THE UD PERCEPTION AND LANGUAGE LAB

We are an interdisciplinary lab in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the University of Delaware led by Dr. Alon Hafri. Our lab investigates the link between what we see and how we describe it — and in turn what this can tell us about how we conceptualize the world.

Perception

How does perceptual processing contribute to our understanding of the world around us? What is the structure and format of perceptual representations? How do perceiving and remembering interact?

Language

What can language reveal about the contents of perceptual and cognitive experience? How do children learn words for concepts — especially abstract ones? How are concepts represented in the mind?

Cognition

How is information “translated” across cognitive domains? Do these domains represent information in similar ways, or even in common neural systems? What is the nature of the “language of thought”?

To understand the link between perception and language, our lab integrates empirical and theoretical approaches from different areas of cognitive science.   

Vision Science

We use psychophysical techniques and other methods from vision science to understand what information visual processing furnishes to the rest of the mind, and how it does so.

Psycholinguistics

We use eyetracking and other psycholinguistic techniques to examine how people process language in real-time, what information they use to acquire language, and more.

Cognitive Neuroscience

We combine functional MRI with advanced computational modeling techniques to uncover how the brain supports visual and linguistic representations, and the link between the two.

JOIN THE LAB!

We are recruiting graduate students this year (to start in Fall 2025;
earliest application deadline is December 1st, 2024).

We are also actively recruiting a postdoc (to start in Fall 2024).

And we are always recruiting talented UD undergraduates as research assistants.