People

Lab Directors

Maryellen C. MacDonald

Donald P. Hayes Professor of Psychology

Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ph.D. in Psychology, 1986, University of California, Los Angeles

E-Mail: mcmacdonald@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-3986
Fax: (608) 262-4029
532 Psychology Building

The relationship between language production, comprehension and working memory.

 Mark S. Seidenberg

Vilas Research Professor
Donald O. Hebb Professor
Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience

Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Ph.D., 1980, Columbia University

E-Mail: seidenberg@wisc.edu 
Phone: (608)263-2553
Fax: (608) 262-4029
534 Psychology Bldg

Postdoctoral Research Associates

Cassandra Jacobs

Postdoctoral Research Associate

E-Mail: cjacobs2@wisc.edu
618 Psychology Building

How language use reflects learning and experience, and how language can impact memory.

Lilia Rissman

Postdoctoral Research Associate

E-Mail: l.rissman@wisc.edu
394 Psychology Building

The mapping between semantic and conceptual knowledge; What pressures lead languages to be similar to each other, and what pressures lead languages to differ? How do these pressures affect learning, and what is the structure of the linguistic knowledge children will ultimately acquire? I specifically focus on event representation, verb meaning and thematic roles.

Molly Farry-Thorn

Postdoctoral Research Associate

E-Mail: mfarrythorn@wisc.edu
611 Psychology Building

Graduate Students

Mark Koranda

Graduate Student

E-Mail: mjkoranda@wisc.edu
618 Psychology Building

Planning of sentence structure and word choice in speech production and (signed language) modality effects in production.

Elise Hopman

Graduate Student

E-Mail: hopman@wisc.edu
618 Psychology Building

The differential roles that language production and language comprehension might play during language learning.

 Matt Cooper Borkenhagen

Graduate Student

E-Mail: cooperborken@wisc.edu
610 Psychology Building

Language in reading performance in both typically and atypically developing populations.

 Steve Schwering

Graduate Student

E-Mail: schwering@wisc.edu
618 Psychology Building

Memory and language production planning; syntax and other forms of hierarchical planning learned from experience.

Arella Gussow

Graduate Student

E-Mail: gussow@wisc.edu
618 Psychology Building

Language production under uncertainty, serial ordering in language and motor action.

Matt Borman

Graduate Student

E-Mail: borman@wisc.edu
610 Psychology Building

The relationship between the structures of language and the ways we come to understand and describe the world around us.

 Lab Manager

Misty Kabasa

Lab Manager

E-Mail: kabasa@wisc.edu
611 Psychology Building

Language variation, language acquisition, phonetics, speech science and sociolinguistics.

Research Assistants

Josh Geiger

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: geiger4@wisc.edu

I am interested in how language impacts how we think about other areas of cognition, specifically other academic fields.

Emily Perez

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: eperez4@wisc.edu

I am interested in the factors contributing to the 30 million word gap and the reading differences between socioeconomic groups.

Chenli Wang

Post-Bac

E-Mail: cwang496@wisc.edu@wisc.edu

I am interested in second language acquisition.

Avalon McDonald-Lewis

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: amcdonaldlew@wisc.edu

I enjoy learning about the biological bases of psychology, language, and the brain.

Carissa Witthuhn

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: witthuhn2@wisc.edu

Najhee Purdy

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: npurdy@wisc.edu

I am interested in the cognitive differences between monolinguals and bilinguals and the underlying mechanisms that cause these differences.

Sydney Polzin

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: sepolzin@wisc.edu

I am interested in the relationship between culture and language and bilingualism.

Lauren Schilling

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: lpschilling@wisc.edu

I am interested in reading processes/acquisition and their application in school settings.

Sylvannah Lang

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: slang3@wisc.edu

I enjoy uncovering the brain’s countless functions in our everyday lives. I am intrigued by language production, planning, learning and retention.

Skye Stanwich

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: stanwich@wisc.edu

I am interested in developmental psychology and the cognitive processes involved in language.

Elena Groves

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: ekgroves@wisc.edu

As an aspiring speech-language pathologist, a few of my interests include language acquisition, bilingualism, and communication/hearing deficits.

Mengyuan Yang

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: mwang387@wisc.edu

I am interested in how language embodies our mind and thoughts.

River Steen

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: rjsteen@wisc.edu

Miriam Lebowitz

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: melebowitz@wisc.edu

I’m interested in learning about constructed languages and how they can help us better learn about language acquisition.

Rubiarbriana Jamison

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: rejamison@wisc.edu

I’m aspiring to go to grad school and become a clinical psychologist.

Kaycie Barron

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: kdbarron@wisc.edu

I am interested in learning about what makes language pedagogies/curricula effective and hope to learn more about language acquisition.

Sarah McLeod

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: smcleod2@wisc.edu

Hannah Bressi

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: bressi@wisc.edu

I am a sophomore studying psychology from Philadelphia, PA.

Dasha Yermol

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: yermol@wisc.edu

I am interested in cognitive psychology and the relationship between language and thought.

Sichao Yang

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: syang4546@wisc.edu

I am exploring the intersection of human and artificial intelligence research.

Beixi Dong

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: bdong28@wisc.edu

I love psychology, statistics and cats.

Yuzhe Gu

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: gu73@wisc.edu

I am an undergraduate and I am interested in participating in psychology research.

Kristin Mccloskey

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: mccloskey2@wisc.edu

I am interested in language acquisition, and what impacts atypical circumstances can have on language development.

Quin Perrault

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: qperrault@wisc.edu

E-Mail: sjin59@wisc.edu

Liana Keivanfar

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: keivanfar@wisc.edu

Pursuing a career in speech and language pathology and specifically interested in bilingualism with children.

Liz Hellrung

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: hellrung@wisc.edu

I am interested in dialects, why language use differs in different contexts and speech pathology.

Richard Horn

Undergraduate Student

E-Mail: rhorn5@wisc.edu

I am a first-year undergraduate, exploring and utilizing Computational Linguistics to understand more about the structure of language and the relation between memory and language.