Director of the Laboratory of the Neural Bases of Bilingualism
Dr. Hernandez is a Professor in the Department of Psychology. His major research interest is in the neural underpinnings of bilingual language processing and second language acquisition. He uses both behavioral and neuroimaging methods to investigate these issues.
(Mandarin, English, Japanese)
PhD Candidate, DCBN Program
Yinan is interested in the neural underpinnings of the cognitive abilities of the bilingual brain. Specifically, she wants to explore cognitive and neural controls in language switching and reinforcement learning using behavioral studies and cognitive modeling. She believes that a better understanding of cognitive flexibility in language may shed light on efficiency in language learning and use. She is also interested in bilingualism and aging, and previously worked as an RA in The Center for Neuromotor and Biomechanics Research (CNBR).
(Spanish, English)
PhD Candidate, DCBN Program
Evelyn’s research focuses on how bilinguals process linguistic information in the brain, with particular attention to heritage bilinguals who acquire their native language at home. She is broadly interested in the variability that exists across bilingual populations, including differences between early and late bilinguals, child and adult bilinguals, higher and lower proficiency speakers, and bilinguals from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Her work examines the intersection of language experience, proficiency, and socioeconomic context as sources of this variability.
Across her graduate training, she has studied sentence processing in Spanish–English heritage bilingual adults, the role of language proficiency and socioeconomic status in shaping bilingual language outcomes, and acculturation and cognitive profiles in bilingual children using ABCD data. Overall, her research aims to understand how social, experiential, and cognitive factors shape bilingual language processing across development and across diverse bilingual communities.
PhD Student, DCBN Program
Cesar is a neuropsychologist specializing in neuropsychological assessment for individuals with suspected dementia. His research focuses on understanding the cognitive processes involved in bilingualism, particularly in older adults. He is interested in how bilingual individuals process information, with special attention to variables such as educational background. His current work aims to explore cognitive differences between bilingual individuals diagnosed with dementia and healthy bilingual controls.
Collaborator
(Vietnamese, English)
Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Language Science and Technology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Dr. Nguyen is a former lab member of LNBB. Her research examines how bilingual experience shapes cognition, education, and the brain from an interdisciplinary developmental neuroscience perspective. In previous work, She used structural MRI to investigate how language background—including age of acquisition, cortical thickness, and subcortical volume—differs between monolinguals, bilingual young adults, and adolescents, and she has also explored the long-term educational outcomes of bilingualism.
More recently, her focus has shifted to behavioral studies of cognitive processing under emotional interference, revealing that both task type and language background strongly influence performance. Looking ahead, she aims to integrate these approaches by using fMRI to track how the brain supports real-time interactions between cognition and emotion in bilinguals. She is particularly interested in studying these processes in more naturalistic, ecologically valid scenarios and in fostering interdisciplinary collaborations that link neuroscience, psychology, and education to better understand how bilingualism shapes learning and development.
my-vh.nguyen@polyu.edu.hk google scholar
(English, Spanish)
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Children’s Learning Institute at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Dr. Vaughn is a former lab member of LNBB. During her graduate training, her research focused on how the brain supports language and cognition in adult bilinguals and monolinguals. She then received postdoctoral training in pediatric neuroimaging under the mentorship of Dr. Dana DeMaster.
Dr. Vaughn’s research is broadly focused on supporting the development of bilingual children. She is interested in the neural underpinnings of typical and atypical language development and the relationship between language development and cognitive development for bilingual children.
Visiting Researcher
Current Visitors
Past Visitors
- Lorena Molina-Arcia, PhD (visiting PhD student, Fall 2024) – during her PhD at the Psychology Program at UNAM (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)
- Uxue Pérez-Litago (visiting PhD student, Fall 2024) – during her PhD at the Speech Therapy Program at the University of Oviedo (Universidad de Oviedo)
- Maite Zaragoza-Cortés (visiting PhD student, Spring 2025) – during her PhD at the Cognitive Science and Language Program at the University of Barcelona (Universitat de Barcelona)
- Tao Sha, PhD (visiting scholar, 2005-2006) – Professor of State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and Director of Children and Adolescent Brain Research Center at Beijing Normal University
LNBB Alumni
- My Nguyen, PhD (2025)
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Brain, Language, and Computation Laboratory, Department of Language Science and Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University (current)
- Jean (Tres) Phillipe Bodet III, PhD (2023)
- Lecturer (Assistant Professor Level), Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Baylor University (current)
- Juliana Ronderos, PhD (2022)
- Assistant Professor, Program in Communication Sciences and Disorders, Department of Biobehavioral Sciences, Teachers College, Columbia University (current)
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Communication and Neurodevelopment Lab, Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, Boston University (2022-2025)
- Hannah Claussenius-Kalman, PhD (2021)
- Scientific Consultant at Minicircle (current)
- Human Factors and User Experience Researcher at Human Interfaces, Inc. (2021-2025)
- Kelly Vaughn, PhD (2018)
- Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) (current)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UTHealth Houston (2019-2020)
- Brandin Munson, PhD (2018)
- Human Factors Perception Engineer at Apple (current)
- Human Factors Engineer at NASA JSC (contracting through the University of Houston) (2019-2021)
- Human Factors Intern at NASA JSC (contracting through GeoLogics) (2018-2019)
- Pilar Archila, PhD (2012; postdoc 2014-2016)
- ISS Research Results Senior Scientist and Integrator at the Research Integration Office (Barrios Technology/NASA) (current)
- Lecturer in Psychology at Rice University (2022-2023)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (2012-2013)
- Madeleine (Warner) Gorges, PhD (2017)
- Tenure-track Faculty of Psychology at Shoreline Community College (current)
- Adjunct Faculty at University of Washington Bothell (2020-2022)
- Faculty at Lake Washington Institute of Technology (2018-2020)
- Faculty at Bellevue College (2019-2020); Associate Faculty at Cascadia College (2017-2020)
- Victoria Wagner, PhD (2017)
- Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of MA in Applied Sports and Performance Psychology program at University of St. Thomas (current)
- Aurora Ramos-Nuñez, PhD (2015)
- Associate Professor of Psychology at College of Coastal Georgia (current)
- Research Scientist at Rice University (2015-2017)
- Maya Greene, PhD (2015)
- Research Manager at Verily (current)
- Research Manager and UX Researcher at Meta (2018-2020)
- Human Factors Design Engineer at NASA Johnson Space Center (2016-2018)
- Kailyn Bradley, PhD (2014)
- Freelance Data Scientist (current)
- Adjunct Instructor at Lone Star College (2017-2019)
- Postdoctoral Fellow at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (2014-2018)
- Freelance Data Scientist (current)
- Eric Waldron, PhD, LP, ABPP-CN (clinical psychology student, research affiliate, 2013)
- Associate Professor in the Division of Adult Neuropsychology in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School; Neuropsychologist specializing in seeing adult patients with epilepsy at M Health Fairview Clinics and Surgery Center Neurology Clinic and at M Health Fairview Park Place East MINCEP Epilepsy Care
- Noemí Aznar-Besé, MA (2010) – contextual constraint modulates neural responses during sentence reading; neural correlates of word reading in Spanish-English bilingual children
- Peter Molfese, PhD (2009)
- Head of Center for Multimodal Neuroimaging and Scientist at The National Institutes of Health (current)
- Director of Operations of the Brain Imaging Research Center (BIRC) and Assistant Professor at the University of Connecticut (2014-2017)
- Scientist and Post-Doctoral Associate at Haskins Laboratories (2010-2017)
- Post-Doctoral Associate at Yale University (2009-2010)
- Poorna Kushalnagar, PhD (2007)
- Strategic Research Officer/Chief Research Officer and Professor at Gallaudet University
- Gayane Meschyan, PhD (postdoc fellow – 2004-2005)
- Research Analyst at Los Angeles County Department of Public Health (current)
- Jury/Trial Consultant at Doar Litigation Consulting in New York (2002-2006)
Current Research Assistants (2025-2026)
- Adriana Rochet (Spanish, English)
The Laboratory for the Neural Bases of Bilingualism 