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Faculty
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General Area of Research
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Cognitive and developmental psychology: Conceptual & lexical
representation in mind and brain, Language acquisition.
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Description of Current Research
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conceptual representation, lexical development, language and space,
psycholinguistics
Current projects in my laboratory include the following:
- Conceptual representations of things and stuff: How do
children and adults form and represent concepts of simple things
like dogs and tables, and stuffs like water and wood? We
investigate this question by manipulating properties of novel
entities and recording the manner in which children and adults
interpret the novel entities.
- Conceptual constraints on count-mass noun alternations: In
some cases we can use the same form of a word to refer to both an
object and the kind of stuff it is constituted of (e.g. There is a
pumpkin/There is some pumpkin), but not in others (e.g. There is a
table./*There is some table). What are the conceptual constraints
on when this is possible? When do children show knowledge of these
constraints? We study these questions by asking children and adults
to describe the stuff of various kinds of unfamiliar objects in
different experimental conditions.
- Neural representation of concepts: How are basic concepts
like DOG and CAR represented in the brain? How is the representation
of these concepts related to the representation of corresponding
superordinate concepts such as ANIMAL and VEHICLE? I am investigating
these questions in collaboration with Dr. Mark Wessinger using fMRI
brain imaging techniques.
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Student
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Essential and Desirable Background Knowledge and
Skills
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Essential: Reliability, careful attention to detail,
ability to work with diverse groups of children and adults.
Desirable: Statistics, experimental, cognitive, basic
or advanced computer skills
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Expected Responsibilities
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Schedule and test participants, store and backup data,
analyze data and produce graphical representations of
results. Expected time commitment is 9-12 hours per week
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Expected Benefits
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Learn how to perform all aspects of research, discuss
theoretical background and implications of research with
faculty member, understand ethical and practical issues
in conducting research. Learn how to apply your knowledge
of statistics
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