Principal Investigator

Pan Liu

Dr. Pan Liu is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. Dr. Liu is interested in socioemotional processing in children and adolescents and how these processes, via interactions with other individual and environmental factors, are implicated in both typical socioemotional development and the development of anxiety and depression. She takes a multi-method approach to investigating these questions, including behavioral, EEG/ERP, MRI, and eye-tracking measures. Recent research interests include (1) examining socioemotional processing in naturalistic settings, e.g., during social media use and (2) using novel methodologies to analyze ERP data (e.g., trial-level analysis). 

Before joining UAlberta, Dr. Liu was an Assistant Professor of Psychology at North Dakota State University. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Department of Psychology and the Brain & Mind Institute at Western University (with Drs. Elizabeth Hayden and Marc Joanisse) and the Department of Psychology and the Child Study Center at the Pennsylvania State University (with Drs. Pamela Cole and ‪Koraly Pérez-Edgar)‬. She obtained her PhD degree at the School of Communication Sciences & Disorders, McGill University (advised by Dr. Marc Pell). She was the recipient of the APS Rising Star Award in 2021. 

Dr. Liu is accepting graduate students in the Developmental Science area at UAlberta (see Prospective Students). She is NOT accepting honors students or research students for PSYCH 299/396/398/496/498 for the 2025-2026 academic year.

Graduate Students

Jaron Tan

I am a second-year graduate student of Psychology at North Dakota State University. In 2020, I came to the United States as an international transfer student from Malaysia. I received my B.S. in Psychology (Hons) and a minor in Neuroscience at NDSU. During my undergraduate studies, I took part in several research projects, including an honor thesis that examined the relationship between individual vulnerability and well-being during a the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, I have developed an interest in the study of psychopathology. Using a multi-method approach (e.g., EEG, behavioral and self-report measures), I am interested in studying the developmental trajectories of anxiety and depression, and the significance of emotion regulation in emerging youths. Upon completing my graduate training, I intend to leverage my knowledge and research skills to promote greater public communication of psychopathology research in the Malaysian community.

Postbaccalaureate Students

Avigna Jena

This past summer (2024), I graduated from the University of Alberta with a General Sciences degree, double majoring in Biology and Psychology. Although I initially began my degree with Biology as my major and Psychology as my minor, I found that psychology was a lot more interesting to me, which prompted me to switch to a double major. As I completed more courses, I found that I was passionate about social psychology and neuroscience, and I strived to do research related to these fields. I found Dr. Liu’s Emotion, Neuroscience & Development Lab to be an interesting and pertinent intersection of my interests. I was selected as a recipient for the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA), which I will be completing under the supervision of Dr. Liu. My current research project involves investigating how exposure to the “thin ideal” in media influences the self-referential processing of women.

Honors Students

Lisa Brooks

I am an honors student passionate about understanding and promoting the socioemotional well-being of youth. My academic journey is driven by a deep curiosity about how children’s environments shape their developmental trajectories, particularly in the face of adversity. This passion fuels my research, which focuses on the interplay between individual cognitive processes and environmental factors in predicting youth aggression. By bridging neurocognitive measures with socio-environmental data, I aim to provide valuable insights into how community-level improvements can foster better developmental outcomes for children and adolescents I’m committed to contributing to research that supports healthier, more resilient communities, and I hope my work can help inform future intervention strategies and policies to support youth in under-resourced neighbourhoods.

Emma Schuknecht

I am in my 3rd year of a Bachelor of Arts Undergraduate degree with a major in Psychology. I originally started my degree at MacEwan University, later deciding to pursue the honors program at the University of Alberta, where I transferred over in the fall of 2024. When looking at potential supervisors, I knew my area of interest would be child and adolescent development. I found Dr. Liu’s work on socioemotional development and knew I wanted to be involved in her research. Going into my first year in the honors program, I hope to grow my knowledge of data configuration, data analysis, and hypothesis testing in determining the relationship between various neighborhood characteristics and the socioemotional development of children and adolescents. 

Tiffany Chan

I am studying in my third year of the Bachelor of Arts (Hon.) in Psychology at the University of Alberta. I am very excited and honoured to be part of the END Lab as my interests involve understanding youth mental health, and I am part of various advocacy groups on campus promoting mental health and wellness. I am currently working on my honours research thesis under the supervision of Dr. Liu about various factors involved in adolescent disordered thinking.

Tiara Gonsalkoralage

My name is Tiara, and I am in my third year of the Honors Psychology program at the University of Alberta. My research interests broadly lie in the field of child and adolescent development, particularly looking at how environmental factors can affect the presentation of psychopathology and other mental health outcomes. I look forward to working on my undergraduate thesis under the Emotion, Neuroscience, and Development Lab! 

Volunteer Students

Kaitlyn-Rae Tearle

Kaitlyn is in her third year of a BA (Hons.) Psychology degree at the University of Alberta volunteering in the END lab. She is interested in the influences that affect moral decision-making. Specifically, how distress, conflict, and psychopathology can impact these decisions.

Sarvenaz Forghanirad

My name is Sarvenaz, and I am a third-year Psychology student at the University of Alberta. I am grateful and excited to be a research assistant in the Emotion, Neuroscience, and Development Lab, as my interests lie in the field of child developmental psychology. I have always been interested in the development of children, spending my free time teaching martial arts to kids and actively participating in student groups that focus on enhancing children's growth!