The Babineau Lab is a group of researchers, mainly undergraduates at the University of Toronto, who study a variety of questions related to language and cognition. Since we do not have our own lab space, we closely work with other researchers: Elizabeth Johnson (UTM - Department of Psychology), Monika Molnar (UofT St. George - Department of Speech-Language Pathology), Jessica Sommerville (UofT St. George - Department of Psychology) & Anne Christophe (ENS, Paris - Department of Cognitive Studies).
Send your CV/resume, unofficial transcript, and a brief statement of interest to Mireille/Dr. Babineau: mireille.babineau at utoronto.ca
Dr. Babineau does not supervise graduate students.
Elaine is a 3rd year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto specializing in Psychology and minoring in Physiology. She is passionate about developmental psychology and language acquisition specifically in childhood. Her current research interests involve looking at how language and the human voice shape infant’s and children’s perceptions of the world during development. She has previously worked in other language and music labs and is continuing the deepen her knowledge at the Babineau lab. Her hobbies include singing and learning new recipes to cook.
Sophie completed a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Cognitive Science with a minor in Buddhism & Mental Health in 2023. She joined the lab at its beginning (in September 2021) and completed a PSY405 research project on the effect of language-mixing practices on young bilinguals' vocabulary acquisition. During the 2022-2023 year, she continued to work in the lab via the Work study program and a research assistantship position. She then worked as a full-time research assistant at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and came back as a part-time research assistant in the fall of 2024. n. as
Myah is a graduate student at Adler University. She completed her undergraduate degree specializing in psychology at the University of Toronto in 2024. She has a passion for mental health and is particularly interested in child psychology. The factors affecting the development of language, psychological disorders in childhood, and treatments for these disorders are topics she is interested in studying and researching.
Myah joined the Babineau Lab as a Volunteer Research Assistant in July 2021. During the summer of 2022, Myah was enrolled in the Work Study program. She is currently working on completing a research project based on her Individual Research project (PSY405) looking at the effect of bilingualism on moral development.
Vanessa is a 5th year undergraduate student who is pursuing an Honours Bachelor of Science Degree with a double major in Psychology and Health and Disease. Her academic pursuits reflect her passions in the disciplines of child psychology, psychopathology, linguistics, and her keen interest in the interplay between physical well-being and consequential mental health outcomes. She is particularly curious about the various speech impairments that can manifest in children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Vanessa joined the Babineau Lab in the Fall of 2023 and completed an Individual Research Project (PSY405, PSY406) that investigated the factors influencing the acquisition of words in a new language, comparing monolingual and bilingual children.
Shelby Suhan is a fifth year Psychology Research Specialist and Linguistics Minor student. She is passionate about mental health, learning, language, and early childhood development. Her past research has explored aspects of psycholinguistics such as language acquisition in bilingual children and sentence processing in Tagalog adults. She is currently working on her honours thesis at the Finn Lab, which is an eye-tracking study investigating the effects of novelty on children's visual attention to scenes.
Shelby plans to pursue graduate studies in child clinical psychology and is interested in studying the effects of early childhood trauma and adversity on developmental outcomes. Outside of campus, she enjoys crocheting and teaching singing lessons at my vocal studio.
Anicole completed an undergraduate Psychology Specialist program at the University of Toronto in 2023. She is passionate about abnormal psychology—especially psychopathology and psychotherapy. She is also interested in the correlation between different topics of psychology such as language disorders and mental illnesses.
Anicole joined the Babineau Lab as a Volunteer Research Assistant in January 2022. During the summer of 2022, she was enrolled in the Work Study program. Anicole then completed an Individual Research project (PSY405) looking at young children's ability to learn from unreliable speakers. She is currently working part-time on completing her study.
Maya is a 3rd year undergraduate student pursuing a double major in psychology and neuroscience at the University of Toronto. She is interested in exploring how psychological and neurological conditions affect cognition, particularly neurodevelopmental disorders. She hopes to contribute to the current understanding of these disorders and support the development of interventions that promote cognitive growth.
Maya joined the Babineau Lab in the fall of 2024 as a volunteer research assistant. She is doing a PSY405 project this summer.
Dua is a 4th year undergraduate student at the University of Toronto specializing in Neuroscience with a strong interest in cognitive and developmental psychology. Her research focuses on language learning and memory development in children, and she is currently involved in a source monitoring project at the Babineau Lab that explores how children learn language from various sources. Dua previously conducted research on language development differences between monolingual and multilingual children. Outside of academics, she volunteers at Credit Valley Hospital and is training to become an emergency crisis responder. Dua is passionate about advancing research on women and children.
Anuki Amarakoon: now a graduate student at the University of British Columbia (UBC) - joined the lab in September 2021 and completed a PSY406 research project on toddlers' ability to learn new syntax-semantic links. She remained involved in the lab until the summer of 2023.
Kiran Basra - joined the lab in May 2024 as a Work Study Student.
Nila Curtosi - joined the lab in July 2022 as a Volunteer Research Assistant.
Katherine Jung: now a medical student at the University of Ottawa - joined the lab in May 2021 as a volunteer, then completed a PSY405 research project (2021-2022). Her project investigated preschoolers' ability to learn and remember novel words from an 'alien' language.
Bethany Moore - joined the lab in May 2024 as a Work Study Student.
Yi Lin (Elaine) Wang: now a graduate student at Yale University - joined the lab in August 2021 as a Volunteer Research Assistant and left in August 2023. She participated in many projects, including one in which she showed her acting skills!
Joe Zi Zhou: now works at the University of Toronto - joined the lab in the Fall of 2022 and completed a PSY405 research project on children's ability to learn from bilingual adults.