Research

A scientific study of the human mind should be naturalistic, taking the human mind to be part of the broader natural world and studying it the same way as any other part of the natural world, with disciplinary tools but without disciplinary boundaries. Our approach breaks down cognition into parts that are separable and amenable to study in the brains and behavior of humans as well as non-human animals. We thereby depend on a vibrant and engaged intellectual community, with colleagues who can help us bring together psychology and biology, cognitive science and neuroscience, and the computational and social sciences.

Our lab primarily uses cognitive, developmental, and computational approaches to gain insight into the origin and development of uniquely human cognition, from the basic sensitivities of infants to the untutored use of symbols and language by children to the high-level concepts of adults. We have active collaborations with economists, mathematicians, neuroscientists, educators, and humanists, and we have research partnerships with The National Museum of Mathematics (MoMath), Lookit (the online infant and child lab), and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL).

Current areas of investigation in the lab include: early emerging knowledge about objects, people, and places; symbolic and abstract thought and reasoning about geometry; pictorial and linguistic production; and the relation between human and machine intelligence. We are looking to grow in all of these areas!

If you’re interested in joining our lab as a doctoral student, click here to find out more information about applying to the program in Cognition & Perception at NYU.