People – Causality and Mind Lab

Primary Investigator

David Sobel received his BA in Psychology and Computer Science from Swarthmore College and his MA and Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California. He joined the Brown faculty in 2001. He is interested in a simple question about development: What makes children such extraordinary learners? When he is not working, he enjoys bike riding, reading, rooting for various sports teams that rarely win, and participating in activities with his family.

Click here to see Dr. Sobel’s CV

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. Sam McHugh (They/Them)

Sam is a postdoctoral researcher in the lab. Before coming to Brown, Sam worked with Dr. Maureen Callanan and graduated with a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of California – Santa Cruz. The goal of Sam’s research is to investigate how children learn and make meaning about science and nature in everyday interactions with their parents. Sam takes a strengths-based approach and explores how children and parents engage in science practices as they reason about incorrect ideas (otherwise known as “misconceptions”).

Graduate Students

Heyang Yin (She/Her)

Heyang is a doctoral student where her research interest is in children’s learning across cultures and parent-child interaction. She completed her Masters of Education at Harvard University prior to coming to Brown.

Sarah Kiefer (She/Her)

Sarah is a third year Ph.D. student in the lab. She graduated from Arizona State University in 2019 with a B.S. in Psychology. Prior to Brown, she worked as a research coordinator at the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC) and then as a Lab Manager of the Emerging Minds Lab at Arizona State University (PI: Kelsey Lucca). Her research examines children’s early learning through exploration, causal reasoning, and effort allocation.

Skyler Gin (She/Her)

Skyler is a third-year Ph.D. student in Psychology at Brown University in the CLPS department. Growing up in San Francisco, she developed a deep appreciation for diverse perspectives, shaping her research. She earned her B.S. in Child Development from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and an M.S. in Psychology from the University of Oregon. Skyler’s research combines social and developmental psychology to explore how race, ethnic, and gender identities influence children’s and adults’ STEM interests, engagement, and persistence. She focuses on how role models and identity formation impact STEM identity development across different life stages, aiming to inform interventions that address gender and racial disparities in STEM. Skyler is dedicated to promoting inclusivity in academia and advancing diverse, impactful research.

Lab Manager

Gabriella Modesti (She/Her)

Gabriella received her B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College in the Spring of 2024. She was involved in early childhood development and social psychology research across two different labs at Skidmore. Her main research at Skidmore focused on the psychology of intergroup bias in children and how children view new individuals as worthy of moral consideration based on the salience of group membership. Her goal is to get her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology after her time in the Causality & Mind Lab.