Izzy Chapman ('28) a Linguistics major, conducted research on the relationship between language and cognition with the mentorship of Dr. Anna Papafragou (Department of Psychology). Izzy's research was supported by the University Scholars program.
I have always been fascinated by the intersection between language and cognition and am particularly intrigued by the idea that the language you speak shapes the way you think. This summer, I studied how people acquire and represent words, form categories, and develop hierarchies that allow them to describe the world through language. I conducted this research in the Language and Cognition Lab with mentorship from Dr. Anna Papafragou.
I entered the lab expecting to mostly supplement and learn about other members’ projects. I loved listening to others’ ideas that inspired and challenged my own thinking, but I was also excited to conduct my own independent project, which was a rewarding and unexpected part of my summer. Using now-graduated PhD student June Choe’s studies on the hierarchical organization and acquisition of nouns as a guide, I designed and began conducting experiments, collecting data, and drafting a paper investigating how children and adults form hierarchies of actions. For example: ‘moving,’ ‘running,’ and ‘sprinting’ all communicate different levels of specificity, and, as such, people learn and use them differently.
By pursuing an independent research project, I developed a new set of skills and achieved a higher level of rigor. I established the ability to read closely and understand dense papers I used to find intimidating and the ability to carefully document them so that, looking back months later, I could still recall exactly what they said and why they were important. I further developed my practical and intellectual skills, from dealing with Excel spreadsheets to synthesizing ideas into a cohesive academic argument. I organized and analyzed data, learned to program with Penn Controller, and contacted local daycares to recruit study participants. I also conducted literature reviews that challenged my perception of the most fundamental parts of my everyday speech and left with a better sense of the relationship between language and the mind.
Above: Izzy reading the paper “There's more to "sparkle" than meets the eye: Knowledge of vision and light verbs among congenitally blind and sighted individuals,” one of her favorites from the summer.
This summer also taught me about collaboration and being more willing to ask for help–and beyond asking for help, figuring out what kinds of things were most constructive for continued growth. I am so grateful to my research mentor, Dr. Anna Papafragou, for being so accessible and knowledgeable, but also for giving me the freedom and respect to develop independent ideas. PhD student Ruidi Huang and fellow RA Jamie Yuen were consistently supportive and available to explain logistical and conceptual frameworks. I also stayed in contact with peers in University Scholars and am so appreciative for their advice, kindness, and openness to talk! Speaking with both my mentor and fellow peers about their interests inspired me to clearly articulate and clarify my own.
Researching fundamental parts of language has been a transformative experience for me. It let me confront and challenge the most essential and overlooked parts of everyday language–the very basic infrastructure that determines how we understand the physical world with words and how we refer to those physical things. This knowledge will be helpful to future academic analyses of language, as well as my experiences as a person constantly using and thinking about language to navigate the world.
Interested in learning more about University Scholars? View other UScholars research experiences on our Student News page!
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