McGill Laboratory of Affiliation and Prosociality
LAB DIRECTOR | DR. JENNIFER BARTZ
Principal Investigator
Graduate Students
Lab Coordinator
| MOLLY FEFFER |
Molly graduated from McGill University in spring 2023 with a B.Sc. and is currently working as the lab coordinator for the Bartz lab. She is interested in how chronic stress influences empathy and other social cognitive outcomes, as well as the psychology behind the (mis)functioning of interpersonal relationships more generally.
EMAIL: molly.feffer@mail.mcgill.ca | ResearchGate
Current Undergraduate Research Students
Cendrine Blais (PSYC 380)
Kayla Ditkofsky (PSYC 380)
Margaret Eisenberg (PSYC 380)
Marcy Qu (PSYC 484)
Collaborators
Dr. Niall Bolger
Dr. Sue Carter
Dr. Melanie Dirks
Dr. Ian Gold
Dr. Eric Hollander
Dr. Christopher Hopwood
Dr. Lauren Human
Dr. Heejung Kim
Dr. Harold Koenigsberg
Dr. Alexander Kolevzon
Dr. Matthew Lieberman
Dr. John Lydon
Dr. Meghan Meyer
Dr. Jeffrey Mogil
Dr. Debbie Moskowitz
Dr. Kevin Ochsner
Dr. Jens Pruessner
Dr. Signy Sheldon
Dr. A. Ting Wang
Dr. Jamil Zaki
Dr. Phyllis Zelkowitz
Dr. David Zuroff
| AUDREY-ANNE FORGET |
Audrey-Anne is a Ph.D. Student in Clinical Psychology at McGill University. Having experience in forensic psychology, her academic interests lie in the psychological mechanisms behind antisocial behaviors and their broader impact on society. More specifically, her research focuses on understanding the interpersonal behavior, societal functioning and empathy deficits in individuals exhibiting traits of the Dark Triad—narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.
| MELISSA SHEMIRANI |
Melissa is a Master’s student in Experimental Psychology at McGill University. Her research focuses on the effects of intranasal administration of oxytocin on memory recollection and the moderating effects of attachment style. Melissa holds a BSc in Psychology from McGill University.
| AMY GREGORY |
Amy is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at McGill University. Her research focuses on identifying situational factors and individual differences that impair demonstrated empathic accuracy. She is also interested in the relational consequences of fluctuations in empathic accuracy and cognitive empathy, which a specific interest in support provision.
EMAIL: amy.gregory@mail.mcgill.ca
| WILLIS KLEIN |
Willis is a PhD student in Experimental Psychology at McGill University. He is interested in the epistemic function of close relationships. His research focuses on better understanding the psychological consequences of gaslighting and how to recover from epistemic abuse. He is also interested in how close relationships alter the self-concept. Willis holds a BSc in Psychology and Cognitive Science from the University of Toronto.
| JENNIFER BARTZ |
Dr. Bartz completed her Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology in 2004 with John Lydon at McGill University. She then went on to a Post-doctoral fellowship with Eric Hollander at the Seaver Autism Center in the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, NY. In 2007 she became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai, and in 2011 she retuned to McGill University, and is now an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology.
Past Graduate Students & Postdoctoral Fellows
| GENTIANA SADIKAJ |
Dr. Gentiana Sadikaj completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at McGill University in 2012. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship under Dr. Bartz's supervision in 2017, and she is currently an assistant professor at Concordia University. Broadly speaking, Genta is interested in understanding (1) person and situational influences on personality processes involving perception of others, affect, and interpersonal behavior, (2) intrapersonal and interpersonal consequences of personality processes, and (3) perception accuracy. Presently, she is examining whether specific polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) influence interpersonal dynamics between romantic partners in naturally occurring interpersonal situations.
| SONIA KROL |
Dr. Sonia Krol completed her PhD student in Clinical Psychology at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Bartz. She also completed her BA in Psychology at McGill University. Broadly, Sonia is interested in the relationship between the self and social behaviour. Specifically, she studies how one’s sense of self—the extent to which one knows who they are—influences self-other distinction, particularly in the context of empathy.
EMAIL: sonia.krol@mail.mcgill.ca
| CECILE (Cici) SUNAHARA |
Cecile completed her M.Sc. at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Bartz investigating the neurobiological and social cognitive underpinnings of human affiliation and prosociality. Cici is completing her PhD in Clinical Psychology at Southern Methodist University under the supervision of Dr. Benjamin A. Tabak where she aims to continue exploring the psychological and neurobiological mechanisms which support our ability to connect with others.
| JONAS NITSCHKE |
Dr. Jonas Nitschke completed his PhD in Experimental Psychology at McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Bartz. Jonas is completing his post doctoral research in the Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Unit at University of Vienna under the supervision of Dr. Claus Lamm. He is interested in how stress influences our self-perceptions and how we interact with our social environment.
EMAIL: jonas.nitschke@mcgill.ca
WEB: jonasnitschke.com
TWITTER: @jonasnitschke
| TANYA PROCYSHYN |
Tanya completed Parke Davis Exchange Post-Doctoral Fellowship (University of Cambridge) in at McGill in 2021-2022, pursuing research related to oxytocin in collaboration with Dr. Bartz. She is interested in the biological variables (hormones, genes) that underlie individual differences in social traits and their relationship to autism spectrum phenotypes. She completed her PhD in Psychiatry at the Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge.
EMAIL: tlp30@cam.ac.uk
| KRISTINA TCHALOVA |
Dr. Kristina Tchalova is a former SSHRC and HBHL fellow who completed her PhD in Experimental Psychology in the Bartz lab, as well as a postdoctoral fellowship. She is currently a lecturer at McGill University, teaching Intro to Psychology (PSYC 100) and Interpersonal Relationships (PSYC 474). Her research examines the neurobiological mechanisms that contribute to the formation and maintenance of social bonds, as well as the influence these mechanisms exert on emotional and physical health.
EMAIL: kristina.tchalova@mail.mcgill.ca
TWITTER: @k_tchalova
Past Lab Coordinators
Juliette Dupertuys, M.Phil. (PhD student at University College London)
Talya Azrieli, M.Sc. (People and Operations Manager at Mako Financial Technologies)
Emma Galarneau, M.Sc. (PhD candidate at the University of Toronto)
Alexa Meilleur, M.Sc. (PhD candidate at the Université du Québec à Montréal)
