Dr. Lauren Fink

BIO

Dr. Lauren Fink is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, and a member of the McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind, the Neuroscience Graduate Program, and the School of Computational Science & Engineering. She is also the director of the Beat Lab.

Having progressed from a music conservatory degree in Percussion Performance to a PhD in Neuroscience, most of Lauren’s research centres around timing. From using computational models to predict listeners’ attention to music over time, to building assistive devices to help people move together in time, Dr. Fink’s lab is interested in understanding the physiological, psychological, and interpersonal changes induced through engaging with music.

Dr. Fink’s lab conceives of music as multi-modal (auditory, visual, tactile, motor, etc.), and often incorporates methods like eye-tracking. Currently, one big focus is on multi-person mobile eye-tracking to better understand attention and immersion during social, musical contexts. For example, we can have up to 30 audience members wearing mobile eye-tracking glasses while watching a performance, or we can have an ensemble of musicians wearing glasses while performing together. Though our questions tend to be centered around music, most of our methods offer interesting possibilities in other domains, such as speech. We are looking forward to synergies with other ARiEAL members!