About Me

Shruti Vyas, PhD

I spent 12 years studying cognition and perception, earning a Masters and a Doctorate in Psychological Science from Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).

During my graduate studies, I developed an expertise in our ability to perceive and cognitively process emotions, facial expressions, and faces. I studied how infant brains develop the ability to perceive faces and express facial expressions, and how they can interpret emotions. I studied external factors such as social stress, which activates the autonomic nervous system starting with the hypothalamic and limbic network (emotion centres of the brain). I examined how acute stress impacts both young and older adults perceive and categorize emotions and facial expressions. In my doctoral thesis, I studied how we use facial expressions as unique perceptual information to learn faces and identities.

Meanwhile, I learned how to find peace in sunrises, in the emptiness of a quiet dawn; on my long morning runs, kneeling to the sun by the lake and its rocks. I found a way to store my love in that sun. It held it for me when I couldn’t, and gave it back to me through the wind, the rain and the snow. The love that returned was mine alone, and doubled.

From the harsh winter winds, I learned patience. Gentle trees gave me their timeless wisdom. I sat there with my emotions and let them speak, until there was silence. I sat with that silence before I made decisions.

I learned to love in a partnership with pain; I built an unbreakable bond with grief. I learned to appreciate a deep friendship with suffering. I found comfort in their presence, I learned to blend into their essence. I learned to feel so much love for myself, in every part of me across time. I learned to share that love with others, and I learned to do it freely, without being empty.

I spent years studying how people perceive the world and its emotions, but I learned it best when I could see and feel the world as I closed my eyes and touched the dirt beneath my feet.

I hope I brought these learnings into your vision.

Thank you for being here.