Join the Lab
The Infant Mind and Cognition Lab at Yale studies logical cognition and its development, with a focus on preverbal infancy and expanding to young children and adults. Our approach combines frameworks and methods from developmental psychology, vision science, psycholinguistics, and philosophy. Primary topics of interest include logical cognition – both in the traditional sense and broadly speaking –, abstract concepts, learning, the interface between perception and cognition, language acquisition, metacognition, comparative cognition, the development of planning and decision-making, and the distinction between discursive and iconic representations in the mind.
Postdoc Opportunities
The lab is currently accepting applications for a postdoctoral fellow to begin in Spring 2024 (flexible start date). Candidates interested in the lab’s research are encouraged to reach out to discuss projects and funding sources. Specific research topics are constrained only by shared interests with the lab. A strong research record in infant developmental psychology is especially welcome. We are also open to other backgrounds, including but not limited to linguistics, philosophy, comparative cognition, and developmental neuroscience. Please email Dr. Cesana-Arlotti directly with a CV, a brief introduction, and a discussion of research interests.
Paid Summer Internship Opportunity
Applications for Summer 2024 are now closed.
Research Assistant Opportunities
The IMC Lab is currently recruiting undergraduates as research assistants for credit!
Learn more about RA duties here.
Ready to take the next step? Apply here.
For inquiries, contact mahham.fayyaz@yale.edu.
Our projects with research assistants opportunities:
Logic in and out of visual perception
Do we use rapid logical computations to understand visual information in our everyday surroundings? In our research, we’re diving into the seamless mental connections between logical inference and visual perception. Imagine you see two objects about to collide: do we use a deductive inference to anticipate the consequences of this event? We are developing a series of infant and adult experiments that test the properties and capabilities of this remarkable vision-logic interface.
Representation of Possibilities
How do children understand possibilities? For example, do babies predict only a single outcome when observing rolling a dice (e.g., 5)? Or, can they also understand that other options are possible (e.g., 6)? In other words, can they differentiate what actually happened from what might have happened?
Social Inferences
Humans are social animals. To navigate and interact with others in this social world, it is essential to be able to understand others' goals and thoughts through their actions. How early does such social capacity emerge, and how does it relate to, or rely on, the logical capacities infants may or may not have? How do such logical capabilities empower future learning? If you are interested in the interface between logical inference and social cognition through the lens of developmental psychology, come check out the project!