Maya Breanne Flannery

Updated: 2025-06-06

PhD Candidate | Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour | McMaster University

Current research position at the BEATLab

mayabflannery@gmail.com | Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

1. Education Link to heading

Doctor of Philosophy (in progress) Link to heading

2022–Present

· McMaster University, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, ON, Canada. · Areas of study: Psychology, music cognition and perception: Development of multi-person physiological measures and analyses of cardiac activity.

Master of Science Link to heading

2020–2022

· McMaster University, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, ON, Canada. · Thesis: From algorithm to cognition: Music acoustic features and their perceptual correlates

Honours Bachelor of Arts Link to heading

2016–2020

· McMaster University, Dept. of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, ON, Canada. · Major: Music Cognition · Minor: Music

2. Research Career Link to heading

Researcher | Brain/body Attention Entrainment & Timing (BEAT) Lab Link to heading

03/2023–Present

· Formal modelling of music preference with respect to personality, mood, familiarity, complexity, and music acoustic features. Development of open-source multi-person cardiac sensors, metrics, and analyses for use in naturalistic environments. · Supervised by Dr. Lauren Fink.

Researcher | Digital Music Lab Link to heading

09/2019–03/2023

· Developed and tested manipulable and objectively measurable music acoustic features for use in music classification and description. Investigated correlation of personality factors and music preference with systematic manipulation of musical stimuli. · Supervised by Dr. Matthew Woolhouse.

Research Assistant | Digital Music Lab Link to heading

01/2018–09/2019

· Examined music listening behaviour with analysis of a large dataset. Investigated memory for musical key; assisted with creation of musical stimuli; conducted experiments with participants; programmed analyses of data. · Supervised by Dr. Joanna Spyra and Dr. Matthew Woolhouse.

Research Assistant | Large Interactive Virtual Environment (LIVE) Lab Link to heading

05/2016–09/2017

· Supported research projects with design, set up, execution, and clean up of experiments. Demonstrated lab technology: Active acoustics, Yamaha Disklavier piano, motion capture, live physiological responses. Led tours for general public, colleges, high schools, day camps. Supported live performances: 10dB Concert series. · Supervised by Dr. Laurel Trainor

2.1 Primary Research Skills Link to heading

Experiment Design Link to heading

· Experienced with design and implementation of single-participant in-person and online lab studies consisting of listening tasks and self-report and physiological measures (obtaining ethics approval, study promotion, survey/questionnaire design, MIDI and audio music manipulation, UI development).

· Experienced with design and implementation of multi-person (40+ participants) live concert studies; involving the continuous collection of self-report and physiological (eye-tracking and cardiac) responses from audience members.

Programming and Data Analysis Link to heading

· Languages: Python (pandas, plotly, matplotlib, scikit-learn, optuna, kivy, PsychoPy), R (tidyverse, shiny, rstan), Typescript/JavaScript (JsPsych, node.js).

· Analysis techniques: Linear/logistic regression, t-tests, ANOVAs (mixed, repeated measures); natural language processing (NLP); feature selection (PCA), nearest neighbors, decision trees, gradient boosting; Bayesian inference.

· Software: Linux/Mac/Windows environments, Git, Docker, LaTeX, Markdown, Bitwig Studio, Logic pro, Reason, MuseScore.

Science Communication Link to heading

· Focused on open science principles—producing accessible and easy-to-understand research studies that are well-documented, reproducible, and ethically designed.

· Shared research through posters, presentations, and publications in departmental, community, and field-specific academic conferences.

3. Publications Link to heading

Manuscripts in preparation Link to heading

Flannery, M.B., & Fink, L. (In prep). Naturalistic measurement of multi-person cardiac activity using open source smartwatch technology.

Flannery, M.B., Schlichting, J., Saxena, S., & Fink, L. (In prep). Investigating the influence of contextual information on cardiac activity in response to musical performance.

Publications Link to heading

Flannery, M. B., & Woolhouse, M. H. (2021). Musical preference: Role of personality and music-related acoustic features. Music & Science, 4, 20592043211014014.

Bansal, J., Flannery, M. B., & Woolhouse, M. H. (2021). Influence of personality on music-genre exclusivity. Psychology of Music, 49(5), 1356-1371.

Software Link to heading

Flannery, M. B., & Fink, L. (2025). BEATmonitor (Version v0.2.250427) [Computer software]. https://github.com/beatlab-mcmaster/BEATmonitor

4. Conference Talks & Presentations Link to heading

Conference Presentations Link to heading

Flannery, M. B., & Fink, L. (2025, July 21–25). Multi-person photoplethysmography using open-source smartwatch technology Development, validation, and applications in naturalistic music listening. International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition 18. [Virtual] São Paulo, Brazil.

Flannery, M. B., & Fink, L. (November, 2024). Naturalistic measurement of multi-person cardiac activity using open source smartwatch technology [Poster]. NeuroMusic 20. Hamilton, ON, Canada.

Flannery, M. B., Schlichting, J., Saxena, S., & Fink, L. (July, 2024). Investigating the influence of contextual information on cardiac activity in response to musical performance [Talk]. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Banff, AB, Canada.

Saxena, S., Flannery, M. B., Schlichting, J., & Fink, L. (July, 2024). Gaze behavior in online and in-person concert and film viewing: A large-scale naturalistic eye-tracking study [Talk]. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Banff, AB, Canada.

Schlichting, J., Flannery, M. B., Saxena, S., & Fink, L. (July, 2024). Social justice advocacy through music performance: Do contextual information and social co-presence shape audience reactions and behavior? [Poster]. Society for Music Perception and Cognition, Banff, AB, Canada.

Flannery, M. B., Schlichting, J., Saxena, S., & Fink, L. (April, 2024). Investigating the influence of contextual information on cardiac activity in response to musical performance [Poster]. Graduate Research Day 2024. Hamilton, ON, Canada.

Flannery, M. B., & Fink, L. (October 2023). Automating music stimuli creation and analyses: A music synthesis algorithm for producing ground truth data [Poster]. NeuroMusic 19. Hamilton, ON, Canada.

Flannery, M.B., Fink, L., & Woolhouse, M. H. (August, 2023). Models trained on procedurally generated stimuli predict human judgments of Music Acoustic Features in real-world music. The 17th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition. [Virtual] Tokyo, Japan.

Flannery, M.B., & Woolhouse, M. H. (November, 2022). Music acoustic features: Do machine predictions correspond to human judgments? [Poster]. The 18th Annual McMaster NeuroMusic Conference. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B., Anant, S., & Woolhouse, M. H. (November, 2021). A musical snapshot: What does popular music sound like? The 17th Annual McMaster NeuroMusic Conference. [Virtual] Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B., & Woolhouse, M. H. (July, 2021). Music-related acoustic features predict music preference. The 16th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition. [Virtual] UK/Australia/India/Mexico.

Flannery, M. B., & Woolhouse, M. H. (February, 2021). Why do I like this song? Music acoustic features and beyond. Graduate Research Day, [Virtual] Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B., & Woolhouse, M. H. (November, 2020). Introducing MAFs: Music acoustic features and their relationship to personality. The 16th Annual McMaster NeuroMusic Conference. [Virtual] Hamilton, Canada.

Guest Lectures Link to heading

Phillips, E., Pazdera, J., & Flannery, M. B. (2022, 2023, 2024). The replication crisis and the open science movement. Presented to PNB 2XT0 - Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour Tutorial. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B. (November, 2023). Modelling the music listening experience: How do we measure the listener and the music? PNB Coggie Talk. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B. (September, 2023). Open Science Fundamentals. Presented to PNB 3EE3 - Perception Lab. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B., & Hashemi, A. (October, 2022). Introduction to the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Presented to PNB 3XE3 - Inferential Statistics and Research Methods. Hamilton, Canada.

Phillips, E., Pazdera, J., & Flannery, M. B. (December, 2021). The open science movement. Presented to PNB 2XT0 - Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour Tutorial. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B. (November, 2021). Data formatting and visualization. Presented to PNB 2A03 - Python for Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour. Hamilton, Canada.

Workshops Link to heading

Flannery, M. B., Saxena, S., Schlichting, J., & Fink, L. (November 2024). Cardiac signals. Signals, Sensors, and Sounds Workshop. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B. (December, 2023). Considerations for Selecting MIR Tools. McMaster Music Information Retrieval (MIR) Workshop. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B. (December, 2023). Predicting Musical Cues. McMaster Music Information Retrieval (MIR) Workshop. Hamilton, Canada.

Flannery, M. B. (April, 2023). Cleaning up messy data with Python and pandas. Data Analysis Support Hub (DASH) Workshop. Hamilton, Canada.

Community Outreach Link to heading

Swierczek, K., Spyra, J., & Flannery, M. B. (2022). A tale of two tones: Musical dissonance in perspective. Science Rendezvous. Hamilton, Canada.

5. Teaching Career Link to heading

Teaching assistantships Link to heading

01/2025

· PNB 2XE3: Descriptive Statistics and Research Methods

09/2022 & 09/2024

· PNB 3XE3: Inferential Statistics and Research Methods

09/2023 & 01/2024

· PNB 3EE3: Perception Lab

05/2023

· HUMBEHV 3MD3: Research Methods for Applied Psychology in Human Behaviour

01/2023

· PSYCH 2MP3: Introduction to Music Cognition

01/2022

· PNB 2XF3: Perspectives in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour

09/2021

· PNB 2A03: Python for Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour

01/2021

· PNB 2XD3: Integrative Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour Through Scientific Writing

09/2020

· PSYCH 2B03: Personality Psychology

Mentoring & Supervision Link to heading

Advised experiment design and analyses for undergraduate independent projects and theses:

2024–2025

· Thesis: Maladaptive music listening: A systematic review and meta-analysis · Thesis: Differential Effects of Active and Passive Bilateral Stimulation [Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing; EMDR] on Distress Levels

2023–2024

· Thesis: Semantic analyses of music descriptors: An investigation of music tags and descriptors in a large dataset

2022–2023

· Thesis: Music preference and skip-behaviour: The relationship between listening time and confidence in music preference ratings

2021–2022

· Thesis: Discrimination of music features: Determining the saliency of music acoustic features

6. Previous Work Experience Link to heading

Consultant | Data Analysis Support Hub (McMaster University) Link to heading

2022

· Supported McMaster University students and faculty with statistical analyses in R, Python, and Excel. Developed and led workshops on data on reproducible analyses.