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Current Lab Members

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Elizabeth Johnson

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.

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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

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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​​

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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​

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NSERC USRA Scholar

Christopher Khalaf

Language(s) spoken: English, French, Arabic (fluent)​​

Education: Biotechnology Specialist, UTM

Expected Year of Graduation: 2026

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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​

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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

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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

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Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student

Ibbad Amir

Language(s) spoken: English (native), Urdu & Hindi (fluent)

Education: Biology & Psychology, UTM

Expected Year of Graduation: 2029

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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

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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

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Volunteer

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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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.

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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

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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​

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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

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Research Opportunity Program (ROP) Student

Matty Geeso

Language(s) spoken: English (fluent), Arabic (native)

Education: Life Sciences, UTM

Expected Year of Graduation: 2027

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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

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Work Study Student

Suha Usmani

Language(s) spoken: Urdu (native), English & French (fluent), Arabic (learning)

Education: Life Sciences, UTSG

Expected Year of Graduation: 2027

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