Amalia I
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA)
Expertise
Cognitive Science; Developmental Psychology; Computational Modeling; Scientific and Creative Writing; Literature; Film
Bio
My name is Amalia and I am currently a PhD student at UCLA studying developmental psychology. My main research focus is on language and cognitive development. Specifically, I am interested in relational and analogical reasoning, and my studies employ both behavioral and computational methods. For example, one of my recent studies focuses on the factors that facilitate children's understanding of the concept of antonyms and how children's performance compares to that of two different vector-based computational models. Apart from research, I am also deeply interested in literature, philosophy, film, and art. I spend a lot of my free time reading (mainly fiction) novels and poetry, and going to art galleries and screenings of new and old movies. I find that taking time to enjoy these things is essential, and some readings have even inspired novel research ideas!Project ideas
Using research-based methods to support word and category learning
Children’s vocabulary rapidly expands during their preschool years. There are lots of factors that contribute to word and category learning, and many can be directly applied by the adults teaching them these new concepts. For this project, you will research the factors that facilitate children’s learning and create a learning opportunity (e.g., a book, podcast, experiment) that effectively utilizes these findings to successfully teach children new concepts. The project will culminate in a research paper detailing your proposal, how you plan to test it, what you expect to find.
Analogy and its links to learning and creativity
The ability to reason by analogy is an important marker in human cognition. There are two types of analogy problems: the first, referred to as the classic analogy, takes the form A:B::C:D (e.g., Hot:Cold::Small:Big), the second is the problem solving analogy, in which the individual is given an explanation for one problem then must transfer the solution to a novel, more difficult problem. Both types of analogies are commonly used, and the latter is especially crucial as we move through the education system. What kind of role does analogy play in learning and creativity? What factors help analogical reasoning? A project like this could involve doing a literature review and writing a paper for a student journal.
Creative Writing
Apart from scientific work, I have ample experience with teaching and editing creative writing. Therefore, I am also open to mentoring projects involving creative writing in the form of poetry, essays, plays, and short stories, based on a topic of your choice.