Current Lab Members
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 was a Canada Research Chair in Spoken Language Acquisition from 2013 - 2023. In addition to her position as Professor of Psychology at UTM, she is currently the 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.
PhD Candidate (Year 4)
Emily Shroads
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Spanish & Malayalam (learning)
Research Interests: early word learning, accent adaptation, experiential effects in language acquisition, individual differences​​
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PhD Candidate (Outside Project Student)
Anna Liu
Language(s) spoken: English & Mandarin (native)​​
Research Interests: How bilingualism and other diverse linguistic environments influence our perception and development.
Research Assistant
Sophia MacKeigan
Language(s) spoken: English (fluent)​
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Year of Graduation: 2024​​
Honour Thesis Student
Alexandra Maracz
Language(s) spoken: Polish & English (native), French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Independent Research Project (IRP) Student
Ozge Akin
Language(s) spoken: English & Turkish (native)
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Education: Psychology & Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Independent Research Project (IRP) Student
Amelia Tran
Language(s) spoken: Vietnamese (native), English (fluent), Mandarin & French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist & Biology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
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Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Vedika Awtani
Language(s) spoken: English & Hindi (native), Sindhi (fluent), Arabic, French & Spanish (learning)
Education: Psychology & Criminology, Law & Society
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
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Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Sofia Syed
Language(s) spoken: English (fluent), Urdu (native, but not fluent), French (learning/semi fluent)​
Education: Neuroscience Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Claudia Agozzino
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Spanish (learning)
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Education: Forensic Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
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Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Semilore Olafare
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Yoruba (fluent), French (learning)
Education: Psychology & Biology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
Work Study Student
Holly Chan
Language(s) spoken: Cantonese (native), English & Mandarin (fluent), Korean (intermediate), Italian (learning)
Education: Forensic Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
PhD Candidate (Year 2)
Jade Fok
Language(s) spoken: English & Cantonese (native), Mandarin (fluent)
Research Interests: Language acquisition in early childhood bilingualism, neural processes underlying language development​​
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​​
Research Assistant
Christopher Khalaf
Language(s) spoken: English, French, Arabic (fluent)​​
Education: Biotechnology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Honours Thesis Student
Gabriella Di Maio
Language(s) spoken: English, Patois (native), Italian (leaning)​
Education: Psychology and Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026​
Independent Research Project (IRP) Student
Simona Nasrawi
Language(s) spoken: English (native), French and Italian (learning)
Education: Psychology & Criminology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Maya Alves
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Portuguese & Polish (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Elif Ekizoglu
Language(s) spoken: Turkish (native), English (fluent), French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Daniel Bao
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Mandarin (fluent)​
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Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Abrahim Randhawa
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Urdu & French (fluent), Arabic & Spanish (learning)
Education: Psychology & Biology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Aisling Macquarrie
Language(s) spoken: English
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Education: Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029