Important Documents for Honours Students
Current information for Honours Students
Psychology Honours Application Form.
Certificate of Examination Form.
Library Permission to use Honours Paper
Honours Students
Adjormi Tettey B.A. Hon. (2025)
Adjormi completed her B.A. in psychology. The title of her research project was “Investigating the Sensitive Period for Music Acquisition in Adolescence: A Cross-Cultural Study Focusing on Ghanaian Students”. Her study investigated whether adolescence is a key time for learning music, like how kids are better at picking up languages when they’re young. In the study, she compared how teenagers in Ghana and Western countries learn music, focusing on how culture influences their musical skills and tastes. The study also looked at how the brain’s ability to change during adolescence helps with learning music. By looking at both Western and Ghanaian teens, it aims to understand how culture and brain development impact how people learn music, which could help improve music education and show how culture shapes musical identity.
Golnush Tahamtan B.A. Hon. (2025)
Golnush completed her B.A. in psychology. She will start her Master of Psychology at the University of Ottawa in the fall. After that, she plans to complete her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology.
Her study was entitled “The Experience of University Students in a Campus Multicultural Choir and Song Circle; A Mixed Methods Investigation”. The study explored how singing in a multicultural choir at UPEI affected students' mood, wellbeing, and sense of connection. Students sang songs from many cultures, shared their languages, and built community. Even over 6 weeks, participants reported feeling happier, more included, and proud to share their culture.
Goshna George B.Sc. Hon. (2025)
Goshna completed her B.Sc. in psychology with a minor in biology. She is originally from the southern part of India - Kerala. She co-founded the UPEI Kerala Federation.
Her thesis was about the attitudes to singing among Hindustani students on PEI. She was interested in this topic because studies are not frequently conducted in Hindustani populations. She wanted to investigate whether a positive attitude towards singing in Hindustani students would have an association to their wellbeing. Singing is a crucial part of Hindustani culture. As such, the attitudes to singing among Hindustani students might be more positive than that of other countries.
In the future, she plans to attend graduate school to specialize in forensic or child psychology.
Isabella Bradley B.A. Hon. (2025)
Isabella completed her B.A. in psychology with a minor in English. She is currently working as a casual in the Chief Financial Officer and Procurement Branch of Shared Services Canada as a Finance Administrator for the summer. She hopes to get a full-time permanent position for the fall while she applies to graduate schools. She is planning to pursue a graduate degree in Clinical Psychology.
Her thesis is entitled “The Impact of Creative Writing on Academic Excellence”. The aim of her research was to determine whether faculty members who participate in creative writing have a tendency to publish more academic works and obtain higher citation counts than faculty members who do not engage in creative writing. Additionally, her research study investigated whether faculty members in psychology tend to engage in more creative writing than faculty members in other fields (sociology, biology, and physics).
She was inspired to choose her thesis topic because she started creative writing during the first few months of the pandemic. Writing became a big part of her life which led her to become involved with the UPEI English Society and declare a minor in English in her second year. When Dr. Cohen suggested conducting a research study on creative writing and academia, it felt like a great fit for her other passion (besides psychology).
Meghna Mathew B.A. Hon. (2025)
Meghna completed her B.A. in psychology. The title of her thesis was “Sensitive Periods in Musical Development: Examining the Relationships Between Singing Accuracy and Musical Memory in Adolescence”.
Her research explored how teenagers’ memory for music relates to their singing accuracy. She worked with university students to examine whether those who remembered melodies better, whether from popular songs or unfamiliar tunes, were also more accurate singers. This study helps us understand how musical memory might support singing ability, and whether there are certain stages during adolescence when learning music and developing these skills comes more naturally.
Sydney Pollard B.Sc. Hon. (2025)
Sydney completed her completed her B.Sc. in psychology. The title of her thesis was “Exploring the Interplay Between Creativity and Resilience in Adolescent and University Student Development”. She studied how creativity, resilience, and mental toughness show up in students aged 17 to 24, and whether these traits are connected or change with age. These traits help young people adapt to stress, solve problems, and stay motivated—so understanding how they develop can improve how we support students’ mental health, learning, and personal growth during a very formative stage of life.
Margaret Rose Orford (They/Them) B.Sc. Hon. (2025)
Margaret Orford completed their B.Sc. in Psychology, with a minor in music performance. They have expertise in the analysis of vocal pitch using the Praat program, and their work provides the standard against which the pYIN automated computer analysis is compared. They completed their honours degree in Psychology in 2025 working on the topic of singing in Parkinson’s Disease as not only a marker of the disease progression but also for the psychological benefits of the activity. Margaret has also worked as a teaching assistant for several courses, has been supported by the PERCÉ program, and volunteers as a peer support worker for UPEI’s 2SLGBTQIA+ Peer Support Group.
Dylan Rose B. A. Hon. (2023)
Dylan is a UPEI Honours English and M.Ed. alumnus who completed his third degree in Honours Psychology at the institution in May 2023. During his first Bachelor's degree, Dylan completed two semester-long academic exchanges at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia and Korea University in Seoul, South Korea. After completing his taught Masters degree in Education, Dylan applied and was accepted into the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme, where he taught English to Japanese elementary, middle, and high school students in Sapporo from 2016-2020. Dylan also achieved fluency in Japanese during this time, successfully passing the N2 Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in 2017.
In 2020, Dylan chose to pursue his third degree at UPEI as a mature student and completed his Honour's thesis, "Sing Like a Man: An Analysis of Gendered Attitudes to Singing" in May 2023. He presented his research findings at several academic conferences, including the UNB Arts Matters conference, MSVU Science Atlantic Undergraduate conference, and the Canadian Psychological Association (CPA)'s 84th Annual National Convention. Dylan plans to continue on into a career in academia, having recently been accepted into the University of Groningen's Research Master programme in Language and Cognition in the Netherlands.
Corey A. Collett B. Sc. Hon. (2023)
Corey A. Collett is a modern day renaissance man. He completed his Bachelor’s of Science, with a focus on Chemistry, double majoring in Psychology and Sociology; he has a well-rounded undergraduate education. Before returning to academia, Corey worked for several years as a Commissionaire at the Pearly and Rideau Veterans Health Center in Ottawa, Canada. During this time, he developed a passion for helping and caring for persons of advanced years and dementia, which is what prompted his return to study Psychology and Science after an initial venture into Engineering.
In 2019, Corey took on the role of lab manager. He has assisted with SPSS data analysis, wrangling technology, and helping to keep things in their proper place and everything in between. He is a co-author of a poster presented at APCAM 2019 in Montreal that focused on memory for popular music by Chinese and Canadian students.
Corey was also the president of MAPUS (Mature and Part Time University Students) of UPEI and enjoyed helping other mature students navigate university life. When not working on campus in the Psychology department Corey enjoys reading Tolkien, Goodkind, Moon, Butcher.. among many other favourite authors. Corey also enjoys an eclectic taste in music with special mentions going to Uematsu, Chopin, and Graffin.
Kristen Gallant B. Sc. Hon. (2022)
As a B. Sc. Psychology Major, Kristen Gallant received a UPEI Undergraduate Research Award (URA) in 2020 to conduct research on General and domain-specific components of creativity: Analysis of data from the AIRS Test Battery of Singing Skills (ATBSS). She conducted pitch analysis using Praat on singing tests carried out by university students (athletes, music students, and students without music training) and persons with Parkinson's Disease. She also carried out descriptive statistics, and correlational analyses. Some of the research on Parkinson's Disease led to a poster presentation for the 2020 APCAM (Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting) and for the 2021 Annual meeting of CSBBCS (Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior & Cognitive Science). She also carried out computer-based text analysis of lyrics in created songs. She received an NSERC Undergraduate Summer Research Award (USRA) in 2021 to conduct research on adolescent sensitive periods for acquisition of musical knowledge. She completed her honours thesis entitled "The Development of Musical Knowledge in University Students: Popular Music and Vocal Ability" and presented this work at the Atlantic Provinces Psychology Conference, winning one of four student presentation awards. A poster on her thesis was presented in Halifax at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the Society for Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Science.
Erin Hannah B. A. Hon. (2020)
Erin received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from the University of Prince Edward Island. She completed her Honours degree exploring music, improvisational singing and the question of domain-specific creativity. In her free time, Erin enjoys singing and playing guitar. She completed her Masters Degree in social work at the University of Windsor.
Emma Campbell B. A. Hon. (2020)
Emma completed her Honours degree in Psychology on Individual and Group Singing in Persons with Parkinson's Disease. She had previously obtained her B.A. in Psychology. She is currently a graduate student in the program in Speech Pathology at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. Classes were delayed until 2021 due to COVID-19. . Prior to moving to Scotland, she was employed with the federal government, Veteran's Affairs Canada offices in Charlottetown. Emma presented a poster entitled "Singing in Parkinson's Disease: Familiar song, range, melodic elements, favourite song, compose an ending" at the 19th Annual Auditory Perception, Cognition, and Action Meeting, November, 2020. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ftLOu_7qlh0cfYYEp6JvjrmO_Z_PQhqYTBs…
Eric da Silva B. A. Hon. (2019)
Singing in university athletes: Effect of training, and serial position on the pitch of the tonic in a familiar melody. Eric is enrolled in a graduate program in Industrial and Organizational Psychology with a concentration in data science from Adler University, while continuing his work with the Federal Government in Human Resources. A A
Jingyuan Sun B.A. Hon. (2019)
The role of Mandarin and Cantonese tone language on singing: melodic structure and accuracy. Jingyuan completed her M. Sc. in Health Psychology at the University of London (University College London. She is accepted in to the Graduate Program in Health Psychology at Glasgow University.
Breea Maclean B. A. Hon. (2018)
Completed her B. Ed. degree following the completion of her Honours Psychology degree.
Honours thesis; Intergenerational aspects of memory for popular music. Honours thesis in psychology can be found at https://islandscholar.ca/islandora/object/ir:22507.
Caleb Young B. A. Hon. (2018)
Completed his Master's program in School Psychology, Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax, and is working in this field in New Brunswick.
Honours thesis: Singing at Summer Camp: Developmental implications
Talia Bond B. Sc. Hon. (2017)
Completed MD, Dalhousie University, Halifax
Singing as a benefit for pulmonary disorders: a meta-analysis of current studies
Kyle Dutton (2017- Lit review only)
Singing in university athletes: Effect of training and transposition on the pitch of the tonic in a familiar melody. Kyle completed his M.A. in Clinical Psychology at the University of London, and is continuing his doctoral studies in clinical psychology at Glasgow University.
Jessica McKellar B.A. Hon. (2016)
completed the Master's program in Counselling Psychology, Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax
Effects of age one recognition for popular music: Exploring three generations within the same family
Derek Hughes B.Sc. Hon. (2015)
Derek completed MSc. Audiology, Dalhousie University School of Human Communications Disorders. He is an audiologist with Connect Hearing in Prince Edward Island.. His thesis was on Singing and cochlear implants
Maggie (Margarida Quadros) da Fonseca (2014)
Completed M. Sc. Speech Pathology McGill University. and is currently working in this profession in PEI. Thesis was entitled : Acquisition of phonemic strings: A study of the critical period hypothesis
Kate Thompson (2014)
Completed M. A. Psychology at University of Toronto with full SSHRC Scholarship; completed Ph.D. University of New Brunswick.
Rhythm skills in younger and older adults
Marley MacInnis (2013)
Completed M.Sc in Speech Pathology, Dalhousie University, School of Human Communications Disorders
Singing as sport
Gillian MacDonald (2013)
Spontaneous facial expressions that accompany singing: Effects of song meaning, gender, and musical training. [links to honours thesis of Gillian MacDonald] MacDonald , G. R., & Cohen, A. J. (2013). The effects of personal song meaning, singer gender and musical training on spontaneous facial and head movement while singing. An exploratory investigation. Poster presented at the 23rd annual meeting of the Canadian Society for Brain, Behavior, & Cognitive Science, Calgary, AB. (abstract 213 p. 57). (https://www.csbbcs.org/fileadmin/csbbcs/storage/CSBBCS_2013_Program.pdf
Rhaeling Henderson (2013)
Completed M Sc. Speech Pathology, U of Alberta
Senior's active singing vs passive listening in a musical theatre situation : cognitive impact.
Denise Beaton (2012)
Completed M.A. in gerontology , U of Victoria
Senior's active singing vs passive listening in a musical theatre situation: Impact on well-being
Michael LeBlanc (2012)
AIRS Test Battery: Cross-sectional study (only lit review credits completed)
Current: Graduate study in Occupational Therapy, University of Western Ontario
Sisi Pan (2012)
AIRS Test Battery: Role of culture, language and personality in university students from China and Canada
Current: Graduate study in Psychology, Dalhousie University
Erica Ross (2012)
AIRS Test Battery - Cross-sectional study of creativity
Completed M. Sc. Speech Pathology, University of Toronto. Currently Speech Pathologist Province of PEI
Moira Shaw (2012)
Infant imitation of pitch in infancy
Completed M. Sc. Speech Pathology, North Dakota, Minot State University
Leah Stevenson (2012)
Effects of cultural background and music training on performance on the AIRS Short Battery of Tests of Singing and Language
Completed M. Sc. Speech Language Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax
Chris Blanchard (first honours student in the UPEI Lab, 1994 - became Canada Research Chair)
Chris completed the first honours thesis in the UPEI laboratory. His thesis focused on the role of musical training in the probe-tone profile. From there he went on to the University of Alberta to complete masters and doctoral degrees in Human Kinetics. In several academic and research appointments he became a very prolific contributor to behavioural medicine and ultimately was awarded a prestigious Canada Research Chair at Dalhousie University in the Faculty of Medicine with a cross-appointment in Clinical Psychology. He is currently a Professor of Medicine with cross appointments in the Dalhousie Schools of Health and Human Performance, Psychology and Physiology.