Caroline Palmer is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at McGill University and holds the Distinguished James McGill Professorship in Cognitive Neuroscience of Performance. She directs the NSERC-CREATE training grant in Complex Dynamics and is an Associate Member of the Schulich School of Music. Her research focuses on understanding how music influences human behavior, particularly through auditory-motor synchronization, nonlinear dynamics, and temporal coordination in ensemble performance. She explores how rhythmic patterns in music and speech engage attention, memory, and emotion, with applications to social interaction and health. Key research themes include the role of endogenous rhythms in interpersonal synchronization, the physiological effects of musical engagement, and the dynamics of human-machine collaboration. Awards include Fellowship in the Royal Society of Canada. Her work integrates neuroscience, psychology, and computational modeling to explain how music shapes human movement and social connection. Grants and collaborations include leadership in interdisciplinary training programs and partnerships with the Schulich School of Music. She maintains the Sequence Production Lab, investigating neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying skilled performance. Recent studies highlight music's impact on cardiac dynamics, respiratory synchrony, and dyadic coordination in social contexts.
