Dr. Gerken, the director of the Tweety Lab, is a professor of psychology and linguistics. She is also the associate editor of Language Learning and Development. Her main interest is language acquisition and, more specifically, infants' and children's sensitivity to linguistic structure. She is also interested in how language is represented in the mind and the relation between linguistic grammars and language behaviors like comprehension and production.
Megan received her BA and MA in English linguistics from Arizona
State University in 2010 and 2012 and her MA in Linguistics
from the University of Arizona in 2015. She is currently
a doctoral candidate in linguistics at the University of Arizona.
Her research interests include the acquisition of morphosyntax in
monolingual and bilingual children with and without language impairment.
She will defend her dissertation: "Who breaked the rule? Rethinking English
past tense overregularizations" in the Spring of 2018.
In her free time, she enjoys reading young adult novels, spending time
with her dog, pretending to be a foodie, and cross-stitching nonsense.
Neida graduated from the University of Arizona with a BS in Psychology and
a BA in Linguistics and Spanish in 2017. She is currently assisting with the
9-month, 11-month, and 20-month studies. Neida is primarily in charge of
handling the administrative needs of the lab, and also works as a Lab Manager
for Dr. Jeff Stone's Self & Attitudes Lab. She plans to begin her PhD in
Language, Reading, and Culture (Education) in the Fall semester of 2018.
In her spare time, Neida likes to read, paint, and watch TV.
Joleen is currently completing her final year as an undergraduate.
She is double-majoring in Psychology, and Speech, Language, and Hearing
Sciences. She plans to go on to be a Speech-Language Pathologist.
Mira is an undergraduate double-majoring in Neuroscience and Speech,
Language, and Hearing sciences.
Colin completed his dissertation in Fall of 2010 under
the guidance of Dr. LouAnn Gerken. Colin is beginning a
doctoral program in statistics and still collaborates with
the Tweety Lab on various projects.
Peter completed his dissertation August 2008 under the guidance of Drs. LouAnn Gerken and Diana Ohala at the University of Arizona, and is currently working as a postdoctoral fellow at Purdue University in the Goffman Laboratory, directed by Dr. Lisa Goffman. Peter and Lisa are figuring out how his research on phonological learning can be translated into clinically relevant studies targeting children with Specific Language Impairment.
Claire Fischer, former undergraduate researcherFrances is a post-doc, with a Ph.D in Psychology and a M.S. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from the University of Arizona. Her primary interest is in how infants and young children are able to be such great learners, specifically how young children actively behave to maximize their learning efficiently, including using various strategies like selective attention. She is currently engaged in research at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Dr. Rebecca Gomez, Director of the Tigger Lab at the University of Arizona
Dr. Mary Peterson, Director of the Visual Perception Lab at the University of Arizona
Chewie Mon, Member of the Visual Perception Lab
Dr. Tania Zamuner, Infant researcher at the University of British Columbia and the Netherlands
Dr. Jessica Maye, Assistant Professor at Northwestern University
Dr. Allyson Carter, Acquiring Editor at the UA Press
Website maintained by lab staff | Last updated May 28, 2014
Original website design by Juliet Minton