The Language and Learning Lab at the University of Toronto is a child development lab interested in how children acquire language, how they use it to communicate with others and how they learn and think about the world.

We are now offering online studies, select our online studies page for more information!

We are currently asking questions related to three streams of research.

Counterfactual Reasoning

Counterfactual thinking – the ability to consider alternatives to past events and make inferences about what might have happened – plays an important role in human learning and decision-making. In this line of work, we study the emergence of counterfactual reasoning in early childhood and how it contributes to learning.

Language & Communication

Language is a unique human capacity that enables us to learn, think and communicate about entities and events in the world. We are interested in how children’s language and communication with others influences their conceptual knowledge and how the acquisition of certain types of linguistic constructions affects their reasoning. 

Scientific Reasoning & Conceptual Change

How do children develop theories about scientific phenomena and how can we best scaffold this learning? This stream of research examines children’s misconceptions and the acquisition of scientific knowledge. Our works seeks to find out the best ways to promote children’s science knowledge in the early years.