iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Does your frontal lobe really “finish” developing at the age of 25? 🤔 Your frontal lobe doesn’t magically stop developing! What changes after adolescence is the rate of development. Check out this fantastic video made by DSEC Lab members Léa Francoeur & Shira Klein to learn more!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

This year, former RA Alessia Cataudella was named a @sshrc-crsh.canada.ca Storytellers Challenge finalist! She presented her knowledge translation project at the @swc-can.bsky.social conference in Montréal this June! We are proud to celebrate Alessia’s achievement in science communication!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Mia Popelas (She/Her) - QU’27 in Psychology. Mia is a fourth-year psychology student volunteering as a Research Assistant in the DSEC Lab. She is interested in exploring the interplay between sensory processing, interoception, and the development of emotion regulation.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The DSEC Lab’s summer newsletter is now available 📚! Click the link in our bio to learn more about our ongoing studies, read up on recent study findings from the lab, and check out fun activities to do with the family! We can’t wait for you all to read it 😊

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Shira Klein (She/Her) - QU’27 in Psychology. Shira is a volunteer research assistant and a SWEP summer research fellow in the DSEC Lab. She is excited to be exploring the development of nonverbal communication and how it shapes our social interactions. 🍪

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

Do adolescents recognize emotions better in people their own age? 🧐 An own-age bias refers to the tendency to recognize faces from your own age group more easily than faces from other age groups. Vetter and colleagues (2018) wanted to figure out whether this bias appears during adolescence.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Have you seen the viral "wow, okay" trend? 🤔 It's the one where you say the same sentence in 4 different tones, changing only your nonverbal expressions. Well, it turns out that's exactly the kind of thing we study here in the DSEC Lab. 🥳 We asked members of our lab to give the trend a try!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

We spend a lot of time talking about communication. Listening is a key component of good communication! 👂️ Research has found that people who experience active listening feel more understood and more satisfied with their conversations. 😀

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Juliana Ricciuti (She/Her) - QU’27 in Psychology. Juliana is a third-year psychology student joining the DSEC Lab as a volunteer RA! She is interested in the biological mechanisms underlying the development of emotional communication and how emotional communication affects our quality of life.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Welcome back to Part 2 of our mini-mic series with research assistants Alessia Cataudella and Madhureema Balasubramani Rupa as they ask PSYC 100 students some psychology trivia 🧠 Question of the day: Are teenagers better or worse at reading emotions than adults? 🙂😠🙁

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Question of the day: When do babies first learn to recognize emotions on faces? 👶👀 Check out Part 1 of our two-part mini-mic series with research assistants Alessia Cataudella and Madhureema Balasubramani Rupa as they interview PSYC 100 students ✨

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Olivia Murray (she/her) - QU '27 in Psychology and Sociology. Olivia is a third-year psychology student and a volunteer research assistant in the DSEC Lab this year! Olivia takes an interest in young adult clinical and social psychology, as well as forensic psychology and how these fields intersect.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

People often believe that smiling might make you feel happier! 😀 The facial feedback hypothesis is the theory that our emotions can be influenced by our facial expressions. Coles and colleagues (2019) conducted a meta-analysis of the facial feedback literature to explore this hypothesis!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

Research is a team effort, and we're lucky to have such an incredible one ✨ We work hard and we have fun while doing it. A big thank you to all of our students, past and present, for your hard work and contributions to the DSEC Lab. 😄 Your impact is felt every day!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

We recognize people using a combination of facial, vocal, & contextual cues. What happens when you’re left with just one? Watch Dr. Morningstar try to map the acoustics of our team’s voices to their identity—a tricky task that highlights how multiple sources of information help us recognize others!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

Reyna Okumura (she/her) — QU’27 in Psychology and Sociology Reyna is a third-year psychology/sociology joint Honours student volunteering as a research assistant in the DSEC Lab. She is interested in how people communicate, on individual and societal scales.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Congratulations to Alessia Cataudella, who has been named a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Storytellers Challenge finalist! 🎉 Watch to learn more about our lab’s ongoing projects. We are so proud to celebrate Alessia’s achievement and the dedication it reflects!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 14/05/2026

The DSEC Lab’s spring newsletter is now available! ☀️ Click the link in our bio to learn more about our ongoing studies, read up on recent study findings, and check out fun activities to do with the family! This newsletter has something fun for everyone. We can’t wait for you all to read it. 😀

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Welcome to our two summer research fellows, Juliana Ricciuti (NSERC USRA) and Shira Klein (SWEP)! We're excited to have the two of them on board to help move many of our NSERC- and SSHRC-funded projects forward this term. Can't wait to dive into our summer projects! 🧠☀️

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Congratulations to Honours thesis students Victoria Cassel & Katrina Mascherin, and directed lab students Léa Francoeur, Mackenzie Romijn, & Navid Shabani Barzegar on presenting at Queen’s Psychology & Health Sciences Research Days! And, bravo to Tessa Patton for her outstanding directed lab work!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

The @dseclab.bsky.social is headed to #SRA2026 in Toronto! We're excited to share our latest work at the Society for Research on Adolescence. Our team will be presenting on Thursday, so stay tuned for some updates!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

Maya Joseph (She/Her) - QU’28 in Con-Ed and Psychology. Maya is a third-year student, volunteering as an RA in the DSEC Lab. Her interests include clinical and developmental psychology. She is currently working towards a career in psychotherapy, with an interest in working with adolescents.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

In this episode of Brain in Progress, listen to hosts Victoria Cassel (Honours student) and Navid Shabani Barzegar (Directed Lab student) discuss the potential ways in which social experience and brain development might be shaping adolescents’ facial expressions!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

LAST CALL! We are wrapping up the DETECT-AF study in April, but still need a few more 10- to 15-year-olds to participate! 📢 We’re looking for teens, their parent, and a friend to come to our lab at Queen’s University (Kingston, ON). Contact dseclab@queensu.ca for more information!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Kate Bridge (she/her) – QU’26 Biology and Psychology. Kate is a fourth-year biology-psychology student and is volunteering as an RA in the DSEC Lab. She is particularly interested in early childhood development and its influence on communication.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 12/03/2026

The DSEC Lab is in Pittsburgh for #SAS2026! 🎉 We’re excited to present some of the latest findings from the lab and to learn from the incredible work being shared by others at the conference! Our team will be presenting on Friday and Saturday, so stay tuned for some conference highlights!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

How well do first-year students know the basics of emotional development? 🤔 From the emergence of emotions early in life to understanding others’ thoughts and perspectives, watch as we invite first-year students to test their knowledge with emotional development trivia 🧠

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Mackenzie Romijn (She/Her) - QU’27 in Psychology. Mackenzie is a third-year Psychology major joining the DSEC lab this year as a directed lab student! Mackenzie is particularly interested in audience design, and how subtle nuances in nonverbal cues shape social interactions.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Happy Family Day from the DSEC Lab! 🩵 Thank you to all our participating families and local organizations for your continued support. Your involvement and commitment make a meaningful difference, helping us grow our collective understanding of youth socioemotional development every day!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 06/02/2026

Teens are spending more time on social media than ever before, with platforms like TikTok playing a major role in their daily routines. This raises an important question: what draws teens to TikTok, and what stays with them after they log off? 🤔

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

Katrina Mascherin (She/Her) - Katrina is a fourth-year psychology student conducting her Honours thesis in the DSEC Lab. She takes a special interest in the relationship between adolescents’ ability to recognize emotions in others and how recognizable their own emotional expressions are.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

What factors influence emotional communication during adolescence? Hare and colleagues examined how adolescents’ perceptions of maternal acceptance relate to changes in emotional disclosure over time, highlighting the role of parent–child relationships in emotional development.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 16/01/2026

How well do you know the science behind emotion, memory, and social experience? Level up your psychology knowledge through a series of questions exploring different topics in psychology. 🧠 Special thanks to Emma Canning for putting this quiz together!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Emma Canning (She/Her) – Emma is a first-year MSc student in Developmental Psychology at Queen’s. Her undergraduate thesis focused on increasing information elicitation in investigative interviewing. This year, she is excited to look at the neural bases of nonverbal communication in adolescents.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Thank you so much to all the participants, families, and community organizations who helped make 2025 such an amazing year in the DSEC Lab! We will be off until January 4th, 2026. We look forward to welcoming participants to the lab again in the new year! #YGKfamilies

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

The DSEC Lab’s winter newsletter is now available! Click the link in our bio to learn more about our ongoing studies, read up on recent study findings from the lab, and find fun activities to do with your family over the winter break. We’re so excited for you all to read it! #YGKfamilies

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 11/12/2025

Have you ever wondered how we really communicate emotion? To help show you emotion expression in action, we recreated 3 emotional expressions missing key nonverbal cues. These examples show how much harder it is to decode someone’s feelings when even one piece of nonverbal communication is absent!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Sean Koh (he/him) — Lab Coordinator. Sean is the joint coordinator for the DSEC Lab and the Early Experience Lab (EEL) at Queen's. He is excited to contribute to the ongoing projects of the DSEC team and to learn more about how adolescents express their emotions through non-verbal communication.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a part of the DSEC Lab? Our research assistants, Navid and Madhureema, take you behind the scenes of our study, EXPRESS-RT! 👀 (✒️Navid Shabani Barzegar and Madhureema Balasubramani Rupa)

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

We are looking for youth ages 12-15 for a neuroimaging study (2 x ~2-hour visits; bring a friend & caregiver to the 1st visit)! Teens receive $100 ($40 for friend + $20 for caregiver) and will be asked to return 1 year later ($120). See details in attached video! #YGKfamilies

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Alana Tran (she/her) — QU’27 in Psychology. Alana is a third-year psychology student working as a research assistant in the DSEC Lab. Her research interests currently revolve around how emotion recognition and regulation develop in adolescents.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 28/10/2025

People rely on nonverbal (“show, don’t tell”) cues to infer someone’s feelings and intentions. However, people often understand these signals in very different ways. So, what factors determine how something is interpreted? (✒️Julia Guo)

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

During adolescence, friendships take center stage and social cues become particularly important to attend to. Sandre and colleagues investigated how youths’ and adults’ brains responded to subtle changes in facial expressions by teenagers and adults. Check out this video to see what they found!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 07/10/2025

Catherine Shevelevich (she/her) - QU’27 in Psychology. Catherine is a third-year psychology student working as a research assistant in the DSEC lab! Catherine takes a special interest in parental influence on children’s social and emotional development.

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 03/10/2025

The tone of voice we use says a lot, but not everyone hears it the same way. Morningstar et al. investigated whether internalizing symptoms like anxiety and depression are associated with youth’s ability to recognize emotions in others' voices. Check out this post to learn more ( ✒️ Jay Burns)

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 23/09/2025

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 18/09/2025

How well can you read nonverbal cues? Nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions and tone of voice, are extremely important for understanding social situations. In this video, we’re going to put your skills to the test! Think: what would you do? 🤔 (🖋️Olivia Merulla)

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 09/09/2025

Rushmeet Singh (She/Her) – QU’26 in Kinesiology. Rushmeet is a fourth-year kinesiology student researching nonverbal communication in the DSEC Lab. She’s passionate about dentistry, plays badminton, dabbles in graphic design, and has a mission to cook a dish from every country!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 04/09/2025

Looking for something to do this fall and interested in participating in science? The DSEC Lab might just have the thing for you! This fall, we’re running 2 studies for teens. 😁 Check out this post to see our posters and learn more!

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DSEC Lab @dseclab.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

The DSEC Lab’s back-to-school newsletter is now available 📚! Click the link in our bio to learn more about our ongoing studies, read up on recent study findings from the lab, and check out fun activities to do with the family before school starts up again! We can’t wait for you all to read it 😊

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