Helen Ma
PhD Student
Education
University of Alberta, MSc in Psychology (2023)
University of Alberta, BSc Honors in Psychology (2021)
Background
Helen (she/her) is a first-year PhD student. She completed her BSc and MSc in Psychology at the University of Alberta under the supervision of Dr. Dana Hayward, where she researched social attention and decision making. She looks forward to being a part of the BAR Lab, and exploring new questions relating to attention and embodiment.
Research Interests
Attention, Visual attention, Overt orienting, Covert orienting, Social cognition, Embodied cognition, Eye movements, Eye-tracking,
Publications
Santilli, H., Coombs, E., Feltis, L. E., Hack, C., Dwyer, P., Bendevis, C., Devlin, C., Raedwulf Pogue, N., Weigel-Mohamed, I., Ma, H.L., Wang, A., Connolly, T., DiRezze, B., Fecteau, S.-M., Nicholas, D. B., Thompson-Hodgetts, S., & Brown, H. M. Toward a Neurodiversity-Affirming Model of Belonging: Insights from Canadian Autistic Postsecondary Students. (Accepted). Autism.
Ma, H.L., Redden, R.J., & Hayward, D.A. (2024). The who and the where: Attention to identities and locations in groups. Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 86, 1816–1832. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13414-024-02879-6
Song, Y. F., Ma, H. L., & Hayward, D. A. (2023). Effects of implied social presence and interaction on attention in a virtual setting. Visual Cognition, 31(10), 769–785. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2024.2357851
Ma, H.L., Bertrand, J.K., Chapman, C.S., & Hayward, D.A. (2023). You read my mind: Generating and minimizing intention uncertainty under different social contexts in a 2-player online game. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 49(10), 1330–1344. https://doi.org/10.1037/xhp0001150
Ma, H.L., Dawson, M.R., Prinsen, R., & Hayward, D.A. Embodying Cognitive Ethology. (2023). Theory & Psychology, 33(1), 42–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593543221126165
Perez, A., Ma, H.L., Zawaduk, S., & Dawson, M.R. (2023). Artificial Neural Networks Use ‘Sympathetic Vibration’ To Classify Musical Triads. Cognitive Science, 47(1), e13233. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.13233
Notable Honours
NSERC CGRSD 2026-2029
Four Year Fellowship 2026-2030
President’s Academic Excellence Initiative PhD Award 2026
NSERC CGS-M 2021-2023
Alberta Graduate Excellence Scholarship 2021-2023