Welcome!

The Social Cognition and Learning (SoCal) Lab is a developmental psychology and neuroscience lab. We study how infants and children think about, learn from, and interact with other people. For more information feel free to browse our site and contact us with any questions. 

Lab News

May 2023: Our first empirical paper, on infants' relationship-based expectations of empathic happiness, was accepted for publication!

May 2023: Lab RAs Nico Navarro and Jamie Park were awarded summer Undergraduate Research Scholarships!

May 2023: Lab RAs Naomi Batarse and Ana Correa-Avila-Robb earned department awards for excellence in undergraduate research!

May 2023: Lab PI Lindsey Powell was awarded a Hellman Fellowship!

May 2023: Former lab RAs Angie Gross and Emma Yu accepted lab manger jobs at Wash U and Harvard!

May 2023: Former lab RAs Khanh Nguyen and Jenny Yue were accepted to grad programs at SDSU and Yale!

March 2023: Naomi Batarse, Gabe Bonamy, and Marissa Garcia had posters at the SAS conference, mentored by Alexis Smith-Flores!


Study Spotlight

Ages:  9 - 12 month olds


How do infants respond to 3rd and 1st party social interactions?



*This study involves fNIRS Data Collection. 

You can read more about it here*