Mark is the Principal Investigator for the lab. He started the lab when he arrived at Queen’s in 2000. Our work is funded by grants from NSERC and SSHRC. CV

Brooke is a 4th year PhD student whose research investigates how children search for information and change their minds over time. She's interested in how children decide whether and what to explore, how they incorporate feedback about their choices, and how this process ultimately results in learning.

Aditi a first-year MSc student in Developmental Psychology with an interest in how interpersonal experiences in early childhood shape cognitive and emotional development across diverse cultural contexts. Specifically, I'm interested in how cross-cultural diAerences in aAectionate touch and other displays of aAection influence the development of theory of mind and social cognition in children.

Sean is the joint coordinator for the EEL and DSEC Lab here at Queen's. He graduated with a Bachelor of Health Sciences Honours in 2025. Sean completed his honours thesis in the EMBody Lab under the supervision of Dr. Vera Vine on the impact of adverse childhood experiences on facial emotion recognition and cardiac orienting.

Angelica is a 4th year Psychology student completing her honours thesis with the EEL lab. Her thesis project is a continuation from her time as summer staA on the research study Cuddl-EEG. The study explores what eAects cuddling, a form of social touch, may have on the brain activity and brain regions linked to theory of mind reasoning. If interested in participating, please contact eelab@queensu.ca for more information!

Olivia is a fourth-year undergraduate student majoring in Psychology with a minor in Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives. She is excited to be a part of the Early Experience Lab, where she explores the role of social touch in preschool-aged children’s theory of mind and executive functioning. This work reflects her broader research interests in physical touch and its role in children’s development.

Bella Levitt is a 4th year undergraduate student in the Biology and Psychology Specialization program. She has been volunteering in the EEL since her third year and is now excited to complete her directed research there. Her project will investigate how interpersonal similarities aAect theory of mind reasoning in preschool-aged children.