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.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Holly Bradley
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Mandarin (intermediate)
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Research Interests: neural processes underlying language development, speech perception, relationship between language and cognitive development, grammatical development
PhD Candidate (Year 1)
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​
NSERC USRA Scholar
Christopher Khalaf
Language(s) spoken: English, French, Arabic (fluent)​​
Education: Biotechnology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
SSH UTEA Scholar
Gabriella Di Maio
Language(s) spoken: English, Patois (native), Italian (leaning)
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Education: Psychology and Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026​
Mitacs Globalink Research Intern
Julian Möbus
Language(s) spoken: German (native) English (fluent), Latin (Latinum)​
Education: Psychology B.Sc., Leuphana University Lüneburg
Expected Year of Graduation: 2025
Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student
Sofia Kim
Language(s) spoken: Korean & Italian (native), English & French (fluent)​
Education: Psychology and Neuroscience, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student
Ibbad Amir
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Urdu & Hindi (fluent)
Education: Biology & Psychology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student
Ozge Akin
Language(s) spoken: English & Turkish (native)
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Education: Psychology & Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Work Study Student
Alayna Puli
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Telugu (fluent)
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Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Volunteer
Amelia Tran
Language(s) spoken: Vietnamese (native), English (fluent), Mandarin & French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist & Biology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
PhD Candidate (Year 3)
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)​
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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​
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SSH UTEA Scholar
Alexandra Maracz
Language(s) spoken: Polish & English (native), French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Mitacs Globalink Research Intern
Lexie Chen
Language(s) spoken: Chinese (native) English (fluent), Japanese, French & Korean (leaning)​
Education: BA in translation, Nankai University
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026​
Summer Research Opportunity Program (SROP)
Aasya El Sayr
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Arabic (fluent), French (learning)​
Education: Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
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Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student
Jenna Alsheikhly
Language(s) spoken: English, French, Arabic
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Education: Psychology & Biology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student
Matty Geeso
Language(s) spoken: English (fluent), Arabic (native)
Education: Life Sciences, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student
Simona Nasrawi
Language(s) spoken: English (native), French and Italian (learning)
Education: Psychology & Criminology, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2026
Work Study Student
Suha Usmani
Language(s) spoken: Urdu (native), English & French (fluent), Arabic (learning)
Education: Life Sciences, UTSG
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027