Current Researchers

(Top Row) Gabor Brody, Amanda Martino, Roman Feiman, Brian Leahy, Patrick Rourke                   (Middle Row) Laila Johnston, Annika McDermott-Hinman, Ya’el Sarig, Jaclyn Cohen, Josh Jaramillo Lopez, Alyssa Marie Loo Li-Ann
(Bottom Row) Yanwan Zhu, Ariel Stein, Anna Smith, Lucy White

Principal Investigator

Roman received his PhD in Psychology from Harvard University in 2015. He completed his postdoctoral work at Harvard and UC San Diego before coming to Brown. His work draws on a variety of approaches and methods from cognitive developmental psychology, language acquisition, psycholinguistics, and formal semantics. Roman directs the Brown Language and Thought Lab.

 

Roman Feiman

Lab Manager

Amanda received her Bachelor’s degree in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience from Western University in Canada and completed a clinical Master’s of Health Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Toronto. She is currently the lab manager of the BLT Lab. Outside of the lab, she enjoys cooking, reading, and being outdoors.

Amanda Martino

Postdoctoral Fellow

Gabor’s research explores infants’ and children’s ability to keep track of the identity of objects, agents, and other entities. He defended his dissertation in 2020 at the Cognitive Development Center of Central European University. During his PhD, he also conducted research at the Harvard Lab for Developmental Studies and at RICO (Universitat Pompeu Fabra).

Website: www.gaborbrody.com

Gabor Brody

Brian holds PhDs in Psychology (Harvard) and Philosophy (University of Connecticut). He studies how we know about things that might and might not happen, and how knowledge about mere possibilities differs from knowledge about what is. Outside of work Brian likes to run around, climb on walls, and slide down hills.

Brian Leahy

Graduate Students

 

Aaron Traylor

 

Yanwan Zhu

Annika McDermott-Hinman

Sam McGrath

Laila Johnston

University of Bath Interns

Lucy is an undergraduate Psychology student from the UK’s University of Bath, working as a student intern in the BLT lab. Through exploring how children adapt to diverse learning environments as an outdoor education instructor, Lucy has gained a strong interest in how children develop their thinking and communication abilities – notably when under pressure! In her free time she is found either performing on the piano or enjoying the outdoors (weather permitting).

Lucy White

Anna Smith

Undergraduate Thesis Students

Alyssa ’24 is a Linguistics and Computer Science concentrator from Singapore. She’s interested in the intersection of computational language models and cognitive models of language processing, in terms of what we can learn about humans from machines.

Alyssa Marie Loo Li Ann

Ariel Stein

Undergraduate Research Assistants

Patrick Rourke
Jaclyn Cohen
Yael Sarig
Daniel Kang

Daniel is concentrating in Linguistics and Mathematics – Computer Science at Brown University. He is interested in how language mediates, facilitates, or allows for rational thinking, especially in the context of discourse. He is interested in employing formal tools and computational methods to study such a relationship. Outside of academics, Daniel likes to go for a run, play music, and read poetry.

Revyn Kim
Sneha Tallam

Sneha Tallam (’26) intends to concentrate in Cognitive Neuroscience and Economics. She grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and spent a lot of time working with children at occupational therapy sites, literacy initiatives, and mentorship clubs. She is interested in the role that sociocultural factors play in children’s language acquisition and comprehension. In her free time, Sneha likes to explore the many cafes in PVD and have 90s movie nights with her friends.

Julia Ceccarelli

Julia is an undergrad at Brown University, concentrating in Cognitive Science. She is interested in the evolution of language, especially in the context of human development. In her free time, Julia plays the cello and takes pictures of her dog.

Koda Li

Koda is studying philosophy and linguistics at Brown. His main interests are the intersection between philosophy and linguistics: philosophy of language (in philosophy), syntax, formal semantics, and pragmatics and their interfaces (in linguistics). His other interests include philosophical logic, metaphysics, and metaethics. He is also interested in how the formal semantics models of knowledge of a language are actually acquired and used by native speakers of that language. Outside academics, he enjoys reading poetry, watching Doctor Who, and trekking

Martin Pohlen

Martin Pohlen is a student at Brown University, pursuing a concentration in Computer Science & Economics. Martin grew up between Switzerland and England, with German parents, and is therefore fascinated by the role that language acquisition plays in social cohesion. In his free time, Martin is either playing football, running, or joking around with his friends.

Happy Ruth Jara
Alexander Richter