Research
My research interests center on how children use social information to guide language learning, with a particular interest in how they seek out, evaluate, and learn from information in their social environments.
Here is an overview of the projects I am currently involved in! In the meantime, more ideas are brewing :)
Who Do you Want to Learn New Words from?
Buffalo Early Learning Lab, Mentor: Dr. Federica Bulgarelli
This study is a computer game for 3- to 5-year-olds!
It investigates the types of information that preschoolers consider when seeking labels for novel objects, and how this information seeking supports learning.
We are currently collecting data for this study!
Who Are they Speaking To?
Buffalo Early Learning Lab, Mentor: Dr. Federica Bulgarelli
This study was for adults!
It asked whether adults can extract addressee information from parent-child interactions. We were interested in how different sources of input support language development.
We have finished collecting data and are working on data analysis and manuscript writing!
Pragmatic Inferences from Social Reminders
Social and Cognitive Development Lab
Mentor: Dr. Gail D. Heyman, Dr. Shuai Shuao
This study was for 5-12-year-old children!
This set of studies tested whether children interpret moral reminders pragmatically, inferring that recipients of such reminders are likely to have moral shortcomings.
Our paper is currently under review with a journal!
© 2026 by Jiya Gupta
