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​​
PhD Candidate (Outside Project Student)
Meyha Chhatwal
Language(s) spoken: English, French, Punjabi, Hindi, Italian ​​
Research Interests: Early word learning through speech and song, live versus recorded learning contexts, voice familiarity, neural correlates of language learning.
Research Assistant
Sophia MacKeigan
Language(s) spoken: English (fluent)​
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Year of Graduation: 2024​​
Research Assistant (work study)
Alexandra Maracz
Language(s) spoken: Polish & English (native), French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Research Assistant
Gabriella Di Maio
Language(s) spoken: English, Patois (native), Italian (leaning)​
Education: Psychology and Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026​
UTEA -SSH Scholar
Simona Nasrawi
Language(s) spoken: English (native), French and Italian (learning)
Education: Psychology & Criminology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
UTEA Scholar
Areeba Hayat
Language(s) spoken: English & Urdu
Education: Biology for Health Sciences & Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
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Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Madiha Khan
Language(s) spoken: Hindi & English (native), Urdu (fluent)​
Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
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Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Samantha Venegas
Language(s) spoken: Spanish (native), English (fluent)​
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Education: Linguistics and Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
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
Research Assistant (work study)
Aisling Macquarrie
Language(s) spoken: English​
Education: Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
NSERC - USRA Scholar
Ozge Akin
Language(s) spoken: English & Turkish (native)​
Education: Psychology & Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
UTEA - NSE Scholar
Amelia Tran
Language(s) spoken: Vietnamese (native), English (fluent), Mandarin & French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist & Biology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Daia Chahin
Language(s) spoken: English & Arabic (fluent)
Education: Psychology (major), Biology & Education Studies (minors)
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Jessica Maroun
Language(s) spoken: Arabic (native), English (fluent)​​
Education: Molecular Biology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
Volunteer
Maya Alves
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Portuguese & Polish (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026