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 5)
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
Christopher Khalaf
Language(s) spoken: English, French, Arabic (fluent)​​
Education: Biotechnology Specialist, UTM
Year of Graduation: 2026
Honours Thesis Student
Ozge Akin
Language(s) spoken: English & Turkish (native)​
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
Independent Research Project (IRP) Student
Elif Ekizoglu
Language(s) spoken: Turkish (native), English (Fluent)​
Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Zahra Tayabali
Language(s) spoken: Gujarati (native), English (fluent), Urdu (fluent), Arabic (learning)​
Education: Double Major in Sociology & Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Sogol Sayadi
Language(s) spoken: Persian & Kurdiah (native), English (fluent), French (learning)​
Education: Specialist in Molecular Biology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Leen Almousli
Language(s) spoken: English & Arabic​​
Education: Biology for Health Science Major
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
Research Assistant (work study)
Aisling Macquarrie
Language(s) spoken: English​
Education: Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
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Research Assistant (work study)
Semilore Olafare
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Yoruba (fluent) French (learning)​
Education: Biology & Psychology double major
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
PhD Candidate (Year 3)
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
Alexandra Maracz
Language(s) spoken: Polish & English (native), French (learning)
Education: Psychology Specialist, UTM
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Honours Thesis Student
Thea De Silva
Language(s) spoken: Sinhala (native), English (fluent)​
Education: Specialist Exceptionality in Human Learning
Year of Graduation: 2026
Independent Research Project (IRP) Student
Madiha Khan
Language(s) spoken: Hindi & English (native), Urdu (fluent)​
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Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Monica Day
Language(s) spoken: ​
Education: Political Science & Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Anupreet Kaur
Language(s) spoken: English & Punjabi (fluent)​
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Education: Double Major in Psychology & Linguistics
Expected Year of Graduation: 2029
Research Opportunity Project (ROP) Student
Joscelyn Wilson
Language(s) spoken: English (native)​
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Education: Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028
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Research Assistant (work study)
Samantha Venegas
Language(s) spoken: Spanish (native), English (fluent)​​
Education: Linguistics and Psychology
Expected Year of Graduation: 2027
Research Assistant (work study)
Claudia Agozzino
Language(s) spoken: English (native), Spanish (learning)​
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Education: Forensic Psychology Specialist
Expected Year of Graduation: 2028