People

Gina M. Grimshaw, PhD.

Gina has an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Waterloo. After postdoctoral work at the University of California San Diego she became an Associate Professor at California State University San Marcos. Gina moved to Victoria University of Wellington in 2007, and is director of the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory and an Associate Professor/Reader. Her research has been funded by the Marsden Fund; Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE); National Institute of Mental Health (US); and the Neurological Foundation (NZ).

You can view Gina’s staff profile on the Victoria University of Wellington website here.

Christopher Maymon, PhD.

Chris has an undergraduate degree in Psychology from Loyola University of Maryland and completed his PhD at VUW in 2018. He has since been focused on the application of Virtual Reality technology to psychological science. Chris’ current research focuses on the relationship between emotional states and presence (i.e., our sense of ‘being there’). In the VR Lab, Chris also investigates such topics as: how attentional control is influenced by emotions like fear, awe, and disgust, how we can regulate our intense emotional responses, and how we infer other people’s emotional states on the basis of their body movements.

You can view Chris’ staff profile on the Victoria University of Wellington website here.

Michael Tooley, PhD.

Michael has been working in the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab since 2008. He recently completed his PhD, which examined emotion regulation and vulnerability to depression. He was particularly interested in psychophysiological and electrophysiological markers of vulnerability and their relationship to cognitive and emotional processes. Michael now works as a neuroscience lab technician, and a teaching fellow for the Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience Masters program at VUW.

Evie Cleland, Lab Coordinator

Evie has an undergraduate degree in Art History and Psychology and completed her MSc in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience at VUW in 2024. In her thesis, she explored variations in emotional attention across psychopathic traits. Evie oversees general lab operations, and helps students get their research up and running.

Jordan Schulde

Jordan completed her Masters in Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience in the CANLab. Her focus was on how fear influences our cognition, particularly attention, cognitive control, and response inhibition (the ability to stop yourself from doing something). To do this, she used realistic Virtual Reality to create compelling and strong emotional states. Jordan’s research added to current knowledge on the interaction between emotion and cognition, and may also assist within more applied contexts.

Damian Tjiptono

Damian completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology at VUW and completed his MSc in Cognitive and Behavioral Neuroscience at VUW in 2024. His work continues to focus on exploring the impact of fearful states on attentional control in VR.

Laura Kranz, PhD Student

Laura completed a Master of Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience in 2015. She is now working towards her PhD, working with both the School of Psychology and the Centre for Science in Society. Her research looks at the role of emotion in science communication.

Lauren Pritchard, PhD Student

Ren is currently completing her PhD in Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience. Ren’s research question is focused on studying the Psychology of Awe and is working alongside the Virtual Reality team to study this.

Joanna Mete, PhD Student

Joanna has completed undergraduate degrees in Educational Science and in Psychology, as well as a masters’ degree in Cognitive Psychology. She is currently conducting her doctoral research in the CANlab, focusing on the relationship between cognitive control and anxiety, aiming to understand potential underlying mechanisms of attentional (and more broadly cognitive) processing in the anxious mind. She is also interested in the implications of attentional and cognitive processing in areas such as emotion regulation, coping, and well-being.

Nat Gajdusek, MSc Student

Nat completed her undergraduate in psychology and philosophy at VUW and is working towards completing the Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience Masters program. Her thesis focuses on the development of a VR paradigm to investigate the influence of disgust on cognition.

Johno Richards, MSc Student

Johno completed his BSc in Psychology at VUW and is now working to complete his MSc in Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience. His thesis focuses on the translatability of motor skills, utilising the VR rhythm game Beat Saber.

Solana Carpenter, Honours Student

Solana works with the virtual reality team to study emotions, specifically awe. She has been working on the awe project since she was an undergrad. She is now completing her honours year in psychology. Her research focuses on measuring the subjective experience of awe using quantitative and qualitative data.