Alon Hafri

Lab Director

Assistant Professor of Linguistics & Cognitive Science

Alon (he/him/his) is interested in how language encodes the structure of scenes (e.g., what is in or on what) and events (e.g., who did what to whom), as well as the perceptual processes that extract such information. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019, where he worked with John Trueswell and Russell Epstein. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University in the labs of Chaz Firestone, Mick Bonner, and Barbara Landau in the Departments of Psychological & Brain Sciences and Cognitive Science. When not doing science, he enjoys making soup, soap, and beer, and only rarely confuses the three.

alon@udel.edu

Tyler Knowlton

Postdoctoral Fellow

Tyler (he/him/his) is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science. He’s interested in what meanings in natural language are, how they get acquired by children, and how they relate to non-linguistic cognition. In joining the PAL lab at UD, he continues a trend of bouncing around the Mid-Atlantic, where he previously completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, graduate work at the University of Maryland, undergraduate study at Johns Hopkins University, and childhood in South Jersey. Outside of work, he enjoys reading science fiction, propagating house plants, and watching the Phillies and Eagles win (as does Alon, although he’s admittedly more of a fair-weather fan!).

tzk@udel.edu

Kevin Harris

PhD Student

Kevin (he/him/his) is a PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science. He is broadly interested in scene compositionality and the retrieval of scenic elements from autobiographical memory. He intends to investigate these topics with a variety of behavioural and neuroimaging techniques. Before UD, Kevin earned his MA in Applied Linguistics at the University of Birmingham in the UK Midlands. His final dissertation explored previously understudied linguistic correlates relating to perceptual synaesthesia under the advisement of Bodo Winter. During his free time, Kevin enjoys language learning, listening to music, and falling down information rabbit holes. Some day he would like to complete one of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage routes in Northern Spain.

  khacad@udel.edu

Dominique Lopiccolo

PhD Student

Dominique (she/her/hers) is a PhD student in the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Graduate (ING) Program. She is broadly interested in the extent to which the language(s) we know influence abstract thinking, with a particular interest in numerical and spatial cognition. She aims to investigate this general question using a range of behavioral and neuroimaging techniques and with participants who represent understudied language profiles in cognitive (neuro)science. She also enjoys traveling, playing volleyball, and musical theater (both attending and performing).

dlopicco@udel.edu

Neemias Souza Filho

PhD Student

Neemias (he/him/his) is a PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science. His broad research interest is language processing, with a special focus on how predictive models can explain our ability to integrate different kinds of information and process different linguistic constructions. He uses mostly behavioral methods to investigate these issues and is currently learning how to use EEG at the Experimental Psycholinguistics Lab, directed by Arild Hestvik. Before UD, Neemias completed his MA in Language Studies at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal, Brazil, advised by Mahayana Godoy. A good chunk of his free time is dedicated to something a lot harder and more exact than cognitive science: baking.

   nsfilho@udel.edu

Mike LaStella

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Mike is a visual communications major and game studies minor. He specializes in 3D modeling and technical art, and he aims to enter into the video game industry. (Alon understands and supports these wishes but secretly hopes that Mike will stick around for a while since Mike’s design skills far surpass what Alon could ever hope to achieve; check out Mike’s portfolio and you’ll see what he means!). Mike’s research interests are in cognitive science and psychology, and he loves watching videos online talking about the way our brains work. Outside of work, he can often be found playing video games and guitar, and hanging out with his cat.

lastellm@udel.edu

Giovanna Scozzaro

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Giovanna Scozzaro (she/her/hers) is a sophomore computer science and cognitive science double major. She is interested in exploring how computer science can be utilized as an aid in cognitive science research and how the two topics intertwine. She hopes that the research she works on will help expand her understanding of perception and allow her to approach artificial intelligence challenges with a unique perspective. She is passionate about engaging the undergraduate computer science community through organizing events and never shies away from a Just Dance battle!

  gscoz@udel.edu

Luc De Nardi

Undergraduate Research Assistant

Luc (he/him/his) is a linguistics major with interests in historical and computational linguistics. He joined the lab in Fall 2022, and as such, he was the lab’s very first member! He is currently working on exploring whether words that encode abstract conceptual distinctions like “boundedness” might share sound patterns within and across languages. Luc speaks French and Spanish, and is also a music aficionado: he plays French horn in the UD marching band (which is audible all the way from the Newark reservoir, as attested by Alon).

lucfldn@udel.edu

Chenyue Zhao

Masters Student

Chenyue (she/her/hers) was a masters student in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science. Her broad research interests center around psycholinguistics, bilingualism, and second language. She is also interested in using neuroimaging techniques such as EEG to study language processing in the human brain and worked with Dr. Arild Hestvik in his Experimental Psycholinguistics Lab. Before coming to UD, she earned her B.A. in Linguistics and worked as a lab assistant directed by Dr. Edith Kaan at the Brian, Language, and Bilingualism Lab at the University of Florida. During her free time, Chenyue enjoys acrylic wall painting, cooking, and weight-training at the gym.

chenyue@udel.edu

Xiaoyi Tang

Graduate Student

Xiaoyi (she/her/hers) is a PhD student in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science. She is interested in psycholinguistics; and specifically, in developing experimental measures to study cross-linguistic event perception and linguistic encoding. Before coming to UD, she earned her M.S. in Educational Linguistics and worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Pennsylvania. When not doing research, she likes doing yoga and pilates (although not at the same time).

xtang@udel.edu