Our Team
Bernadine Sengalrayan
Lab Manager
Bernadine Sengalrayan is the Lab Manager for the Lifespan Cognition Lab. Her research focuses on knowledge mobilization, in particular, the relationship between knowledge producers and knowledge users. Bernadine is excited to work with and empower individuals and organizations to make accessible translations and meaningful applications of research knowledge. She holds a MA in Education and Society from McGill University and a BA in Sociology from Singapore University of Social Sciences. Bernadine previously worked at the National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore as an Education Analyst, and the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) as a Technical Consultant.
Kamaljit Bajwa
Social Media & Website Manager
& Research Assistant
Kamaljit is currently in her fourth year of her BA psychology degree and is completing a minor in counselling. She is a Research Assistant for the Lifespan Cognition Lab. Kamaljit also manages the recruitment process of the lab through social media and other platforms. Kamaljit is interested in counselling, aging, and clinical psychology. In her spare time, Kamaljit loves to cook, read, exercise, and play chess.
Sarah Adlem
Lifespan In-Person Project Manager
Sarah recently graduated with her bachelor's in psychology from KPU. She assumed the role of project manager for the Lifespan Cognition Study in 2023. In her free time, Sarah reads, plays the violin, and enjoys spending time with friends.
Marco Tommasi
Lifespan Cognition Online Study (LCOS) Project Manager
Marco has been with the Lifespan Cognition lab since the summer of 2022. He is currently working as the Project Manager of the Lifespan Cognition and Memory Online study (LCMO). Previously having worked as a RA on both the Data management as well as the community partnership and retention aspects of the Lifespan Cognition Online study.
Originally hailing from Brazil, Marco came to Canada in 2015 to Major in Psychology (B.A.) and Minoring in Italian at the University of British Columbia, which was completed in 2020.
Marco is also currently working with Dr. Zahia Marzouk at KPU’s department of education. That, as well as a former position in the Motivated Cognition Lab at UBC, rounds out Marco’s research journey started in 2019.
Outside of academics, Marco is also keenly interested in politics, cinema and sports, particularly motorsport and football (or soccer as it is called around these parts).
Zachariah Hamzagic
Research Assistant
Zach completed his BA in Psychology at KPU under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Bernstein and Dr. Kyle Matsuba. His honours thesis examined the sunk-cost effect – the tendency to continue investing in something that is not working out because of previous investments that cannot be recovered – in scenarios that result in harm to others. Zach is currently a Master’s student at Wilfred Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. As part of his Master’s work he is expanding upon the research that he did for his honours thesis. Zach’s main research interests are cognitive development, decision-making, theory of mind, and moral development.
Dawn-Leah McDonald
Research Assistant
Dawn-Leah graduated from Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) in 2014 with a BA Honours in Psychology with Distinction. She received the 2014 Canadian Psychological Association of Academic Excellence award for her Honours thesis on the Production Effect. During her time at KPU she was also awarded the Student Led Research Grant, KPU/Pearson Psychology Award, KPU Endowed Psychology Scholarship, KPU Faculty of Arts Special Purpose Fund Award, KPU Student Life and Development Award, and the Pearson Poster Award at KPU’s Connecting Minds Undergraduate Psychology Conference.
Dawn-Leah studied and also worked as an intern in the Garry Lab at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand in 2016. While studying there, she was awarded the Joseph Samuel Beaglehole Scholarship.
Currently, Dawn-Leah is working as a research assistant with Dr. Daniel M. Bernstein’s Lifespan Cognition Lab. She has worked on various projects since joining the lab in 2011.
In her free time, Dawn-Leah enjoys time with her family, hikes, kayaking, and traveling. She is a nidan in Kyokushin karate and has trained for more than 30 years.
Sean Pearson
Research Assistant
Sean is a 2nd year student at KPU and is currently working on earning a BA in Psychology, with a minor in Counselling. His goals include completing the psychology-honours program and then moving on to graduate school where he can dive deeper into research topics such as cognition, counselling, and the psychological implications of social media. He has been with the Lifespan Cognition Lab since May 2021 and has been involved with recruiting participants, manuscript review, social media engagement, and assisting with research projects such as the Hindsight Bias and Emotional Faces project and the Lifespan Cognition project.
In his spare time, you could find Sean at skateparks all over the Lower Mainland, climbing a rock wall in lighthouse park, hiking in Garibaldi, or at home re-reading Anthony Keidis’ autobiography with his cat on his lap.
Liam Ruel
Research Assistant
Liam is currently completing his second year of a BA Psychology degree with a minor in Counselling at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Since joining the lab in the summer of 2021, Liam has helped with a handful of projects, mainly focusing on hindsight bias.
Liam is interested in gender, counselling, mental health, and psychopathology, and hopes to pursue clinical work in the future. In his free time, he enjoys playing video games, reading, art, and graphic design.
Travis Takarangi
Research Assistant
Travis is currently in his fourth year of study for his BA in Psychology degree. He will also begin working on his honours project on theory of mind in the fall of 2022 under the supervision of Dr. Daniel Bernstein.
In his free time Travis enjoys skateboarding, playing hockey, and listening to music.
Amie Orsetti
Research Assistant
Amie is currently in the fourth year of her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, with a minor in counselling. She joined the Lifespan Cognition Lab as a Research Assistant in January 2022, and works on the Lifespan Cognition Project and as an editor for the lab blog. Amie is also the Lab Manager for the Matsuba Applied Development (MAD) Lab. Her main areas of interest are emotion regulation, mental health, and well-being. In her spare time, Amie enjoys camping, fishing, reading, and playing with her dogs.
Hanna Erceg
Research Assistant
Hanna is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Psychology with a minor in Counselling at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She completed her honours thesis examining satisfaction levels with current drug policies and interventions in British Columbia as a predictor of perceived mental well-being under the supervision of Dr. Patricia Coburn. She is currently working with her honours supervisor on a follow-up study to expand this area of research. Hanna joined the Lifespan Cognition Lab in 2022 and works as a project manager on the False Memory and Personality project.
In her free time, Hanna enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with her pets.