Hi, I’m Solena!

I am a researcher passionate about bridging creativity with science. I am currently based in Las Vegas, NV. working as a Postdoctoral Research Scholar with Drs. Erin Hannon, Joel Snyder, and Stephen Benning to study Misophonia.

Interests

  • Music Cognition
  • Misophonia
  • Ethical Research
  • Collaboration with Kindness
  • Revolutionary 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

Selected Projects

.js-id-Neuroscience
All Neuroscience Behavior Music Language Misophonia Social Media

Misophonia and other auditory affective processing

Exploring misophonia’s relationship with positive and negative affective processing, i.e. ASMR and musical chills.

Science Communication Portfolio

A few of my favorite social media campaigns where I either 1) interviewed and communicated stories of graduate students or …

Emotional Speech Prosody Projects

Comparing the behavior of major & minor music listening to speech.

The Neural Substrates of Tonality

Exploring the neurobiology of major & minor music listening.

Can training improve performance?

We show that despite extensive training, performance is not improved for most listeners on the tone-scramble task.

Differences in Presentation Rate of Musical Stimuli

Many listeners cannot discriminate major vs. minor tone-scrambles regardless of presentation rate.

Blog

ARO Symposium 2024

Successful symposium given at the 2024 MidWinter Meeting for the Association for Research in Otolaryngology!
Feb 4, 2024 12:00 AM

soQuiet Misophonia Talk

Featured in soQuiet’s Science Session!
Jan 15, 2023 12:00 AM

Psych 101

How to apply a cognitive science standpoint to the world of social media and practice being a good scientist
Aug 16, 2020 12:00 AM

Musical Chills

Musical Chills & Dopamine.
Oct 19, 2019 12:00 AM

Discriminating Major/Minor Modes Revisited - can training help?

This project looked at whether listeners can learn to discriminate the two stimuli over time with a training regimen. Training occurred …
Sep 21, 2019 10:00 AM University of California, Irvine
Project
See all

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, as well as explore ways to improve engagement through analytics 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.

Contact

  • 4505 S Maryland Pkwy, Las Vegas, NV, 89154, United States
  • DM Me