Rate My Professor Annabel Cohen

Annabel Cohen is a Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Prince Edward Island (UPEI), where she has also served as Chair and Acting Chair. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, followed by a Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy from Queen's University. With over 25 years of service at UPEI, recognized by a 25-year Service Award in 2019, Cohen specializes in music psychology. Her research focuses on music cognition, auditory perception, audiovisual integration particularly in film music, development of singing ability, and brain plasticity underlying music learning and retention across the lifespan. As Director of the Advancing Interdisciplinary Research in Singing (AIRS), she leads investigations into singing's role in education, well-being, and cognitive health, having hosted multiple annual AIRS meetings, workshops on singing, and public forums on music education access at UPEI. Cohen also initiated the UPEI Multicultural Choir and Song Circle as a research project exploring group singing's psychological benefits.

Cohen has significantly influenced the field through editorial leadership, serving as Editor of Psychomusicology: Music, Mind, and Brain since 2008. She guest-edited special volumes on psychogeromusicology: Psychology of music and aging (2002) and the psychology of film music (2012). Key publications include 'The importance of music to seniors' (2002), 'Film music: perspectives from cognitive psychology' (2000), 'Congruence-association model of music and multimedia: Origin and evolution' (2013), 'Research on singing: Development, education and well-being—Introduction to the special volume on singing and psychomusicology' (2011), and 'Music as a source of emotion in film' (2011). Her body of work has amassed over 2,100 citations, with an h-index of 34 and i10-index of 54. Honors include two UPEI Faculty Association Merit Awards for Scholarly Achievement (1995-1996 and 2006-2007) and Fellowship in the American Psychological Association. Cohen convened the Canadian Acoustical Association conference in Prince Edward Island in 2002 and continues to contribute to interdisciplinary music research.