Research

My research addresses the relationship between body, action, objects, and language in humans. 

How do we categorize and interact with objects, other entities, and other people (affordances, social affordances)?

How does language (especially inner speech) empower our cognitive abilities and impact our actions and interactions?

How do we develop the sophisticated ability of abstract thought, and of using abstract words (abstraction, abstractness)?

Which are the inner and social dynamics triggered when we use words differing in abstractness and vagueness?

How does learning concepts in new domains, for example, ecology, technology, and gender, change our previous knowledge?

How do different bodies, ages, kinds of expertise, cultures, and languages shape our minds (embodied and grounded cognition; linguistic relativity; lifespan)?

When and how do we ask for information/explanations or outsource our knowledge to experts, both human and artificial (communities of knowledge, knowledge outsourcing)?

To address these topics, we use multiple methods drawn from cognitive psychology, linguistics, cognitive and social (neuro)science, and computational (neuro)science. 

We primarily study younger adults, as well as children and older adults, adopting a lifespan approach.