory at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She also holds a BM in Piano Performance from the University of Evansville (2018) and earned an MM in Music Theory at Michigan State University (2021). Sam has been collaborating on the Narrative Listening project since 2019, lending her performance and theory skills to the project. Outside of music cognition, Sam’s research interests include rhythm and meter perception in popular music, and music theory pedagogy. Outside of the classroom, she likes to care for her houseplants and prevent her cat from eating them.

Matthew Oakes is a second-year masters student in music theory. His research interests include perception of auditory grouping, music perception and cognition, and music theory pedagogy. Outside of school, Matthew deeply enjoys running, cooking, talking with his fiancé, talking with friends and family back home in Texas, and playing with his awesome cat.

Ryan Galik is a third-year M.M. music theory and music composition student at Michigan State University from Princeton, New Jersey. His research interests include genre perception and flow in listening, understanding narrative through diegetic frames, and cognition-informed pedagogy practices. Outside his studies, Ryan enjoys distance cycling, films no one has heard of, and losing at chess.

Jewelian Fairchild recently graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. She was an undergraduate RA on the Narrative Listening project and is now collaborating on two Narrative Listening papers. Outside of the TAP Lab, Jewelian is a project manager for the Prenatal Stress Study, with interest in how prenatal stress affects infant development. After taking time off to gain more research experience, she plans to apply to clinical psychology Ph.D. programs to continue her research interests on child maltreatment and parenting

Kyle Oliver is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology. In the lab, he is working on developing a new audio-visual SPIN experiment. After graduating he plans to further pursue education in psychology with hopes of a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. Outside of school, Kyle loves to play soccer and golf!

Meghana Gogineni is a senior in Lyman Briggs majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology and minoring in Cognitive Science. Currently she has been involved in helping run some trials for the Narrative Listening project and MINT, and plans to get more involved with other studies.  She plans to apply for either medical school or graduate school after graduation. In her free time, she enjoys dancing, singing, and spending time with friends.

Rachael Farquharson is a freshman in the College of Social Science and the College of Music at Michigan State University. Her majors are a B.S. in Psychology and a B.A. in Voice Performance. She plans to use the TAP lab as an opportunity to gain research experience and explore the connections between culture, imagination, and the perception of music.