Lab Leadership
Sarah Kraeutner, PhD (she/her)
Assistant Professor & Michael Smith Health Research BC Scholar
Department of Psychology
Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
the University of British Columbia – Okanagan
& Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health
& Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention
BSc (H) Psychology,
University of Victoria
MSc Psychology & Neuroscience,
Dalhousie University
PhD Psychology & Neuroscience,
Dalhousie University
Fellowship, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Brain Behaviour Lab, the University of British Columbia – Vancouver)
Ashika Chembila Valappil, PhD (they/her)
Postdoctoral Fellow (incoming March 2026)
Ashika completed their PhD at the University of Roehampton and has expertise in neurophysiology underlying covert practice.
Hometown: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates & South West London, United Kingdom
Justine Magnuson, PhD (she/her)
Postdoctoral Fellow
Justine completed her PhD at the University of British Columbia and has expertise in neuromuscular function.
Hometown: Kelowna, Canada
Research Team
Celine Balay (she/her)
PhD Psychological Sciences Student
Celine completed her Master’s thesis on the topic of the use of immersive technologies to improve effectiveness of motor imagery for learning, and is now working towards a PhD.
Department of Psychology
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Edmonton, Canada
Olivia Beshtoev (she/her)
BSc Psychology Student
Olivia is involved in work related to understanding mechanisms of covert practice.
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Toronto, Canada
Alisha Davis (she/her)
PhD Psychological Sciences Student
Alisha completed her Master’s thesis in the lab on the topic of neurophysiological mechanisms of motor imagery, and is now working towards a PhD.
Department of Psychology
UBC – Okanagan Campus
BSc Microbiology & Psychology, UBC
Hometown: Lake Country, Canada
Sofia Knopf (she/her)
BSc Psychology Student & Undergraduate Research Awardee
Sofia is completing an honour’s thesis on the topic of how the motor system influences our perceptions to music.
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Surrey, Canada
AJ Neil (he/him)
BSc Psychology Student
AJ is involved in work related to testing changes in motor behaviour resulting from different forms of covert practice.
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Cochrane, Canada
AnnaMae Pond (she/her)
MSc Kinesiology Student
AnnaMae is completing her Master’s thesis on the topic of mechanisms of action observation.
School of Kinesiology
UBC – Vancouver Campus
Hometown: Colorado Springs/Santa Fe, USA
Abby Taylor-Peckover (she/her)
Bachelor of Health & Exercise Science Student
Abby is involved in neurophysiology-related work in the lab.
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Ahmic Harbour, Canada
Victoria Qiao (she/her)
BA Psychology Student
Victoria is involved in work related to understanding mechanisms of covert practice.
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Vancouver, Canada
Marlo Spence (he/him)
BSc Psychology & Biology Student & NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awardee
Marlo is completing an honour’s thesis on the topic of neurophysiology underlying motor imagery.
Department of Psychology
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Penticton, Canada
Kyle Vallido (he/him)
MA Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies – Digital Arts & Humanities Student
Kyle is completing his Master’s thesis on the topic of understanding how kinaesthetic vs. visual motor imagery is represented in the brain.
BSc Psychology
UBC – Okanagan Campus
NSERC USRA 2022-2023
Hometown: Kelowna, Canada
Ryan Yang (he/him)
BASc (Electrical Engineering – Biomedical) Student
Ryan is involved in work related to testing ‘lightweight’ devices used to measure brain activity underlying motor tasks.
School of Engineering
UBC – Okanagan Campus
Hometown: Vancouver, Canada
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