Cognitive Development and Learning Lab

Cognitive Development and Learning Lab Members

Rochel Gelman, Ph.D, Director Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Rochel's interests include developmental cognitive science; theory of concepts; domain-relevant concept learning and conceptual change; causal principles; verbal and non-verbal representations and re-representations of arithmetic; representational tools; math and science literacy.
Webpage

Kimberly Brenneman, Ph.D, Assistant Research Professor, Kim received her Ph.D in Psychology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is currently working on the development, implementation, and assessment of the PrePS© program, a research-based science program for preschoolers. Her research interests include young children's science learning, their comprehension and production of notations, and their understanding of animate-inanimate distinction.

Kristen Syrett, Ph.D, Postdoctoral Associate, Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science and Linguistics, Kristen received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from Northwestern in 2007. She researches how surface-level cues in the input provide children with evidence about abstract semantic variation among adjectives, and how infants recruit these cues in word learning. She also researches the interaction of semantics and pragmatics in preschoolers' understanding of adjectives such as 'big' and 'full', the interpretation preschoolers give to complex sentences involving quantifier words such as 'every', and how young children interpret sentences in which the verb phrase has been elided.
Webpage

Dana Chesney, Graduate Student in Psychology and Cognitive Science, Dana is researching re-representation and how visual/verbal framing affects what is considered to be a countable object. She has also done research on dyscalculia and application of Bayesian reasoning to language acquisition.

Jenny Cooper Graduate Student in Psychology and Cognitive Science, Jenny is interested in the conceptual development of math and science knowledge and skills in preschool and elementary-age children. In particular, she has worked on projects related to preschooler's understanding of graphs and their use of various graphical formats to solve arithmetic problems. Her current research considers the role of the numerical representation of a graph's axis. She is also interested in the development of experimental design skills, such as recognizing the need to control variables when designing comparative experiments.

Natalie Obrecht, Graduate Student in Psychology and Cognitive Science, Natalie is interested in how people understand descriptive and inferential statistics, how numeracy and prior beliefs affect reasoning and judgment, and how people compare and evaluate information, especially when it comes from research verses personal sources.
Webpage

Aaron Kheifets, Research Assistant, Aaron's interests include non-conscious statistics, Bayesian methods, ambiguity, supervaluation and satisfaction relations. He is currently researching dyscalculia.

Alexa Kim, Research Assistant, Alexa is a senior at Rutgers University and will be graduating in the spring with a degree in Psychology. She works with the PrePS© program and hopes to attend Fordham's School of Law next fall.

Arielle Alphonse, Research Assistant, Arielle is currently a sophomore at Rutgers University and will be graduating with a degree in Psychology in 2011. She is interested in developmental psychology and would like to study the cognitive, social, and emotional development of abused and traumatized children in the future.

Jamie Liberti, Research Project Coordinator, Jamie graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2008 with a degree in Psychology, and she is currently involved with the PrePS© program. She is particularly interested in cognitive development, early childhood education, and the effect of self-control on educational outcomes.

Jennifer Jacobs, Graduate Student in Psychology and Cognitive Science, Jen is interested in the mathematical literacy of high school and college-aged students. Currently, she is researching their conceptual representations of fractions. Jen is also interested in looking at how students might achieve a more in-depth knowledge base through the correction of mathematical errors.

Lisa White, Research Assistant, Lisa is currently a senior at Rutgers University and will graduate in May 2009 with a double major in Spanish and History, and a minor in Psychology. She works with the PrePS© program and is especially interested in child development and the interaction between bilingualism and child psychopathology.

Samantha Budney, Research Assistant, Sam has been attending Rutgers University for three years and will graduate in 2009 with a concentration in Spanish Literature and a minor in Anthropology. Her previous experience with children and knowledge in the Spanish language helps the Gelman lab with their PrePS© research.

Stephanie Pinedo, Research Assistant, Stephanie is currently in her Senior year at Rutgers University and will be graduating with a degree in Psychology and Criminal Justice. In the future she hopes to become a Psychologist in the Criminal Justice field, working with juveniles and adolescents.

152 Frelinghuysen Road
Busch Campus, Piscataway, NJ 08854
Tel. (732) 445-6655, Fax (732) 445- 6715