I was a psychology major at the University of New Brunswick and graduated with an honours degree in 1989. I completed my graduate studies at the University of Western Ontario, studying under Zenon Pylyshyn, Stephen Lupker, and Albert Katz. I finished an MA in 1991 and a PhD in 1996. I have been a professor at the University of Calgary since 1995. 

My research program focuses on the many interactions between cognition and emotion. Two major research interests are 1) the effects of induced moods on attention and memory for emotional information, and 2) differences in attention and memory for emotional information that distinguish never-depressed individuals from currently depressed and depression-vulnerable individuals. At the most general level, I am fascinated with individual differences in cognition that are associated with vulnerability to psychopathology and my research program is centred around this theme.  

My profile page on the Department of Psychology website can be found here. You can email me at sears@ucalgary.ca. 

Google Scholar  |  ResearchGate  |  ORCID

Dan completed his honours thesis during the 2020-2021 academic year. He has training and a background in power systems engineering. Dan received a MITACS Training Award to set up his honours study during the spring and summer of 2020. He completed his MSc degree in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences program in 2023, focusing on the effects of acute stress on gambling-related attentional biases. Dan received a major scholarship from the Alberta Gambling Research Institute (AGRI) to support his MSc thesis research. He also won the Canadian Psychological Association award for Best Master's Thesis. He completed an MSc in the School and Applied Child Psychology program at the U of C, and begins his PhD degree in the Brain and Sciences program in September 2025. 

Sofia has been working in the lab for some time and is currently supervising a study that examines the differences between men and women in the importance they place on specific traits in a relationship partner. 

Jenn completed her honours thesis during the 2018-2019 academic year. She received two NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) to support her work in the lab. She also won an NSERC CGS-M scholarship to support her MSc studies. Her thesis research examined sex differences in attention and memory for emotional information. Jenn began medical school at the University of Alberta in 2022 (class of 2026).  She completed her MSc thesis and graduated in the spring of 2025. 

Kira conducted a study that examined the relationship between body dissatisfaction, social comparison tendencies, and selective attention to different body types. Her thesis is being prepared for publication ("Attentional Biases Associated with Body Dissatisfaction are Moderated by Social Comparison Orientation"). Kira begins the MA program in counselling psychology at Yorkville University in September 2025. 

Emma completed her honours thesis during the 2022-2023 academic year. Her study used galvanic skin response (GSR) and heart rate variability (HRV) to measure individual differences in physiological responses to negative mood inductions (sadness and fear). Emma won two NSERC USRA awards while working in the lab. Emma is now a MA/PhD student in the clinical psychology program at the University of New Brunswick. She won a SSHRC CGS-M scholarship after starting her graduate program. 

Maya completed her honours thesis during the 2022-2023 academic year. Her study examined attentional biases associated with individual differences in body satisfaction and social comparison tendencies. Maya won a PURE award and an Alberta Innovates award while working in the lab. She relocated to Australia in the fall of 2023 for a research coordinator position at Flinders University and was admitted to their PhD program in 2025.

Aaron received his undergraduate degree from Missouri Western State University. He was new to Calgary and to Canada when he began his MSc degree in 2019.  Aaron won two major scholarships for international graduate students while working on his MSc degree. His thesis research examined risks and predictors of suicide ideation and their association with humour styles (published in PLoS ONE in 2023; "Do humour styles moderate the association between hopelessness and suicide ideation? A comparison of student and community samples".

Noreen volunteered in the lab before beginning her honours thesis research in September 2022. Her study examined predictors of academic satisfaction among psychology majors and alumni. Her research expands on the study published by Sears et al. in 2017 ("Predictors of student satisfaction in a large psychology undergraduate program"). She completed her honours thesis in April 2022 and is currently a research coordinator at CUPS Calgary (a non-profit social agency). 

Christine's honours thesis research examined the association between rumination and attentional biases in depressed and non-depressed individuals. She completed her honours thesis in April 2022 and is a co-author of a recent publication ("Associations between attentional biases for emotional images and rumination in depression"). After graduation she worked as a research assistant on a rural mental health study based at Medicine Hat College. Christine is now an administrator/educator at Choice Point Psychological Services. She will begin the MSc in Counselling Psychology program at the University of Calgary in September 2025. Christine won a CGS-M graduate scholarship in April 2025.

Shelley worked on her honours thesis during the 2020-2021 academic year.  She has a previous degree (BSc) in mechanical engineering. Her thesis research examined cultural differences in emotion regulation and their impact on depression. She started an MSc degree in Counselling Psychology at the U of C in 2021 and subsequently won a SSHRC CGS-M scholarship. 

Amanda completed her honours thesis in the lab during the 2012-2013 academic year and started in the clinical psychology graduate program in 2014. Amanda finished her MSc degree in 2016 and her PhD degree in 2020, co-supervised with Dr. Keith Dobson.  She is a co-author on many of the lab's publications. Amanda received multiple scholarships from AGRI and SSHRC. Her dissertation research examined attention and memory biases in remitted depressed individuals and is currently being prepared for publication. She now divides her time between the Tom Baker Cancer Centre and her private practice.

Natalie completed her honours thesis during the 2018-2019 academic year. Her study examined memory biases for emotional stimuli in remitted depressed individuals. Natalie began studying in the M.Ed. school psychology program at UBC in 2019.  

Sherry contributed to a variety of projects in the lab between 2017-2019. She is now pursuing an art therapy degree in Montreal. 

Amy worked in the lab as a research assistant for several years, helping with various projects and co-authoring one of our studies (Tobin, Barron, Sears,  & von Ranson, 2019). She began her MA/PhD studies in the IO Psychology graduate program at the University of Waterloo in the fall of 2019.

Samantha completed her honours thesis research in 2018, on body image priming and attention. She was co-supervised by Dr. Kristin von Ranson.  Her honours thesis study was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychopathology (Withnell, Sears, & von Ranson, 2019).  Samantha is now a PhD student in the clinical psychology program at the University of Western Ontario (Western University).

Madeline worked in the lab from 2016-2018 and received a BA degree in 2018. She finished an MA in the Social-Personality program at York University in Toronto, specializing in social perception and intergroup bias. Madeline received an NSERC CGS-M scholarship  in 2019. She is now a PhD student at the City University of New York (CUNY) in the applied psychology program. 

Stephanie completed her MSc in the lab in 2016. She completed a PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Regina in 2021, where her research focused on cognitive aspects of anxiety disorders. She is now a registered psychologist at the Center for Posttraumatic Stress and Anxiety Treatment in Edmonton, Alberta, where she provides assessment and treatment services for PTSD, OCD, and anxiety disorders, to the general population, RCMP and CAF members, and other first responder groups.

Kristin completed her MSc (2011) and PhD (2016) in the lab. Her research focused on attentional biases in depressed and remitted depressed individuals. Kristin is a co-author on many of our publications. She is now a forensic psychologist with Alberta Health Services in Calgary. She occasionally teaches advanced courses in forensic psychology and clinical psychology at the University of Calgary. 

Rachel was our Research Coordinator (2016-2017) for a CIHR project examining attention in depression-vulnerable individuals (a collaboration with Keith Dobson). 

Charmaine completed her MSc (2011) and PhD degree (2016) while working in the lab.  Her MSc thesis research was published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders (Thomas, Goegan, Newman, Arndt, & Sears, 2013). She is now a registered psychologist specializing in the treatment of PTSD, in Nanaimo, B.C.  

Tessa was our Research Coordinator (2015-2016) for a CIHR project examining attention in depression-vulnerable individuals (a collaborative study with Keith Dobson).  She is now a PhD student in the IO Psychology program at Wilfrid Laurier University.

Mallory completed her honours thesis research in the lab in 2015 (co-supervised with Dr. Kristin von Ranson).  Her study on attentional biases associated with food addiction was published in the journal Appetite (Frayn, Sears, & von Ranson, 2016). Mallory completed her PhD in clinical psychology at McGill University in 2019.  She is the founder of Impulse Psychology, her private practice (https://impulsepsychology.com/). Mallory relocated to Calgary in 2025.

Nicole was our Research Coordinator (2014-2015) for a CIHR project examining attention in depression-vulnerable individuals (a collaborative study with Keith Dobson). She is now a graduate student in the School Psychology program at the University of Alberta.

Sabine completed her honours thesis in the lab in 2014. She then completed a MA in clinical psychology at the University of Regina in 2016 and a PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Calgary, working under the supervision of Dr. Melanie Noel. Her honours study was published in the journal Psychiatry Research (Soltani, Newman, Quigley, Fernandez, Dobson, & Sears, 2015). Her PhD research examined attentional biases in children with chronic pain. Sabine was a post-doctoral scholar at the Alberta Children's Hospital for several years and is now a psychologist at the Chronic Pain Centre in Calgary. 

Avery worked with the eye tracker on a project that examined attention to healthy and unhealthy food in individuals with binge eating disorder. Her project was funded by the Markin Undergraduate Student Research Program (USRP) in Health & Wellness. Her study was published in the journal Appetite in 2015 (Popien, Frayn, von Ranson, & Sears, 2015). Avery completed her degree in social work (BSW) in 2013. She is a Youth Justice Social Worker for the City of Calgary.  She works with the Calgary Police Services to provide support to children and their families who schools have identified as being at risk of involvement with the criminal justice system. 

Calandra's completed her honours thesis research in 2013.  She later worked on a study that examined age-related differences in attention to emotion, which was published in Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition (Speirs, Belchev, Fernandez, Korol, & Sears, 2018). Calandra began her MSc/PhD in clinical psychology program at the University of Calgary in 2013, working under the supervision of Dr. Candace Konnert, and completed her degree in 2019. 

Daena completed her honours thesis on visual memory for emotional information in 2012. She is now a Relocation Manager for The MI Group in Calgary. 

Lauren completed her honours thesis in 2011. She completed her MA in school psychology at the University of Victoria in 2013 and a PhD at the University of Alberta in educational psychology. She is now an Assistant Professor of educational psychology at the University of Manitoba.

Caitlin joined the lab in 2011 in the clinical psychology program. Her thesis research examined the relative contribution of both trait anxiety and working memory capacity on the ability to resist distraction, as measured by the antisaccade task; this was published in the Journal of Cognitive Psychology (Wright, Dobson, & Sears, 2014). Caitlin is now practicing as a psychometrist in Kitchener-Waterloo.

Jennifer completed her honours thesis research in the lab in 2009. Jenn began the MSc/PhD program in clinical psychology in 2010 (working with Dr. Suzanne Curtin) and finished her PhD in 2018. She contributed to many studies and was a co-author on a key article on attentional biases in previously depressed individuals (Sears, Newman, Ference, & Thomas, 2011).

Kara worked on many projects in the lab from 2007-2010, including the Student Satisfaction Survey (Sears, Boyce, Boon, Goghari, Irwin, & Boyes, 2017).  Kara completed her MSc in clinical psychology in 2010 (under the supervision of Dr. Candace Konnert). She worked as a psychologist for several years before returning to pursue a PhD in community health sciences at the University of Calgary. 

Jessica completed her honours thesis in the lab in 2008. She started an MSc in counselling psychology in 2008, graduating in 2010. She co-authored one of our first articles on attention in depression (Sears, Thomas, LeHuquet, & Johnson, 2010). She is the director (and owner) of Inner Solutions (Calgary), which provides psychological services (https://innersolutions.ca/) and is the only certified DBT program in Alberta.

Kate graduated with distinction in 2005 with a double major in English and Psychology. Kate contributed to a variety of research projects while in the lab. She completed a MSc in counseling psychology in 2008. Kate is a coauthor on an article published in Cognitive Therapy and Research (Sears, Bisson, & Nielsen, 2011). She is now a psychologist specializing in children and adolescents at the Family Psychology Centre in Calgary. 

Suzie completed her honours thesis in the lab in 2003, and a MSc in the counselling psychology program in 2005. Her MSc thesis was published in the journal Cognition and Emotion (Bisson & Sears, 2007). She completed a PhD in counselling psychology (supervised by Dr. Nancy Arthur) in 2012. She is now a psychologist with the Catholic School Board in Calgary.

Mariko completed her honours thesis in the lab in 2003, and her M.Sc. degree in 2006. She then moved to Japan to start a PhD program at Waseda University, graduating in 2013. Mariko was the last graduate student in the lab pursuing psycholinguistics research, and published several highly cited articles (e.g., Nakayama, Sears, & Lupker, 2010). She is now a Professor of Psychology at Tohoku University in Japan (https://www.intcul.tohoku.ac.jp/igpls/people/mariko-nakayama/).

Melissa joined the lab in 2004 as a MSc student. Melissa left academia for a position in Calgary's oil and gas industry. She is now employed at Champion Technologies (Calgary) as a marketing communications specialist. 

Tara completed her honours thesis in the lab in 2003. She went to the University of Western Ontario for a MA degree in social psychology. Tara then completed a BEd at the University of Western Ontario and began a career as a high school teacher. 

Sharlee completed her honours thesis in the lab in 2003.  She subsequently completed a MSc in epidemiology at the University of Calgary.

Crystal completed her BSc honours thesis in the lab in 2000, and a MSc degree in 2002. Her thesis research was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance. Crystal was accepted into the University of Calgary's medical school in 2004. She completed her medical residency in Saskatchewan and is now a family physician.

Verna's completed her MSc thesis in the lab in 2001. An article based on her research was published in the Journal of Psycholinguistic Research.

Leora completed her honours thesis in 2001. She joined the cognitive psychology program at the University of Victoria to work with Steve Lindsey on eye witness memory.  She completed her MSc degree in 2003 and a PhD in 2007. Leora is now a Professor of Psychology at Okanagan College in British Columbia. 

Sharon's honours thesis examined depressed mood and memory. After graduation Sharon worked as a youth counselor and traveled extensively (including several months in southeast Asia), eventually deciding upon a career in social work. She received a MSW degree from Wilfred Laurier University in 2005 and is now a social worker at the Alberta Children's Hospital on the University of Calgary campus. 

Paul completed his honours thesis in the lab in 1997. The next year he continued his studies in the MSc program. His MSc thesis research was published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance (Siakaluk, Sears, & Lupker, 2002). Paul completed his PhD at the University of Alberta. Paul is now a Professor of Psychology at the University of Northern British Columbia.

Alisa has had a long association with the lab, beginning with her MSc work with thesis supervisor Cindy Lahar. After Cindy's departure for Japan, Alisa continued her cognitive aging research in the lab, taking a few years leave to have two children. Alisa finished her PhD in 2002. She is now a Professor of Psychology at St. Mary's University. 

Suzie was the first honours student trained in the lab, graduating in 1997. She is now a senior employment administrator with Suncor's Human Resources Department in Fort McMurray.