Research Internships: Developmental Linguistics
Prof. Jesse Snedeker, Snedeker Lab - Lab for Developmental Studies, Psychology/FAS
fall term and beyond (could start any term but we expect students to stay with us for at least 2 terms preferably more)


The Snedeker Lab is seeking research assistants for several projects investigating how children acquire and process language. Our lab uses methods such as: EEG (measuring the electricity generated by the brain); eyetracking (monitoring children’s gaze patterns to infer what they are thinking); and behavioral production (asking children to produce an explicit response) experiments with a wide range of populations and languages. Projects this semester involve investigating the understanding of quantification in infancy, specifically the concepts of “some” and “all”, (e.g., 'some balls explode' vs 'all balls explode') using eyetracking, using both eyetracking and behavioral production to explore toddler’s understanding of alternative possibilities (e.g., 'something is in A or in B'), exploring how event representations are encoded in the absence of language by designing and conducting nonlinguistic tasks to get at the distinction between the agent (the doer) and the patient (the affected one), investigating sentence processing in 4–5 year-old children by exploring the influence of sentence context on word identification, exploring how word planning times differ in multi-word utterances compared to single-word utterances in adults, and exploring the productive generation of number words in 3-6 year old children. Snedeker lab research assistants are assigned to one specific project and work closely with a graduate student or postdoc mentor. Responsibilities and Expectations: Research assistant responsibilities include designing and creating stimuli, aiding in experimental design, recruiting, scheduling, and testing adult and child participants, coding and analyzing data, and assisting with write-ups. Research assistants meet regularly with their mentor and attend Snedeker lab meetings. All Snedeker lab RAs are expected to do ~11 hours of lab work each week. We have a preference for course credit RAs and would like a commitment of two terms. Additional Information: Snedeker Lab before the fall of their junior year. Regarding mentorship, RAs in the Snedeker lab meet regularly with their grad student or postdoc mentor. RAs will set goals for the semester with the lab manager at the start of the term and will regularly check in with their mentor and lab manager about how to meet those goals. RAs will attend lab meetings and present their work to other RAs and lab members. Other events, including grad student panels, writing workshops, and R workshops, are organized each semester based on the goals and needs of RAs. To Apply: Interested applicants please send a brief cover letter and CV to the Snedeker lab manager (Hanna Shine, hshine@fas.harvard.edu). (posted 8/2023)