Gal earned her PhD from the University of St Andrews in 2023 for her work on the social dynamics and gestural communication of wild chimpanzees. At the COMPARE lab, she is studying signals of positive affect and synchronization of multimodal signals in wild chimpanzees.

Daan earned his PhD in 2023 from the University of Antwerp for his work on the function of positive emotions in bonobos. At the COMPARE lab, he is studying virtual tool use and the impact of positive emotions on cognition and sociality in great apes. He is currently working with bonobos at the Planckendael Zoo and is developing new projects with chimpanzees and orangutans at the Indianapolis Zoo.

We’re hiring a postdoc to lead the work on dog cognition. If you’re interested in applying, please reach out to Erica Cartmill by email: ericac(at)iu.edu

Jina is a developmental psychology PhD student at UCLA. Her work examines the relationship between spatial language and cognition and the impact of social relationships with adults on children’s learning. Jina is co-supervised by Catherine Sandhofer, and is part of the UCLA Language and Cognitive Development Lab.

Emma is a PhD student in Anthropology. She studies social cognition in great apes. Her current projects focus on playful teasing in wild chimpanzees and the ways zoo-housed chimpanzees perceive and interact with human visitors. Before joining the lab in 2024, Emma graduated from Grinnell College and was the lab manager for Brian Hare’s Canine Cognition Center at Duke University.

Ying is a PhD student in Cognitive Science. She studies concept formation and reasoning in children. She plans to expand this work to other species during her PhD work. Before joining the lab in 2024, Ying studied at the National University of Singapore where she completed a study of social cognition in dolphins.

Sophia is a PhD student in anthropology. She is interested in social cognition, iconicity, gesture production and comprehension in neurotypical and atypical development, and language evolution. Prior to joining the lab, Sophia received her bachelor's in linguistics from UCSB and her MSc (Research) in cognitive neuroscience from Radboud University in the Netherlands. 

nbaskin@iu.edu

Noah is our lab Manager. He is interested in the development of self-concept in early childhood and across species. Before joining the lab, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychological & Brain Sciences from UCSB in 2025. His previous research experience includes working as a research assistant at the Centre for Early Childhood Cognition at the University of Copenhagen, where he studied curiosity in early childhood.

POSTDOC

Johanna was a postdoc in the lab in 2019. She studies social cognition and inference in great apes. She is currently a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.

PHD STUDENT

Lilit earned her PhD in linguistic anthropology from UCLA in 2024. She studies the language policies and practices of Armenian preschools and the political economy of post-Soviet Armenia. Lilit received funding from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. She currently teaches at the American University of Armenia and the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in Yaravan.

PHD STUDENT

Brenda was a biological anthropology PhD student at the UCLA LING lab. She is interested in animal minds, emotions, ethics, care, and moral stances regarding animals. Her work focuses on social behavior and infant care in langur monkeys in China. She is currently a PhD student at Kyoto University. She is also an artist.

POSTDOC

Isabelle was a postdoc in the lab from 2020-2022. She studies social cognition and physical cognition in great apes and Goffin’s cockatoos. She is currently a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior.

POSTDOC

Laura was a postdoc in the lab in 2023. She studies social cognition in great apes and human children. She was a UC President's Postdoc at Berkeley and has now joined the faculty at UC Santa Barbara. Information about her lab can be found here.

PHD STUDENT

Carolyn was a linguistic anthropology PhD student in the UCLA LING lab. Her work explores the intersection of political economy, expertise, race, immigration, gender, and class within the context of workplace interactions in Los Angeles professional kitchens. Carolyn received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support her research. Her current project highlights the ways expertise is embodied during collaborative tasks. She plans to graduate from UCLA in 2027.

PHD STUDENT

Andrew received his PhD in biological anthropology PhD from UCLA in 2024. He studies the relationship between how people talk about and reason about the metal states of others. He has conducted field work in Ecuador, and his dissertation project compared language across English, Spanish, Arabic, and Korean as part of the Geography of Philosophy Project.

PHD STUDENT

Sasha received her PhD in biological anthropology from UCLA in 2024. Her work focuses on the cognitive effects of laughter in great apes and the evolution of play signaling. Sasha received an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to support her research. She has worked at Lomas Barbudal, the Ape Initiative, and the CNPRC. She is currently a postdoc in Herman Pontzer’s lab at Duke.