Our Research Team

At the LIDL, we explore how children understand and use language. How do children interpret words in different situations and when spoken by different people? Do children understand that people with different backgrounds may use language differently?

At the DLL, we focus on cognitive development. What do young children know about concepts and events in the world around them? How do they make and test hypotheses about their environment?

At the CCL, we explore how children understand and respond to the social world. How do children explain others’ thoughts, feelings, and actions? What do children know about rights and responsibilities?

Dr. Katherine White has been a professor at Waterloo since 2010. She is interested in how children learn language and use it in their interactions with others. She is particularly interested in how children’s language learning is influenced by the fact that everyone talks differently. She studies topics like: what types of information children use to learn their language(s), how children’s learning about language and learning about people are connected, and how children understand what people say in real-time by using what they know about them and different cues in their speech.

Dr. Stephanie Denison has been a professor at Waterloo since 2012. She is interested in how children learn and, in particular, how they use numerical information when making inferences. She studies topics like: how children anticipate other people’s emotions, how they figure out who other people are likely to be friends with, whether they consider proportions when making decisions, and how they learn in informal settings like museums.

Dr. Ori Friedman has been a professor at the University of Waterloo since 2005. He is interested in children’s social cognitive development and many related topics. His research investigates issues including how young children understand thoughts, emotions, and actions; how children think about ownership, rights, and responsibilities; and how children engage in pretend play and understand the distinction between fantasy and reality.

Emily Stonehouse recently completed her MA in Developmental Psychology with the Child Cognition Lab and is now working as the lab coordinator for CORAL. She is interested in children's understanding of ownership rights and how children and adults make judgements about objects using previous knowledge.

Shaneene Heupel completed her MA in Developmental Psychology with the Lab for Infant Development and Language (LIDL). She worked as the lab manager for the Infant and Child Studies Group from 2021-2023. Currently, she manages CORAL's website and social media accounts. She is passionate about helping make developmental research accessible to parents and the general public through images and understandable language. 

Claudia Sehl completed her MASc in Developmental and Communication Science and her Bachelor of Arts in Honors Psychology with a major in Philosophy. She is currently in the PhD program, co-supervised by Dr. Stephanie Denison from the Developmental Learning Lab and Dr. Ori Friedman from the Child Cognition Lab. Her research focuses on children's inferences about goals and costs, efficiency, and waste.

Zoe Tipper recently completed her MASc in Development and Communication Science. She is now a PhD student in the Child Cognition Lab led by Ori Friedman. Her research focuses on children’s possibility judgements.

Hailey Pawsey recently completed her MASc in Developmental and Communication Science. She is currently completing her PhD under the co-supervision of Dr. Stephanie Denison and Dr. Ori Friedman, and is part of the Developmental Learning Lab and the Child Cognition Lab. Her research interests include children's ability to reason with close counterfactuals, subjectivity of preferences, and the IKEA effect. 

Jacky Chen recently completed his Bachelor of Science in Honours Psychology. He recently started his studies in the MASc program within the Lab for Infant Development and Language (LIDL). He is interested in understanding children's language-based judgments of others and whether bilingual children’s judgments differ from monolingual children's. 

Ivy Nam completed her Honours Bachelor of Science in Psychology at the University of Toronto. She is currently an MASc student in Developmental and Communication Science, and is supervised by Dr. Ori Friedman in the Child Cognition Lab. She is particularly interested in how children develop and understand the concept of ownership. Outside of the lab, Ivy enjoys spending her time swimming! 

Terryn Kim is in her fourth year of the Psychology program (BSc) at the University of Waterloo. She currently works in the Child Cognition Lab led by Dr. Ori Friedman as a research assistant and is interested in how children learn about the world around them.

Mo Pabla is in her fourth year of her Bachelor of Science in Psychology with a minor in Philosophy and Biology at the University of Waterloo. She currently works as a research assistant in Dr. Ori Friedman’s Child Cognition Lab. She is interested in children’s understanding of cognitive biases and emotions.

Anna Zavadskaya recently graduated from the University of Waterloo with the Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology with Research Intensive specialization. She’s currently working as a research assistant in Dr. Friedman’s Child Cognition Lab. One of her current favourite hobbies is horse riding! 

Joey Ou is a fourth-year Honours Arts (BA) Psychology student, minoring in Social Development Studies with a Research-Intensive Specialization. She works Dr. Katherine White’s Lab for Infant Development and Language as a research assistant.  She volunteers on campus at the Early Childhood Education Centre and The Ripple Effect Education. She hopes to pursue a career in developmental psychology and education. Outside of the lab, she enjoys crocheting, doing yoga, solving puzzles, and playing with her cat.