Dr. Marianella Casasola | Principal Investigator
Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Affairs
Director, Play & Learning Laboratory
1300B Martha Van Rensselaer Hall
Department of Psychology
E-mail: mc272@cornell.edu
Current Professional Activities:
Member, Society for Research in Child development
Member, International Society on Infant Studies
Member, American Psychological Association
Member, Cognitive Development Society Guest
Reviewer, Infancy Guest
Reviewer, Child Development
Current Research Activities:
My research program focuses on infant cognitive development and early word learning. I am particularly interested in the interaction between cognition and language acquisition during the first two years of development. In collaboration with colleagues and my students, I examine infants’ ability to discriminate the spatial relations between objects as well as their ability to group these events into spatial categories. A portion of our research explores the degree to which infants’ perceptual and cognitive abilities provide them with the meanings expressed across language-specific semantic categories. The goal of this line of research is to document not only which spatial concepts infants understand (and when they acquire these concepts), but also to delineate the processes that guide how infants acquire this understanding. We also are exploring how specific linguistic input can aid infants in forming spatial categories that they do not form in the absence of language. In related research, we also are exploring how language can direct infants’ attention to the objects versus location in a dynamic event. More recently, we have begun to explore these issues with toddlers and preschool-age children. Finally, we have been studying whether infants learn to comprehend visual gestures as labels for objects earlier and more easily than spoken labels. In addition, my students and I are exploring whether presenting a visual gesture with a spoken word aids infants in comprehending the spoken word. In sum, my students and I are conducting numerous experimental studies that explore developmental changes in infant cognitive development, how these abilities are recruited in the acquisition of language, and whether language can influence how infants organize their world. In addition to studying how infants learn, I also enjoy running, swimming, playing piano and cello. Among my most favorite activities are spending time with my family.
Education
Ph.D. 2000 – University of Texas at Austin Psychology
M.A. 1995 – University of Texas at Austin Psychology
B.A. 1992 – University of California, Berkeley Psychology & Spanish Literature
Courses Taught
HD2830 – Research Methods in Human Development
HD3460 – Serious Fun! The Role of Play Throughout Development
HD4340 – Current Topics in Cognitive Development
HD6310 – Advanced Topics in Cognitive Development
Dr. Aaron Beckner | Post-Doctoral Researcher
Aaron graduated from UC Davis with a PhD in Psychology in December 2021 and is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the PAL Laboratory. His research focuses on visual cognitive development during infancy and early childhood using a variety of methods including eye-tracking, touch-screen tasks, and naturalistic observations. When he’s not doing research, he enjoys weightlifting, basketball, and spending time with his partner and their dog.
David Tompkins | PhD Student
David Tompkins is a Ph.D. Student in Dr. Casasola’s Play and Learning Lab. David is interested in how childhood might be changing in response to cultural and technological change, and whether that change might limit developmental research’s ability to create meaningful interventions and policy recommendations.
Tzu-Yen Yang | PhD Student
Tzu-Yen is a first year PhD Student in the PAL Lab. She received her M.Ed. in Human Development and Family Studies from National Taiwan Normal University in 2018. Tzu-Yen is interested in the relationship between spatial language and spatial thinking, as well as the automatic transcribing software that can be used in language research. Currently, Tzu-Yen is working on a project, which aims to examine children’s shape and color language knowledge and how that impacts their ability to build configurations from puzzle pieces.
Emily Kramer | Lab Manager
Emily (she/her) graduated from UC Davis with a B.S. in Cognitive Science (Neuroscience emphasis) and two minors in Human Development and Education. She is originally from San Jose, CA and began working in the PAL lab in June 2023. Emily will be attending Georgetown University this fall to earn a PhD in Psychology and a Master of Public Policy. Fun fact: Emily can sing the alphabet backwards!
Current Undergraduate Research Assistants
- Abby Zebrak
- Alessia Stead
- Alice Xia
- Ally Mark
- Arianna Cambeiro
- Celes Moon
- Chloe Jung
- Daniel Zhang
- Darby Krugel
- Diya Mandal
- Emma Wu
- Fátima D. Martínez
- Hayden Plattus
- Jennifer Gerfen
- Jennifer Navarro
- Judy Wang
- Karen Chen
- Kate Shapiro
- Lamisa Nubayaat
- Lizzie Manowitz
- Madison Sakalosky
- Maya Weisburg
- Melanie Victor
- Michi Grinberg
- Mollie Tashlik
- Natale Manser
- Promise Woods
- Ruby Trujillo
- Sara Papale
- Seychelle Takahashi
- Shivani Shrotri
- Zainub Malick
Current Lab Collaborators:
- Kim Kopko | Senior Extension Associate; Associate Director of Cornell Cooperative Extension and Associate Director of Extension and Outreach in the College of Human Ecology
- Lisa Oakes | Director of the Infant Cognition Lab, UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain
- Vanessa LoBue | Director of the Child Study Center, Rutgers University
- Play & Learning Across a Year (PLAY) | The Cornell Play & Learning Lab is collaborating on this project! For more info on PLAY, click HERE (hyperlink to: https://www.play-project.org/index.html)
Lab Alumni:
- Mary Simpson | Former Lab Manager
- Mary is currently pursuing a PhD in Social Psychology at University at Illinois Chicago
- Dr. Valerie Bambha | Former PhD Student
- Valerie is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at the Children’s Learning Institute in the Department of Pediatrics at UTHealth Houston.
- Deaven Winebrake | Former Lab Manager
- Deaven is currently pursuing a PhD in Developmental Science at Boston University
- Isabelle Pai | Former Graduate Student
- Isabelle is currently pursuing a PhD in Psychology at UC Davis.
- Eunice Yiu | Former Undergraduate Research Assistant
- Eunice is currently pursuing a PhD in Developmental Psychology at UC Berkley and is being mentored by Dr. Alison Gopnik