Maya Taliaferro is a K. Lisa Yang post-baccalaureate research scholar working concurrently in the ECCL and the language labs at MIT with Dr. Evelina Fedorenko and Dr. Ted Gibson. In 2021 Maya received her BA in Neuroscience from Hamilton College with a minor in Japanese. Her passion for learning the Japanese language is what ultimately inspired her to study language in the mind and brain generally. Her primary interests lie in understanding how multilingual speakers reason about language pragmatically – that is, the ability to understand non-literal aspects of language – and how this ultimately informs differences in communication between one’s native and non-native languages.

I am a student at Smith College (‘24, gap year) studying neuroscience and Italian. I hope to pursue an MD/PhD; and, I envision studying pediatrics, child psychiatry, or child neurology in the medical route and either developmental psychology or developmental cognitive neuroscience in the university route. Although I am interested in attachment theory, play, and early adversity right now, I am so excited to hone my interests and continue the process of discovery! Beyond academics, I am a classical violist, and one of my favorite research endeavors is to explore music in different ways (for example, hosting my radio show, Memos From the World at Smith). I am always thrilled to talk about jazz, opera, classical, ethnomusicology, the neuroscience of music, and more! In my free time, I love to bike on the Charles River and on the Cape, attend music performances, and, most especially, travel to Rome.

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I’m a senior at MIT, studying cognitive science and computer science. My current research (with Junyi Chu) focuses on goals and planning in play. I’m also interested in the development of moral and social cognition, and probably many other topics I’m not yet aware of.

Karolina Cabrera Orellana got her associate degree in liberal arts Psychology at Quincy College, after that she transferred to UMass Boston where she is currently a third year student in pursuit of a Bachelor of Science in Psychology. Working at ECCL MIT as a Lab Fellow since 2020.

Jessica Chomik graduated from the Wilkes Honors College of Florida Atlantic University with a Bachelors in Biological and Physical Sciences and a concentration in Cognitive Neuroscience. From 2018 until 2020, Jessica worked in Alex Keene’s Drosophila lab where she examined the effects of toxic beta-amyloid expression on fly sleep. During her time there, she hosted and co-produced a science podcast, “The Research Diaries,” about her undergraduate research experience. Jessica has also worked in a clinical setting at a neuropsychological testing center where she administered cognitive assessments to at-risk patients in the geriatric population to screen for Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia. Today, Jessica is analyzing causal behavior using fMRI in a joint-lab project under Dr. Laura Schulz and Dr. Nancy Kanwisher as a post-bacc researcher.

Asmita Mittal is an undergraduate student at Cornell University and has been working with the ECCL since high school. She is pursuing a BS in Human Development on a pre-medical track, alongside a Biomedical Engineering minor. Asmita is passionate about research regarding children’s play, persistence, and decision making. She is increasingly fascinated by the origins of children’s early understanding of the world and believes that curiosity should be infinite. As Asmita continues down this exciting path, she is eager to not only learn, but also uncover new aspects of human cognition along the way.