Solena D. Mednicoff, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Scholar

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Biography

I am a Postdoctoral Research Scholar working with Drs. Erin Hannon, Joel Snyder, and Stephen Benning to study Misophonia. My research interests include the neuroscience behind why we enjoy music and how the brain interprets and responds to music.

Growing up in Las Vegas, I’ve trained as a semi-professional pianist and graduated from the Las Vegas Academy of the Performing Arts. After high school, I discovered my passion for science at University of Nevada, Reno where I earned a B.S. in Neuroscience and minor in piano performance. I then went on to earn my Ph.D. in Cognitive Sciences, with an emphasis in Cognitive Neuroscience, at UC Irvine where my dissertation examined the cognitive and neural mechanisms of how people process major/minor musical modes.

Interests

Music Cognition
Misophonia
Music Information Retrieval
Data Science

Education

PhD in Cognitive Sciences, 2021

University of California, Irvine
MS in Cognitive Neuroscience, 2017

University of California, Irvine
BS in Neuroscience, 2015

University of Nevada, Reno
Minor in Piano Performance, 2015

University of Nevada, Reno

Skills

Matlab

Python

R

Overleaf/LaTex

Technical Writing

Critical Thinking

Experience

Postdoctoral Research Scholar

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Sep 2021 – Present Nevada

What is misophonia and how is it expressed within the general population? My research here focuses on the development of misophonia and how it can be related to music and other auditory experiences, such as musical chills (frisson) and autonomous meridian response (ASMR).

Graduate Student Researcher - Social Media

UC Irvine Graduate Division

Jun 2019 – Aug 2021 California

Create content and marketing campaigns for the UC Irvine Graduate Division Social Media platforms: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube.

Instructor/ Teaching Associate

UC Irvine

Sep 2018 – Aug 2018 California

Taught a Psychology Fundamentals/Psychology & Social Behaviors summer session course. Created my own lectures, learning activities, and examination materials for 50+ students.

Topics taught include:

Biological bases of behavior (emotional & social)
Learning & Memory
Developmental psychology
Neuroscience

Pre-doctoral Research Fellow

Center for Hearing Research

Jul 2016 – Jul 2018 California

Two year research fellowship awarded to gain experience in analyzing auditory and audiosignal processing, Monte Carlo simulations, modeling, as well as analyzing audio- and spectrograms.

Graduate Student Researcher - Cognitive Sciences

UC Irvine

Sep 2015 – Jul 2021 California

Why do we perceive emotions in music and speech? My research examines the sensitivity of the human auditory system to the emotional content in music and speech.