Thanks to the ‘Students as Producers’ grant, I had the opportunity to present my poster at the Experiments in Linguistic Meaning conference at the University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia, USA. The conference focused on theoretical issues in semantics and pragmatics, language processing, and the cognitive science of meaning, an area that my project fits well in. This allowed me to share my findings on my dissertation project, titled ‘The Role of Working Memory in Scalar Implicature Computation in ADHD and Neurotypical Individuals’. The study looked at how burdening cognitive load effects inference-making within language and how this impacts individuals with working memory deficits, in this case, ADHD individuals. I presented my research to the psycholinguistics community and was able to connect with and receive feedback from Professors and other academics in the field.
Before attending the conference, I visited the lab at Harvard University where I started the project during my placement year. This visit allowed me to reconnect with my mentors, finalise my poster and practice my presentation. I am thankful to the University of Bath placement team for enabling me to obtain such a great placement, and to Dr Jesse Snedeker and Simge Topaloglu (PhD Candidate) for guiding me through this project.
Attending the conference alone, I was pleased to see familiar faces and make new connections with psycholinguists from all around the world.
I was able to engage in discussions about my research and explore how it aligns with current theories and studies in the field. I am particularly excited by the interest my poster generated. Being the first to study ADHD in this specific phenomenon ignited conversations about potential future research in this area.
Further, the conference comprised numerous interdisciplinary studies. I was able to learn about different perspectives in the field and explore new areas of interest.
This experience has been invaluable, and I am very grateful to the Centre for Learning and Teaching for providing this grant allowing me to attend the conference and present my poster. This conference will hopefully open the door to a great future of research opportunities.
Ellie Muir, 22, 4th Year BSc (Hons) Psychology with Placement.
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