Welcome to Jie Ren (任婕)'s Academic Webpage

Research Interests

I am a cognitive neuroscientist and I study how children learn. My research develops the understanding of how infants and children make sense of the structures of their surrounding world, including music, language, and action, and how learning shapes their cognitive development. I use any reasonable methods to address these questions, including behavioral measures, neurological (EEG, MEG, fMRI & fNIRS) experiments, and advances in machine-learning and statistics. Lab Page: https://longy.edu/mha-research/

Education

2016 Ph.D. in Cognitive Science, Brown University

Advisor: Dr. Sheila E. Blumstein

2014 M.Sc. in Biostatistics, Brown University with Open Graduate Education Award (The 1st Biostatistics winner in the history of Brown University)

Advisor: Dr. Christopher H. Schmid

Appointments

2019-2020: Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto, Canada

2018-2019: Staff Scientist, Department Linguistik, Universität Potsdam, Germany

2017-2018: Visiting Professor, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing, China

2016-2017: Instructor of Statistics & Research Fellow, Brown University

Refereed Publications

Ren, J., Wharton-Shukster, E., Bauer, A., Duncan, K. & Finn A., (2021). Events Structure Information Accessibility Less in Children than Adults. Cognition.

Shuyan Zhao, Jie Ren, Michael C. Frank & Peng Zhou (2021). The Development of Quantity Implicatures in Mandarin-speaking Children, Language Learning and Development, DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2021.1886935

Ren, J., Cohen-Priva, U. & Morgan, J. L. (2019). Underspecification in Toddlers' and Adults’ Lexical Representations, Cognition, 193. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2019.06.003

Ren, J., Austerweil, J. A. (2017). Interpreting Asymmetric Perception in Speech Processing using Bayesian Inference. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. [pdf]

Ren, J. & Morgan, J., (Submitted). Supra-segmental Details in Early Lexical Representations. [pre-print]

Ren, J. (2016). Segmental and Suprasegmental Details in Early Lexical Representations. Paper to appear in the 40th Proceedings of Boston University Conference on Language Development, Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Ren, J. & Morgan, J.L. (2012). The Devil in the Details: Underspecification in Infants’ and Adults’ Lexical Representations. 36th Proceedings of Boston University Conference on Language Development, (pp. 500-511), Somerville, MA: Cascadilla Press.

Ren, J. & Morgan, J.L. (2011). Developmental Continuity in Early Lexical Representation. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVII) (pp. 1686-1689), August, Hong Kong.

Ren, J. & Morgan, J.L. (2011). Do Infants have MORE detailed Lexical Representation than Adults? Proceedings of the 47th Chicago Linguistic Society Annual Meeting, Volume 47, number 2, (pp. 185-192). Chicago, Illinois: MetaPress.

Ongoing Projects

Computational modeling of speech acquisition using machine-learning techniques.

Principal Investigator. Collaborator/Advisor: Joseph L. Austerweil, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Developmental cortical lateralization in infant speech reorganization -- Evidence from fNIRS

Co-principal Investigator. Collaborators: Rushen Shi, Université du Québec à Montréal; Heather Bortfeld, University of California, Merced; Haijing Niu, Beijing Normal University; Luca Onnis & Gianluca Esposito, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Editorial Service

2021-Present Editorial Board Member, Acta Psychologica

2019-2021 Guest Editor, Special Issue of Infant Behavioral and Development: The Interplay between Language Acquisition and the Development of General Cognitive Abilities. Elsevier Press

2020 Reviewer, Language, and Speech

2019 Reviewer, The 4th Workshop on Infant Language Development (WILD 2019), June 2019, Potsdam, Germany

2018 Reviewer, the Crossing the borders conference: The Development of Language, Cognition, and the Brain, September 2018, Potdam, Germany

Conference Presentations

Ren, J., Austerweil, J. L., Cohen Priva, U. & Morgan, J. (2019). Interpreting Phonological Underspecification using Bayesian Statistical Inference. PsyLincS UTM Workshop 2019, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada.

Ren, J., Hilton, M., & Höhle, B. (2018). Interpreting different aspects of cognitive development using structural equation modeling. Crossing Conference on Infant and Early Child Development, Potsdam, Germany.

Ren, J., Austerweil, J. A. (2017). Interpreting Asymmetric Perception in Speech Processing using Bayesian Inference. Oral presentation at the 39th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, London, UK.

Ren, J. & Morgan, J.L. (2015). Segmental and Suprasegmental Details in Early Lexical Representations. Paper presented at Boston University Conference on Language Development, 40, November 2015, Boston, MA.

Ren, J. (2015). Infants’ Early Lexical Representation. Invited Talk at the Department of Linguistics, Boston University, October 21st, Boston, MA.

Ren, J., Austerweil, & J. L & Morgan, J.L. (2014). Interpreting Language Universal Constraints with Bayesian Inference. Paper presented at the proceedings of 84th Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, January 2014, Minneapolis, MN.

Ren, J.,& Morgan, J.L. (2013). Segmental and Supra-segmental Details in Early Lexical Representations. Paper presented at the proceedings of 83rd Annual Meeting of the Linguistic Society of America, January 2013, Boston, MA.

Morgan, J.L. & Ren, J. (2012). Speech Sound Frequency and Speech Sound Discrimination. XVIII Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, June 2012, Minneapolis, MN.

Ren, J. & Morgan, J.L.(2011). Developmental Continuity in Early Lexical Representation. The 17th International Congress of Phonetic Sciences (ICPhS XVII), August, 2011, Hong Kong.

Ren, J. & Morgan, J.L.(2011). Do Infants have MORE detailed Lexical Representation as Adults? The 47th Chicago Linguistic Society Annual Meeting, April 2011, Chicago, IL.

Ren, J., Gao, L & Morgan, J.L.(2010). Mandarin Speakers' Knowledge of the Sonority Sequencing Principle. The XX Colloquium of Generative Grammar, March 2010, Barcelona, Spain.

Ren, J., & Gao, L (2008). On Stress Assignment Algorithms of Mandarin Disyllabic Compound Words. The 7th Pan-Asiatic International Symposium on Languages and Linguistics, December 2008, Guangzhou, China.

Ren, J., & Gao, L (2008). The Syntax is Free from Phonology--The Prosodic-driven PF Movement Hypothesis. The 12th Symposium on Contemporary Linguistics, October 2008, Wuhan, China.

Posters

Ren, J., Wharton-Shukster, E., Duncan, K. & Finn, A, (2020). Events structure information accessibility less in children than in adults. The Cognitive Science Society Conference 2020, Toronto, MA.

Ren, J., Wharton-Shukster, E., Duncan, K. & Finn, A, (2020). Events structure information accessibility less in children than in adults. The Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference 2020, Boston, MA.

Ren, J., Duncan, K. & Finn, A, (2019). Events structure memory less in children than adults. The Cognitive Development Society Conference 2019, Louisville, Kentucky.

Ren, J., & Austerweil, J. L. (2019). Interpreting Developmental Perceptual Narrowing using the Dirichlet Process. PsyLincS UTM Workshop 2019, Mississauga,Ontario, Canada.

Ren, J., Hilton, M., van der Kant, A. & Höhle, B. (2019).The Interrelations between different aspects of general cognitive abilities in early child development. Budapest CEU Conference on Child Development, Budapest, Hungary.

Cai, L., Ren, J., & Niu, H. (2018). Functional specialization in the resting-state infant brain. The 2018 Biennial Meeting of the Society for fNIRS, Tokyo, Japan.

Hilton, M., Ren, J., & Höhle, B. (2018). Using eye-tracking to measure individual differences in cognitive functions during infancy and early childhood. The 3rd Lancaster Conference on Infant and Early Child Development, Lancaster, UK.

Ren, J., Panameno, A. Hirshberg, L. & Oberman, L. (2016). Modulation of Behavioral Inhibition in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Poster presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of Society for Neuroscience (SfN), San Diego, CA.

Ren, J., (2015). Consonants and Tones in 19-month-olds' Lexicon. Invited Poster Presentation at the Young Scholar Conference in Brain Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI.

Ren, J.,& Morgan, J.L. (2014). Developmental Continuity in Lexical representations. Poster presented at the 39th Boston University Conference on Language Development, November 2014, Boston, MA.

Ren, J., & Morgan, J.L. (2014). Developmental (Dis)Continuity in the Nature of Human Lexical Representations. Poster presented at XIX Biennial International Conference on Infant Studies, July 2014, Berlin, Germany.

Ren, J & Morgan, J.L.(2011). Infants' Representation of Word-Final Consonants. The 2011 Society for Research in Child Development Biennial Meeting, March 2011, Montreal, QC, Canada.

Ren, J., & Gao, L (2008). Phonological Grammar is Categorical and Gradient (Poster). The International Symposium of Phonetic Frontiers, April 2008, Beijing, China.

Invited Talks

Ren, J. (2019). Feature Specification in Toddlers' and Adults' Lexical Representations--A Study of Developmental Continuity. Invited talk at the Psycholinguistic Group Seminar at the University of Toronto, November 2019, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Ren, J. (2019). Cracking the Code for Infant Speech Acquisition and Lexical Representations, Invited Keynote Speech at the Workshop of Infant Speech Acquisition, September 2019, Tianjin, China.

Ren, J. (2019). Interpreting Phonological Underspecificatiion using Bayesian Statistical Inference, Invited Colloquium Speech at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, September 2019, Nanjing, China.

Ren, J. (2019). An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Research of Infant Language Acquisition, Invited Colloquium Speech at Tianjin Normal University. September 2019, Tianjin, China.

Ren, J. (2016). Feature Specification in Infants' Lexicon. Invited Colloquium Speech in the Haskins Laboratories Staff Talk Series, Haskins Laboratories, Yale University. November 2016, New Haven, CT.

Ren, J. (2016). Underspecification in Infants' and Adults' Lexical Representations. Invited Talk in the Department of Linguistics, MIT. November 2016, Cambridge, MA.

Ren, J. (2016). Segmental and Suprasegmental Details in Early Lexical Representations. Invited Talk at MUUSLAW Language Acquisition Workshop, April 2016, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT.

Ren, J. (2015). A Study of Developmental Continuity. Invited Colloquium Speech at The Chinese Academy of Social Science (CASS). December 31st, 2015, Beijing, China.

Ren, J. (2015). From Features to Words: A Study of Developmental Continuity. Invited Seminar Talk at Beijing Normal University. December 29th, 2015, Beijing, China.

Ren (2015). From Features to Words: A Study of Developmental Continuity. Invited Seminar Speech in the Department of Linguistics. December 10th, 2015, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

Ren (2015). From Features to Words: A Study of Developmental Continuity. Invited talk at Language and Cognition Lab. December 7th, 2015, Stanford University, CA.

Teaching

2014-2020: Instructor for CLPS0900, Quantitative Methods in Psychological Sciences, Department of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences, Brown University.

Responsibility: Teaching statistics to Brown undergraduate students.

Fall2013: Co-Instructor for Math 0050, College Mathematics, Community College of Rhode Island.

Responsibility: Teaching college-level math in the Women’s Maximum Security Prison, Rhode Island Department of Correction.

Spring2012: Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Cognitive Neurological Science (CLPS0400), Brown University.

Responsibility: homework grading, exam grading.

2011-2012: Teaching Assistant for Quantitative Methods in Psychology (CLPS0900), Brown University.

Responsibility: teaching statistic software using, exam making, homework grading, exam grading, and question answering.

Fall2010: Teaching Assistant for Introduction to Cognitive Science (CLPS0100), Brown University.

Responsibility: exam making, essay grading, exam grading, and question answering.

2007-2009: Language Instructor for Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development Program, Beijing, China.

Responsibility: teaching Australian young ambassadors on Chinese languages and cultural adaptation.

Grants, Academic Honors, and Awards

2017-2018: Outstanding International Scholar Award (¥100,000), National Key Laboratories of Cognitive Neurosciences & McGovern Institute for Brain Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.

2012-2015: Open Graduate Education Award ($76,000), Brown University.

2011-2012: Spoken word recognition in language acquisition: Mandarin tones ($2,500). Funding Source: The Graduate School Research Foundation for International Collaboration, Brown University. Role: Principal Investigator (PI).

2011-2012: Research Award for International Collaboration ($1000), Brown University.

2011-2012: International Affairs Conference Travel Award ($1000), Brown University.

Academic and Clinical Certificate

Certificate of Achievement for Matlab EEGLAB. Awarded by Swartz Center for Computational Neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, November 2016.

Certificate for Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). Awarded by Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Harvard Medical School, June 2016.

Certificate for Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). Awarded by Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Harvard Medical School, June 2016.

Certificate for English Interpreter. Awarded by Department of Education, Brown University, June 2011.

Academic Membership

2009-Present: Linguistic Society of America (LSA).

2009-Present: Women in Cognitive Science

2010-Present: Society for Research of Child Development (SRCD).

2012-Present: America Psychology Association (APA).

2013-2015: America Statistics Association (ASA).

2016-Present: Society for Neuroscience (SfN).

External Sevice

2014-2015: Vice-President of Treasurer, Graduate Student Council, Brown University.

2010-2014: Vice-Treasurer, Graduate Student Council, Brown University.

2011-2012: English-Chinese Interpreter, Department of Education, Brown University.

Skills

Computer: Proficient in R, SAS, and Matlab programming; elementary level in Python

Statistics: Senior statistician, specialized in time series data analyses

Music: Professional opera singer (lyric soprano). Click here for Jie Ren's Non-Academic Page.