Cameron J Anderson

PhD Candidate @ MAPLE Lab in McMaster University

Summary

PhD candidate developing statistical methods to study how emotion perceived in music relates to its historic context and listeners’ musical experiences.

Developing software applications to make findings from quantitative music analyses accessible to listeners.

Master’s thesis examined musical and psychological data, using data science methods to detect musical patterns in music from different periods.

Research interests

Data science, music analysis, experimental psychology, tone synthesis, machine learning, music information retrieval.

Education

2021-Present PhD in Psychology (current degree). McMaster University, Hamilton ON.

2019-2021 Master of Science in Psychology. McMaster University, Hamilton ON.

2015-2019 Bachelor of Music. McMaster University, Hamilton ON.

Funding & Awards

2024-2026 SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Value: 80,000 CAD.

Funded project: Tracing Historic Changes in Emotional Communication Through Music. Supervisor: Dr. Michael Schutz.

Applying statistical methods to analyze perceived emotions in response to music from different historic periods.

2024 Globalink Research Award Awarded by Mitacs and the British High Commission. Value: 6,000 CAD.

Funded project: Evaluating Algorithmic Prediction of Emotion in Music. Host supervisor: Dr. Tuomas Eerola.

Collaborated in meta-analysis analyzing Music Emotion Recognition studies published between 2014-2024.

2023-2024 Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Funded by the Government of Ontario as well as Margo Wilson & Martin Daly OGS. Value: 15,000 CAD.

2021-2023 Ontario Graduate Scholarship. Funded by the Government of Ontario as well as Steven & Tina Wilson OGS. Value: 15,000 CAD (x 2).

2020-2021 Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship. Awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Value: 17,500 CAD.

Funded project: Historic Changes in Musically Expressed Emotion. Supervisor: Dr. Michael Schutz.

2018, 2019 Undergraduate Student Research Award. Value: 6,000 CAD (x 2).

2017, 2018 Waller Family Music Scholarship. Value: 2,000 CAD (x 2).

Publications

Also available on Google Scholar.

Journal Articles

† Equal contribution

Delle Grazie, M.,† Anderson, C. J.,† De Souza, J., & Schutz, M. (in press). Analysis from multiple perspectives (AMP): Applying decision hygiene to analysis of musical structure. Musicae Scientiae

Anderson, C. J., Ling, J., & Schutz, M. (2025). Beyond the notes: Clarifying the role of expressivity in conveying musical emotion. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/17470218251372335

Delle Grazie, M., Anderson, C. J., & Schutz, M. (2025). Breaking with common practice: Exploring Modernist musical emotion. Psychology of Music. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356241296852

Anderson, C. J., & Schutz, M. (2023). Understanding Feature Importance in Musical Works: Unpacking Predictive Contributions to Cluster Analyses. Music & Science, 6. https://doi.org/10.1177/20592043231216257

Anderson, C. J., Sreetharan, S., Elizondo López, A. E., Schlesinger, J. J., & Schutz, M. (2023). Improving auditory alarms: Reducing perceived annoyance with musical timbre (a randomized trial). Perioperative Care and Operating Room Management, 32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcorm.2023.100332

Anderson, C. J., & Schutz, M. (2022). Exploring historic changes in musical communication: Deconstructing emotional cues in preludes by Bach and Chopin. Psychology of Music, 50(5), 1424–1442. https://doi.org/10.1177/03057356211046375

Kelly, B. O., Anderson, C. J., & Schutz, M. (2021). Exploring Changes in the Emotional Classification of Music Between Eras. Auditory Perception & Cognition, 4(1-2), 121-131.

Foley, L., Anderson, C. J., & Schutz, M. (2020). Re-Sounding Alarms: Designing Ergonomic Auditory Interfaces by Embracing Musical Insights. Healthcare, 8(4), 389.

Proceedings & Preprints

Zhou, J., Anderson, C. J., & Schutz, M., (2023, October). Accuracies in algorthimic predictors of musical emotion. Acoustics Canada, 51 (3).

Eerola, T., & Anderson, C. J., (2025, April 15). A Meta-Analysis of Music Emotion Recognition Studies. https://doi.org/10.31234/osf.io/5azc9_v1

Kirts, C., Saarikallio, S., Anderson, C. J., Bannister, S., Cespedes-Guevara, J., PhD, Heng, G. J., … Eerola, T. (2025, July 15). Measuring Emotional Experiences to Music – Content Validity Assessment for Episode Model Constructs.

Selected Presentations

Anderson, C. J. & Schutz, M. (2025, July). Emotion Across the Eras: How Changing Musical Structure Affects Ratings of Valence, 18th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, São Paulo, Brazil.

Anderson, C. J. & Eerola, T. (2025, July). A Meta-Analysis of Music Emotion Recognition Studies. 18th International Conference on Music Perception and Cognition, São Paulo, Brazil. _

Anderson, C. J., Delle Grazie, M., & Schutz, M. (2024, July). Unpacking Structural and Interpretive Cues for Emotion in Piano Performances. Society for Music Perception and Cognition. Banff, Canada.

Anderson, C. J., Ling, J., & Schutz, M. (2024, July). Unpacking Structural and Interpretive Cues for Emotion in Piano Performances. European Society for Cognitive Sciences of Music, York, UK.

Anderson, C. J., Ling, J., & Schutz, M. (2023, October). How Does Interpretation of Acoustic Features Affect Perceived Musical Emotion? (Talk). Presented at Acoustics Week in Canada. Montreal, Quebec.

Anderson, C. J., & Schutz, M. (2023, March). Investigating the Impact of Musical Experience on Perceived Emotion (Talk). Presented at York Graduate Music Student Association Presents: Forward Motion, York University. Toronto, Ontario.

Outreach presentatations

These presentations involved equal contributions from all authors.

Anderson, C. J., Phillips, E., Swierczek, K., & Wood, E. (2022, May 7). Meet a Music Scientist (Digital Workshop). Digital workshop for McMaster Live Lab. Hamilton, Canada.

Anderson, C. J., Ertemin, D., Morgan, B., & Propst, A. (2022, May 4). Towards More Meaningful Science Communication with the Benefit of Digital Scholarship (Digital Workshop). Workshop at Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship. Hamilton, Canada.

Software packages

Anderson C. J., & Schutz M. (2025). ggcommonality: Bar Plot of Commonality Analysis Coefficients in ggplot2. R package version 1.1.2. https://github.com/cmndrsn/ggcommonality.

Positions

2019-2025 Teaching Assistant, Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.

Courses: Descriptive Statistics and Research Methods; Python for PNB; Integrative PNB Through Scientific Writing; Statistics for Applied Psychology in Human Behaviour; Music Cognition; Human Evolution & Behaviour.

2018-2024 Writing Advisor, Student Success Centre, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.

Provided writing guidance to graduate and undergraduate students from a wide range of disciplines.

2021-2022 Graduate Resident, Lewis & Ruth Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship.

Designed interactive visualizations of music data in Shiny for R.

2017-2019 Teaching Assistant, School of the Arts, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON.

Courses: Music Theory & Analysis; Practical Musicianship.

Committee Roles

2023-Present Co-organizer, Composer Connects

Co-organized local master-class and music performance workshop.

2022-2023 Co-chair, MIMMersion committee

Participated in graduate outreach committee of McMaster Institute for Music & the Mind.

2018 Student representative, School of the Arts search committee

Participated in search committee recruiting Director of the School of the Arts at McMaster University.

Last updated: September 2025