CSTL Faculty Members

Richard Anderson

I currently have two active programs of research. The first is comparative analysis of learning to read alphabetic and nonalphabetic languages, especially English and Chinese. The second examines children's intellectual and social development in the context of free-flowwing open-format discussions. Click here to see my complete, updated research profile.

Kiel Christianson

My research is heavily influenced and informed by linguistic theory. At the same time, my goal is to make deeper, broader connections between linguistics and various sub-fields of cognitive psychology. Overarching themes in my present work are (mis)interpretation in sentence processing, morphological processing during reading, and crosslinguistic research. In particular, at present I am or will soon be conducting experiments in sentence comprehension and production, visual word recognition, reading, and second language acquisition. Click here to see my complete, updated research profile.

Adrienne Lo

My research in linguistic anthropology explores how Korean American children who attended classes at community based educational organizations in a multiethnic community in California were socialized to culturally specific frameworks of language, morality, and emotion. Using discourse analysis of classroom interactions, I examine how second generation students were positioned as moral subjects through narratives, codeswitching, evidential frameworks, and epistemic particles. I am currently investigating the relationship between evidential patterning and the indexical constitution of respect and hierarchy; different cultural ideologies about the kinds of assessments or evaluations that are good/bad for children to hear and to make; and the socialization of empathy through classroom narratives. Click here to see my complete, updated research profile.

Jose Mestre

My research interest focuses on the organization and deployment of physics knowledge by experts and novices. In my research, I address questions such as: What is the mechanism by which a beginner develops expertise in a complex domain such as physics? Why is it that the problem solving skills for traditional textbook physics problems often develop faster than conceptual understanding? Why is appropriate transfer of knowledge, even across the same domain and across remarkably similar contexts, so difficult to achieve? In the future, I plan to research the application of experimental techniques common in cognitive science (e.g., eye-tracking, fMRI, ERP) to learn more fine-grained information about the nature of expertise, learning, and problem solving in the sciences. Click here to see my complete, updated research profile.

Michelle Perry

My research has focused on children's acquisition of knowledge, especially of the sort taught in schools (e.g., children's acquisition of mathematical concepts). My general area of interest is cognitive development and learning, especially in school-aged children. Currently, I am pursuing research that examines how different representations of mathematical information impact children's developing understanding of that information. My research examines the specific ways in which environmental and instructional features may influence children's learning and cognitive development. Click here to see my complete, updated research profile.

Elizabeth Stine-Morrow (CSTL Chair)

Cognition shows patterns of both loss and gain through adulthood. While "mental mechanics" (i.e., working memory capacity, computational speed, executive control of attention) may decline, crystallized abilities (i.e., verbal ability, knowledge, acculturation) show continued capacity for growth in many life-span contexts. Our research program has been focused on understanding the implications of these changes in basic capacities for continued learning, how strategic regulation of attention enables compensation, and how habitual engagement in learning engenders cognitive vitality. Click here to see my complete, updated research profile.

David Zola

My past research focused on perceptual and cognitive development that occurs during reading acquisition. I employed eye movement contingent display control methodology for much of this work. I continue in this area on a limited basis through a longitudinal exploration of the acquisition of reading skills.

I am currently involved in two new endeavors: 1) explorations of effective undergraduate education within a constructivist framework, and 2) studies of the role of cognitive strategy instruction in adult learning situations. My goals are to explore models of "best practice" at the undergraduate instructional level in an effort to increase understanding of effective college learning pedagogy, and to explore the role of cognitive strategy instruction in adult learning, especially within instruction and training that requires the learner to consider profound change in professional practice. Click here to see my complete, updated research profile.