Current Lab Members

Marc has been at Western since 2000, studying the cognitive and brain bases of language and reading. His research emphasizes the importance of studying multiple aspects of language ability, in a variety of populations, using a range of techniques. This includes studying phonology, reading and grammar abilities in adults and children, using everything from traditional behavioural techniques to eyetracking and neuroimaging.
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Konrad's main research interest is improving our understanding of how the human auditory system simultaneously extracts information across multiple timescales from complex, naturalistic stimuli such as speech. With a particular focus on how spectral, phonetic, and semantic properties of speech relate to neuroelectric brain responses measured via EEG or MEG. He is currently working to optimize multivariate temporal response functions to identify neural correlates of phonetic processing in children with developmental language disorder or dyslexia. Before coming to Western, he earned his Master's degree in Physics at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and completed a PhD in Biology at Technical University of Darmstadt. His doctoral research focused on age-dependent speech comprehension problems that cannot be explained by elevated pure-tone thresholds.

Bio to come

Hailey is a PhD student in the Cognitive, Developmental, and Brain Sciences program. She is interested in studying the development of fundamental reading skills such as orthographic and phonological decoding, primarily in children with ADHD. With previous time spent in childcare, she seeks to shed some light on how children with neurodevelopmental disorders learn. Hailey completed her bachelor's degree at the University of Winnipeg, and MSc at Western.

Beatrix is a MSc student in the CDBS program. She is interested in studying the reading and language development in children, specifically in children who have undergone epilepsy treatment. She completed her undergraduate degree at St. Thomas University in New Brunswick.

Hannah is a MSc student in Psychology within the Cognitive, Developmental, and Brain Sciences cluster. She completed her Bachelor of Arts at King’s University College and is now interested in studying the cross-domain associations between reading and numeracy in children. Hannah is particularly interested in how these cross-domain associations unfold longitudinally.

Katherine is currently working towards their Honors Specialization in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience, with the addition of the Scholar’s Electives program. In the future, Katherine plans to obtain their Masters in clinical psychology and pursue a career in research.

Janice is heading into her final year of Honours Specialization in Psychology. She is working on her honours thesis, investigating the temporal dynamics of word decoding. She hopes to pursue a career in the field of neurolinguistics.

Bio to come

Milena is in her final year of the Honours Specialization in Health Sciences program at Western University. In the lab, she will be working with child participants and assisting with EEG data collection, cognitive assessments, and data entry as part of a CIHR-funded study on reading and language learning. She has interests in neuroscience and human development, cognition, health, and behaviour. In the future, Milena intends to pursue a career in medicine.

Sarah is a Research Technician in the Joanisse Lab. They received BA in Psychology at the University of Guelph, and MSc in Psychology at Western University. Sarah is responsible for community outreach and recruitment, in addition to using her background in EEG research to contribute to several ongoing projects in the lab.

Niki completed their PhD in Neuroscience in August 2026. They study the role of attentional systems in the development of complex learned skills such as reading. With a background in child and youth studies from Brock University (M.A.) Niki’s research aims to describe the biological pathways through which children develop reading difficulties as well as the brain’s responses to reading intervention using models of attentional resource management. Currently, they are involved in a collaborative project using electroencephalography (EEG) to study how children learn to read and speak.

Delaney is currently working as a research assistant and lab manager for Dr. Marc Joanisse.  She earned her Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Brescia University College. She is planning on obtaining her Masters in psychology and pursing a career in research.