IPR Postdoctoral Fellow
PhD, Cognitive Science, Brown University, 2019
Contact: elena.luchkina@northwestern.edu
A recent graduate of Brown University with a PhD in cognitive science, Luchkina is a postdoctoral researcher at Northwestern University, working with IPR developmental psychologist Sandy Waxman in the Infant and Child Development Center. In 2018–19, she was a visiting researcher and lecturer in computational models in cognition and applied early developmental science at the University of California, Berkeley.
Luchkina investigates the development of symbolic communication with a specific emphasis of word learning. Her studies focus on (1) the development of verbal reference, (2) the effects of multilingualism on polysemy and homophony, and (3) inferences about word meanings from social information.
She uses a combination of behavioral and eye-tracking measures and employs live acting, video recordings, video chat, and online apps in experimental manipulations.
Apart from her main lines of research, Luchkina studies language development in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. As her pastime, she co-hosts the “It’s innate!” podcast and remotely operates the Parkes radio telescope in Australia as a part of the Breakthrough Listen initiative.
Luchkina investigates the development of symbolic communication with a specific emphasis of word learning. Her studies focus on (1) the development of verbal reference, (2) the effects of multilingualism on polysemy and homophony, and (3) inferences about word meanings from social information.
She uses a combination of behavioral and eye-tracking measures and employs live acting, video recordings, video chat, and online apps in experimental manipulations.
Apart from her main lines of research, Luchkina studies language development in individuals with autism spectrum disorders. As her pastime, she co-hosts the “It’s innate!” podcast and remotely operates the Parkes radio telescope in Australia as a part of the Breakthrough Listen initiative.