Important Documents for Honours Students
Current information for Honours Students
Psychology Honours Application Form.
Certificate of Examination Form.
Library Permission to use Honours Paper
Current Honours Students 2023 - 2024
Margaret Rose Orford (They/Them)
Margaret Orford is completing 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 will complete their honours degree in Psychology in the 2023-2024 academic year 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.
Goshna Rabeca George
Past Honours Students
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. (2017) completed MD., Dalhousie University, Halifax
Singing as a benefit for pulmonory 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) Department of Psychology, M. Sc work (incomplete) Dalhousie University
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) completed M. Sc. Speech Pathology, University of Toronto: Currently Speech Pathologist Province of PEI
AIRS Test Battery - Cross-sectional study of creativity
Moira Shaw (2012) completed M. Sc Speech Pathology, North Dakota, Minot State University
Infant imitation of pitch in infancy
Current: Graduate Study in Speech Pathology, Minot State University, North Dakota
Leah Stevenson (2012) completed M. Sc Speech Language Pathology, Dalhousie University, Halifax.
Effects of cultural background and music training on performance on the AIRS Short Battery of Tests of Singing and Language
Former Honours Students (please see section on Lab Alumni)