ABOUT US
Our lab is made up of a diverse collection of people who all have a love of psychological research. We try to foster a culture of inclusion where everyone feels a sense of purpose and belonging and where people feel that they can thrive. We are strongly committed to equity, diversity and inclusion (as much of our research illustrates) and welcome you to peruse this website to find out more about what we do!
Director and Principal Investigator
Professor S. S. Obhi, Ph.D.
Dr. Obhi completed his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London (UCL) where he worked on questions relating to sensorimotor control and volition. Following his PhD, Dr. Obhi was a Postdoctoral Fellow at what is now the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University, in London Ontario. Dr. Obhi currently runs the Social Brain, Body and Action Lab and the Social Brain @ Work lab at McMaster University.
Dr. Obhi contributes to the scientific community by serving as a Co-Editor at Experimental Brain Research and a review editor at Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. He was previously an associate editor at Cognitive Neuroscience, Acta Psychologica and the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. Dr. Obhi has more than a decade of experience with academia-industry collaborations and knowledge mobilization activities.
Over time, Dr. Obhi's core research interests have evolved to focus on understanding the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying human social cognition and behaviour. The lab is especially interested in social cognition and behaviour in the context of social diversity, including consideration of how power and status differences exert their effects on brain and behaviour.
Lab Members
Dr. Alejandro Perez: Senior Research Fellow
Alejandro brings a wealth of experience and expertise to our research team, specializing in the intricate dynamics of social interaction. With a background rooted in clinical psychology, Alejandro has pursued his academic endeavours across various continents, including Cuba Neuroscience Center, BCBL - Basque Center of Cognition Brain and Language, University of Toronto and the University of Cambridge, enriching his understanding of human behaviour on a global scale.
Dr. Perez’s research focuses on decoding the neural mechanisms underlying social exchanges. Utilizing advanced techniques such as EEG hyperscanning, he investigates how our brains synchronize during conversations and collaborations, shedding light on the fundamental processes of social cognition. Alejandro's expertise lies in understanding how our brains sync up during social exchanges. His toolkit includes EEG hyperscanning, which lets him peek into the neural dance of conversation and collaboration.
Website: Interbrainb2b.com
Google Scholar: citations
Dr. Meghan George: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
Meghan joined the Social Brain, Body and Action Lab in early 2023. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D in Social Psychology from York University in Toronto where she studied face perception, apologies, and implicit attitudes across development. In 2020, she received a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship to work with Dr. Sylvia Perry at Northwestern University. Her work with Dr. Perry examines potential interventions aimed at improving intergroup interactions among adults and promoting anti-racism in children.
Here at McMaster, Meghan continues to research how biases affect our interactions with people from different social categories (e.g., race, gender, status). She is currently investigating how we mimic the behaviour of different interaction partners. She is also using electroencephalography (EEG) to study how the brain processes our own implicit biases.
If you'd like more information about Dr. George and her ongoing work, you can check out her website here.
Dr. Carl Michael Galang: Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
I am currently a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at Humboldt University of Berlin under the supervision of Prof. Marcel Brass. I completed my undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto with a double major in Cognitive Science and Philosophy. My PhD is in Psychology (with my training in the subfield of Social Cognitive Neuroscience) and was completed at McMaster University under the supervision of Prof. Sukhvinder Obhi. I have a wide variety of research interests and have published scientific works on topics spanning the sense of agency, empathy, social power, dehumanization, and automatic imitation.
My current work is funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship. My project's overall aim is to investigate if and how being in a group influences joint agency. In addition, I currently have research interests in rule breaking and the sense of agency, anticipated imitation in multi-agent contexts, and on basic work on volition.
To see my work, please visit: https://galangca.github.io/
Deewa Anwarzi: PhD Student (Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour)
Deewa is a PhD student studying bodily self-consciousness and action. She is interested in understanding the sensorimotor and cognitive factors that shape people’s understanding of themselves, their bodies, and their actions.
Her current work explores the impact of trauma, dissociation, and narcissism, on self-awareness during intentional actions.
Sabine Bou Saba: PhD Student
Sabine (she/her) is a PhD student at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Marcel Brass and Prof. Dr. Obhi from McMaster University in Canada. She earned her Bachelor's degree in Psychology with minors in Gender Studies and Creative Writing at the American University of Beirut. She then completed her Master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience at the Berlin School of Mind and Brain. Sabine's current research project focuses on gender and agency. She aims to study how gender influences the ways in which we perceive agency and attribute responsibility in different social contexts.
Jaelon Leid-Bailey: MSc Student (Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour)
Jaelon is currently working on his MSc and is studying intergroup empathy. He is particularly interested in peoples' motivation to empathize with others across social group boundaries.
Salina Edwards: MSc Student (Neuroscience)
Salina (she/her) is an MSc student interested in exploring how AI replaces traditional human interactions and the implications of this emerging social category. After completing her B.A. in Psychology and English Literature at the University of British Columbia, Salina drove across the country to join the Obhi lab at McMaster University! Her work is currently being funded by an NSERC grant.
Learn more about Salina and her latest publications here.
Recent Undergraduate Research Students
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Tiffany Vandusen (2023/24)
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Tristan Agpawa (2023/24)
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Mohammed Abbas (2023/24)
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Kimberly Fung (2023/24)
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Alyssa Knight (2023/24)
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Caleigh Kloppenberg (2023/24)
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Karina Pietro (2023/24)
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Hanna Vandermass (2023)
Selected alumni
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Dr. Michael Vesker
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Charlotte De Biasi (Fall, 2021)
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Zoya Pal (21/22)
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Amitoze Deol (21/22)
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Caroline Milligan (21/22)
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Zach Chiodi (21/22)
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Iqra Abid (Fall, 2021)
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Dr. Devin Johnson
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Dr. Carl Michael Galang
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Dr. Sumeet Farwaha
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Rubina Malik
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Maria Ershova (former MSc student)
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Hassan Siddiqui (former QQ student)
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Maria Nicula (former QQ student)
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Eric Rushton (former thesis student)
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Jesse Krusky (former thesis student)
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Katherine Naish, PhD
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Ciro Civile, PhD
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Eamon Colvin, BSc
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Michael Ku, BSc
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Hussein Oliek, BSc
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Nadia Nadeem
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Sarah Blyth, MSc
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Brittany Barnes, MSc
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Ann Hascalovitz, BSc
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Megan Grocholsky
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Shawna Davies
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Jeremy Hogeveen, PhD
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May El Bouri
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Katherine Zagrodney
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Sahil Maria
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Roham Farzami, MSc
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Kristina Swiderski
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Preston Hall, MSc
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Angie Yong
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Hanna McCabe-Bennett
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Carolyn Wilson, PhD
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Lars Strother, PhD
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Shannon Matkovitch, MSc
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Cheryl Lavell, MSc
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Amir Shabani, PhD
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Rebecca Decloe, BSc - MSc Candidate
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Amanda Demmer
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Sonja Brubacher, PhD
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Tiffany O'Connor
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Cigar Kalfouglu, PhD
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Carly Romano
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Suzanne McKay