Laboratories & Research Infrastructure
Bilingual Cognition Laboratory
Director: Wendy S. Francis, Ph.D.
Dr. Francis’ laboratory consists of a large work area and small rooms for individual testing using computers with peripherals for vocal and manual response collection or eye tracking equipment. Research in this laboratory focuses on topics related to bilingualism, explicit and implicit memory, and language production.
Children's Learning Project
Director: Christine E. Potter, Ph.D.
Dr. Potter’s laboratory uses both experimental and observational methods to understand the role of experience in learning language across domains such as speech perception, statistical learning, word learning, and book-reading. The lab contains a family-friendly waiting area, work stations for research assistants, and two testing rooms for conducting behavioral studies. Lab resources include a Tobii Pro eye tracker, audiovisual equipment for conducting preferential looking studies with infants, and the Language Environment Analysis system for recording and analyzing speech in children’s everyday lives.
Cognition & Aging Laboratory
Director: Ashley S. Bangert, Ph.D.
Dr. Bangert’s laboratory includes two large testing rooms with multiple computer stations to conduct behavioral experiments, a large common undergraduate and graduate student office space for participant recruitment and data analysis, and another dedicated graduate student office space. The lab is also equipped with an eye-tracker. Research in this lab focuses on understanding various aspects of attention, memory, timing, and event cognition, including the impact of normal and pathological aging on these processes.
Language and Communication Lab
Director: Iva Ivanova, Ph.D.
Dr. Ivanova’s lab is a Psycholinguistics lab that studies the processes and mechanisms involved in language production, comprehension and language use in dialogue, and how these processes change with knowledge of multiple languages. The lab consists of two individual and two dialogue testing booths and one soundproof chamber (aka “whisper room”), a friendly common area for receiving participants, coding and transcription tasks, and additional dedicated graduate student office space. The lab is equipped with dual-boot iMacs that run both OS-X and Windows, state-of-the-art recording equipment (Zoom H6 and Marantz handheld voice recorders and Shure microphones), three Virtual Reality headsets (Oculus Rift), and a video camera (Panasonic HC-V770).
Psycholinguistic Research On Bilingualism And Reading (PROBAR)
Director: Ana I. Schwartz, Ph.D.
Dr. Schwartz’s research team examine how the multiple languages of the bilingual mind interact during reading comprehension and the role that language plays in acquiring and integrating information that may be encountered in different languages. The lab is comprised of a large central room and 4 individual testing rooms. The laboratory is equipped with 3 eye-tracking systems and multiple PC’s with experimental software that allows for precision measurement of key responses to stimuli.
