Lab Manager
Annie Mears
amears4@jhu.edu
I am a December ’22 graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a BA in Psychology and Writing Seminars. Young children have a unique view of the world, and it’s fascinating to work with them and get a glimpse into their minds. Previously, I worked in the LCD as a Research Assistant, and I am so happy to be able to contribute further as Lab Manager. In the future, I’m hoping to pursue a PhD in child and adolescent psychology.
Graduate Students
Qiong Cao | 6th year graduate student
qiong.cao@jhu.edu
What are the fundamental representations and computations children use to make inference? How do young children be selective about information when choosing what to learn? My research focus on how infants and young children reason about agents, objects, and daily life events. I’m also interested in how violation of expectations can help or hinder infants’ learning. [website]
Nick Bisbee |3rd year graduate student
nbisbee1@jhu.edu
Humans quickly learn to use physical objects, symbols, and icons to manipulate the world around them. In what ways are we built for tool usage and how do we create systems of intangible tools like numbers or logic? How does our curiosity lead us to learn about so many systems (eg. block tower physics, Algebra, Game of Thrones politics) that we may not see a need for? As a first year, I intend to study what bounds our learning and what inspires it – with an emphasis on object representations and how they interact with our desire to share our conceptualizations.
Caroline Myers | 3rd year graduate student
cmyers60@jhu.edu
Babies have an intuitive understanding of a number of things in the physical world, like solidity and gravity. My research investigates the expectations babies have about the visual properties of natural phenomena. For instance, do infants expect water to flow downward, or fire to burn upward? I am also interested in how the visual system changes over the course of development, including how perceptual and attentional capacities develop in childhood and adolescence.
Peter Mazalik | 2nd year graduate student
pmazali1@jhu.edu
I am interested in the developmental trajectory of our logical capacities and the internal structure of infants’ representations. Currently, I am researching how children understand and contemplate possibilities and how infants represent change as a constant feature to determine individuation.
Sally Berson | 1st year graduate student
sberson1@jhu.edu
Infants and young children have an impressive ability to reason about their environment using their primitive expectations about the way the world works. How does this early knowledge develop? I intend to study how curiosity and surprise drive children’s information and explanation-seeking behaviors. I am also interested in the cognitive and developmental origins of causal-reasoning abilities.
Di Liu | 1st year graduate student
dliu88@jhu.edu
Babies are incredible navigators in the ocean of information. Intriguing questions arise from this observation: How do they meticulously construct their knowledge representations from the intricate stimuli they encounter daily? What cues do they tend to use, or rely on, to guide their cognitive growth? How do they decide when to exploit and when to explore? Do all infants embark on this journey in an identical fashion, or are there meaningful individual idiosyncrasies in between? I intend to commence my exploration in this fascinating realm by investigating what role surprise plays in assisting infants to build and update their world model.
Undergraduate Students
Joanna Zhou
I am a Senior at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Writing Seminars! I am so excited to work in the lab to dive deeper into the minds of babies. I am extremely interested in learning about their thinking and logical processes and how that may lead to specific reasoning processes as adolescents. Working in the Lab for Child Development will allow me to build a strong foundation towards becoming a Child Psychologist!
Shivanie Patiram
I am a Senior Cognitive Science major at Johns Hopkins Universtiy, taking prerequisite courses for my future career in neonatal/pediatric nursing. I am so excited to be a part of the Lab for Child Development and learn more about the fascinating minds of children! By participating in such important research, I hope to ultimately contribute to a deeper understanding of how children acquire certain skills and be able to apply this to medicine!
Kyarie Shelton
I am a Junior at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Psychology. I am incredibly grateful to be a research assistant in the Lab for Child Development because I have the chance to gain a unique insight into the minds of babies and toddlers. Since the birth of my two little sisters, I have been extremely fascinated with baby brain development. Additionally, I am beyond excited to apply what I learn in the Lab for Child Development to my future career as a physician.
Arianna Sforza
I am a Senior at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Public Health and minoring in Spanish for the Professions. I am deeply interested in the manner in which babies and young children of all backgrounds perceive and learn about the world, and how this can serve as a predictor for their behavior, mannerisms, and preferences as they grow. As an aspiring child psychiatrist, I am grateful for the opportunity to be involved in relevant, hands-on research which will provide me with a solid foundation in the field of child development and the knowledge to treat patients in a sensitive, developmentally accurate way.
Cynthia Moneke
I am a Junior at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Behavioral Biology. I am excited to join the Lab for Child Development and discover the underlying causes for how and why children obtain certain skills. I have always been interested in children and their psychological processes. I hope to pursue further education in medicine to become a developmental pediatrician.
Emily Mashqbeh
I am a Junior at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in psychology. With four younger siblings and previous experience working with autistic children, I’ve become very interested in the way children make sense of the world around them. I’m excited to better understand the complex way infant minds develop into the adult brains I’m used to learning about in my coursework. I look forward to utilizing this knowledge as a physician!
Jade Robinson
I am a Senior at Johns Hopkins majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology with a minor in Spanish for the Professions. I love developmental research and I’m very excited to start with the Child Development Lab learning about how infants think about this complex world! After my time at Hopkins, I plan to pursue a PhD in Developmental Psychology, focusing on children’s emotional and social development through play.
Natalie Bernstein
I am a Freshman at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Psychology and Political Science. I’m excited to be a research assistant at the Laboratory for Child Development because I love developmental psychology and am eager to learn more about young children’s fascinating minds. I love kids, and I’m excited to work with children and families. Working as a research assistant in the Laboratory for Child Development will be a fantastic experience to prepare for a future PhD.
Amanda Kunkle
I am a Junior at Johns Hopkins University, majoring in Psychology and Molecular & Cellular Biology. I am deeply interested in how babies perceive the world around them, and I am so excited to learn more about the minds of children in the lab! I hope to apply the knowledge I gain in the lab to my future career as a physician.
The Johns Hopkins University 