At LRDC, interdisciplinary collaboration is central to advancing our understanding of learning and brain development. Our research investigates the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying learning, as well as the motivational factors that drive engagement. Areas of inquiry include language and reading, learning and memory, higher-level reasoning, and the ways in which beliefs, goals, values, and social relationships shape learning. To address these questions, researchers employ a wide range of methods, from fMRI and ERP to classroom-based studies and interventions.
Training the next generation of scholars is also integral to LRDC’s research mission, with rich opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students to engage in scientific inquiry. Below, we highlight key research themes and the faculty-led laboratories advancing work in these areas:
Neural mechanisms associated with speech, language, reading, working memory, and learning
- Mind and Brain Lab, Julie Fiez (PI)
Cognitive processes related to second language learning and use
- Psycholinguistics, Language, and Memory (PLUM) Lab, Natasha Tokowicz (PI)
Cognitive processes underlying human learning, collaboration, and motivation
- Cognitive Science Learning Laboratory, Timothy Nokes-Malch (PI)
Causal learning in everyday life; how people learn cause-effect relationships from their experiences
- Causal Learning and Decision Making Lab, Benjamin Rottman (PI)
Development of mindfulness and how it can be cultivated to support well-being and performance across adolescence to adulthood
- Mindfulness Lab, Brian Galla (PI)
Interactions between people, their social environments, and how they relate to adaptive cognitive behaviors, specifically language and flexible social cognition.
- Cognition in Context, Mehrgol Tiv (PI)
Researchers Associated with this Area
Kevin Binning
Anna Chrabaszcz
Julie Fiez
Scott Fraundorf
Brian Galla
Kevin McManus
Timothy Nokes-Malach
Marta Ortega-Llebaria
Sudhir Pathak
Ben Rottman
Walter Schneider
Christian Schunn
Mehrgol Tiv
Natasha Tokowicz