In my research, I’m interested in the “big” questions of human cognition: what does it mean to know something, and how do we come to know what we know?
I think words offer a unique window into these questions. They encode knowledge, but are also both products of learning and tools for learning. My research therefore focuses on how words work in language and how we learn and use them. I’m particularly interested in how what we already know guides the processing and learning of familiar and unfamiliar words; how learning changes across the lifespan and adapts to different contexts and instructional conditions; and how our experiences — both within and beyond language — shape what we come to know. I study these questions using methods spanning behavioural and electrophysiological experiments, computational linguistics, and computational modelling.
I am currently a Vice-Chancellor’s Research Prize Fellow (tenure-track) in the Institute of Health and Neurodevelopment at Aston University. Previously, I was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Rastle lab at Royal Holloway, University of London. I completed my PhD at Macquarie University and University of Potsdam through the IDEALAB PhD programme.
I have a strong interest in applied statistics and care deeply about open science and healthy research culture. I am also passionate about making research accessible and involving diverse voices into research to drive positive change. If you’re an educator, parent, or policymaker interested in collaborating, I’d love to hear from you!
Contact
m [dot] korochkina [at] aston [dot] ac [dot] uk