Matthew Berry

Education

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Cognitive Neuroscience: Music, McMaster University (2023)

Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology: Acting, McMaster University (2021)

B.Sc. Hons. Specialization: Psychology, University of Ottawa (2014)

Academic Interests

Fundamental Research

Cognitive Neuroscience

Acting, Humor, and Improvisation

Personality Psychology

Emotion, Theory of Mind, and Embodied Cognition

Positive Psychology and the Psychology of Creativity

Statistics (Univariate & Multivariate) and Psychometrics

Research Methodology (Quantitative & Qualitative)

Research Interests

Oh, you found me! I’m Dr. Berry and I conduct fundamental psychological research on acting and narrative with two distinct branches: the science of performance and the performance of science. Under the science of performance, my current focus is to develop a new field devoted to understanding the cognitive, behavioural, and neural mechanisms underlying the production, perception, and synthesis of acting — from the everyday to the artified. Under the performance of science, I am interested in how science is positively disseminated to an audience (think proper scientific journalism) versus negatively disseminated to an audience (think quackery, pseudo-science, and grifting) and all the interactions therein. Additionally, I am interested in, employ, and teach a variety of statistical methods and research practices. If you would like to find out more, read on, follow the links below, and/or feel free to email me.

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2202-4738

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matthew-Berry-6/research

Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ieeY1FIAAAAJ&hl=en

Research Lab

Cognitive Research in Acting and Narrative | Berry Lab

STUDENTS: Want to join the CRANBerry Lab? If you are interested in conducting fundamental research on acting/narrative either as a volunteer student research assistant or as an independent study student, please email me! Have a topic you want to study you don’t see above? Email me anyway! I am open to supervising all sorts of student research projects.

COLLEAGUES: I am open to working with internal and external collaborators. Please direct all collaboration inquiries to me via email.

Courses Taught

PSY 211 – Statistical Methods for Psychological Research (CUE)

PSY 319 – Research Designs and Intermediate Statistical Methods (CUE)

HUMBEHV 4HB3 – Advanced Seminar: Applied Psychology of Media, Art, & Creativity (McMaster University)

PSYCH 2B03 – Personality (McMaster University)

Representative Papers and Publications

Open Source

Hashemi, A., & Berry, M. (2024). Recherche et Statistiques en Psychologie, Neurosciences et Comportement. eCampus Ontario, https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/rspnc/

Hashemi, A., & Berry, M. (2024). Real Analysis of Data in Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour. eCampus Ontario, https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/radpnb/

Peer-Reviewed Articles

Brown, S., Berry, M., and Phillips, E. (In Press). Localizing music’s “language of emotion” in the human brain: A functional MRI study of scale and emotion processing.

Berry, M., Lewin, S., and Brown, S. (2022). Correlated expression in the body, face, and voice during character portrayal in actors. Scientific Reports 12:8253. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12184-7

Berry, M. (2021). The science of acting: Examining and modeling the behaviours of actors during character portrayal. MacSphere. http://hdl.handle.net/11375/27003

Matharu, K., Berry, M., and Brown, S. (2022). Storytelling as a fundamental form of acting. Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity and the Arts, 16(2), 272.

Berry, M., and Brown, S. (2022). The dynamic mask: Facial correlates of character portrayal in professional actors. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology 75(5): 936-953.

Brown, S., Berry, M., Dawes, E., Hughes, A., and Tu, C. (2019). Character mediation of story generation via protagonist insertion. Journal of Cognitive Psychology 31: 326-342.

Berry, M., and Brown, S. (2019). Acting in action: Prosodic analysis of character portrayal during acting. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 148: 1407-1425

Berry, M., and Brown, S. (2017). A classification scheme for literary characters. Psychological Thought 10: 288-302.

Three Minute Thesis Competition Champion Talks

Berry, M. (April, 2018). Scientifically quantifying the craft of acting. The 6th Annual Three Minute Thesis Provincial Competition. York University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Berry, M. (March, 2018). Scientifically quantifying the craft of acting. The 6th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

National and International Conferences

Berry, M., & Brown, S. (November, 2018). Modulation of facial expansiveness during character portrayal in actors. McMaster NeuroMusic Conference. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Poster]

Berry, M., & Brown, S. (August, 2018). Modulation of facial expansiveness during character portrayal in actors. The International Association of Empirical Aesthetics (IAEA) Conference. Toronto, Ontario, Canada. [Poster]

Berry, M., & Brown, S. (May, 2018). Facial expansiveness during character portrayal in actors. The Unification of the Arts Conference. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Poster]

Berry, M. (March, 2018). F.A.C.E: Facial actions of characters and emotions. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour weekly Cognition/Perception Seminar series. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Talk]

Berry, M., & Brown, S. (August, 2017). Gestural analysis of character production during acting. The International Symposium on Performance Science. HARPA Cultural Centre, Reykjavik, Iceland. [Talk]

Berry, M. (March, 2017). “Theatrometrics”: A data-driven exploration of embodied performance. Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour weekly Cognition/Perception Seminar series. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Talk]

Berry, M. (February, 2017). The science of acting. The 5th Annual Three Minute Thesis Competition. McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Talk]

Berry, M., & Brown, S. (October, 2016). Prosodic analysis of character production in actors. McMaster NeuroMusic Conference. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Poster]

Berry, M., & Brown, S. (April, 2016). Acting in action: Gestural analysis of character production in actors. LIVELab MIMM Retreat at McMaster. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Poster]

Berry, M., & Brown, S. (October, 2015). Acting in action: Gestural analysis of character production in actors. McMaster NeuroMusic Conference. Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. [Poster]