Current Lab Members
Fall 2023
Lab Director
Dr. Johnson received her undergraduate degree from the University of Rochester where she majored in Brain & Cognitive Sciences and completed a Take Five program in Developmental Biology & Evolution. She then went on to earn her PhD in Psychological & Brain Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University. During her final year as a PhD student, Dr. Johnson spent two semesters at the Speech Group at MIT. Dr. Johnson then accepted a postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics. Dr. Johnson is now a Canada Research Chair in Spoken Language Acquisition and Professor of Psychology at UTM. She is also Director of the University of Toronto's Tri-Campus Graduate Program in Psychology. The main goal of her research program is to understand how young children acquire their native language.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Holly Bradley
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Mandarin (intermediate)
Research Interests: neural processes underlying language development, speech perception, relationship between language and cognitive development, grammatical development
PhD Candidate (Year 5)
Language(s) spoken: English (native)
Research Interests: Multilingual effects on language acquisition and perception, speaker recognition, music and language processing, auditory-visual speech processing.
Research Lab Coordinator
Lisa Hotson
Language(s) spoken: English (native)
Research Experience: Research assistant in Dr. Laurel Trainor's Auditory Development Lab and Dr. Sandra Trehub's Music Development Lab​
Honours Thesis Student
Alexandra Hawse
Language(s) spoken: English (native)
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Education: Forensic Psychology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
Honours Thesis Student
Sophia Mackeigan
Language(s) spoken: English (fluent)
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
Research Opportunity Project Student
Shahad Badr
Language(s) spoken: English & Arabic (native)
Education: Psychology & Linguistics, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Research Opportunity Project Student
Christopher Khalaf
Language(s) spoken: English, French, Arabic (fluent)
Education: Biotechnology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Research Opportunity Project Student
Laura Neira
Language(s) spoken: Spanish (native), English (fluent)
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Education: Neuroscience, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Research Opportunity Project Student
Audrey Thilloy
Language(s) spoken: French (native), English (fluent)
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Education: Forensic Psychology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Work Study Student
Ana Beatriz de Faria Porto
Language(s) spoken: Portuguese (native), English (fluent), Spanish & French (learning)
Education: Psychology & Linguistics, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Work Study Student
Maripaz Gonzalez
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Spanish (fluent)
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Education: Biology, Art History, & Psychology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
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Work Study Student
Cassie Yang
Language(s) spoken: Mandarin, English
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Education: Animal Physiology, UTSG
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Volunteer
Reem Idris
Language(s) spoken: English & Arabic (fluent), French (intermediate)
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
PhD Candidate (Year 5)
Language(s) spoken: English (fluent)
Research Interests: Language acquisition in early childhood bilingualism, relationship between bilingualism and cognitive development
PhD Candidate (Year 2)
Emily Shroads
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Spanish & Malayalam (learning)
Research Interests: early word learning, accent adaptation, experiential effects in language acquisition, individual differences
Research Assistant
Josie Davies
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Spanish (learning)
Research Experience: Mitacs Globalinks Research Intern, Lab Manager in Dr. Amy Finn's Learning and Neural Development Lab
​Honours Thesis Student
Emily Kuik
Language(s) spoken: Mandarin (native), English (fluent), Malay (intermediate), Hokkien & French (basic), Japanese (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist Program, UTSC
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
Independent Research Project Student
Wardah Nadeem
Language(s) spoken: English & Urdu (native), French (fluent)
Education: Neuroscience Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Research Opportunity Project Student
Brianna Branco
Language(s) spoken: English (native)
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
Research Opportunity Project Student
Megan Mackinnon
Language(s) spoken: English (native)
Education: Psychology Specialist Program, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
Research Opportunity Project Student
Nicole Siudek
Language(s) spoken: English & Polish (native), French & Spanish (fluent), German & Italian (learning)
Education: Psychology & French Majors, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Work Study Student
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Urdu & Hindi (fluent)
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Education: Biology & Psychology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2024
Work Study Student
Grace Fontaine
Language(s) spoken: English (native)
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Education: Biology & Psychology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Work Study Student
Tracy Ly
Language(s) spoken: Vietnamese & Cantonese (native), English (fluent), French (learning)
Education: Chemistry & Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Work Study Student
Faith Young
Language(s) spoken: English (native), French & Cantonese (learning)
Education: Psychology & Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025