Principle Investigator

Sandy LaTourrette

Dr. LaTourrette is a cognitive scientist studying the development of language, cognition, and their interaction across the lifespan. He received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology at Northwestern University, examining how labeling objects changes the way infants remember and categorize objects. He then completed a NRSA post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, studying mechanisms of word learning in children and adults. Finally, Dr. LaTourrette served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Haverford College, teaching courses like Cognition, Communicating Psychology, and Language & Thought. See Sandy’s website and Google Scholar for further details, or visit the Publications tab to access Sandy’s full list of articles!

Lab Manager

Idella Smolyar

Idella graduated with highest honors in Psychology from UCLA in 2024. There, she worked as part of the Language and Cognitive Development lab on multiple projects, including completing an award-winning honors thesis examining how word labels and prosody interact in children’s emotion categorization. Idella’s research interests are in further understanding children’s language and cognitive development, such as how children form their concepts of emotions from the language they use and/or hear when talking or labeling emotions. Born and raised in Los Angeles, she enjoys getting to explore and show people everything LA has to offer, from the beautiful ocean views to hidden gem restaurants and cafes.