DR. CLARA COLOMBATTO, Principal Investigator Dr. Colombatto is an Assistant Professor at the University of Waterloo, in the Department of Psychology, and an Honorary Lecturer at University College London. Prior to joining UW, Dr. Colombatto was a Research fellow at UCL. She earned a PhD in Psychology at Yale University, and a BS in Neuroscience and Philosophy from Duke University. Dr. Colombatto's research uses methods from vision science, cognitive psychology, and social psychology to investigate how we perceive other agents and their mental states.

CAROLINE SIMPSON, MA Student Caroline is a first-year master's student in cognitive psychology at the University of Waterloo. She is primarily interested in how we acquire knowledge and understanding, trust, and consciousness. Her current research is focusing on perceptions of and trust in generative artificial intelligence. Outside of the world of psychology Caroline plays bass in a band, makes art of various forms, and is obsessed with her two adorable cats.

CARTER SMITH, MA Student Carter is a first-year master’s student interested in how low-level components of socially relevant stimuli (e.g., distance, brightness, velocity) influence higher-level processes like judgments or decisions. During his undergraduate education at Wilfrid Laurier University, Carter studied how manipulating the size of a virtual reality slot machine altered gambling behaviours. Carter enjoys cycling, reading philosophy, and writing.

YUANZE HUANG, MA Student Yuanze (David) is a second-year master's student in cognitive psychology at the University of Waterloo. He is broadly interested in the intersection of visual perception and decision-making. His prior research focused on visual scene ensemble perception at the University of Toronto. He has a 3-year-old Ragdoll cat named QiuZi. In his spare time, he enjoys playing badminton and spending time with his cat.

SHAKTHI SENTHIL KUMAR, MA Student Shakthi is a second-year master's student working on the perception of non-biological agents, with a particular focus on how we collaborate with and take advice from artificial agents. Prior to joining UW, Shakthi completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Regina, where she researched interactions with techonology using eyetracking.

SIMRAN BAL, Honours Student Simran is in her 4th year of Psychology BSc. at the University of Waterloo. She is interested in researching Social Perception. In the past, she has done a research apprenticeship in social intervention strategies and has worked as a research assistant conducting systematic reviews in healthcare topics. In her spare time, Simran enjoys rollerblading and learning electric guitar.

LAYLA HUSSAIN, Honours Student Layla is in her 4th year of the Psychology program (BA) at the University of Waterloo. She is interested in language acquisition, acquired brain injury, and visual perception. Prior to joining the lab, Layla worked on various EEG studies in the Face Processing and Social Cognition Lab. Additionally, she worked on the Talk2Thrive project in the Children's Communication Lab. In her spare time, Layla enjoys caring for her many houseplants and watching horror movies.

MATTHEW YEUNG, Research Assistant Matthew recently completed an undergraduate degree in Psychology (BA) at the University of Waterloo and is currently researching the perception of mental states as well as social impressions more broadly. In addition, he is interested in studying the cognition behind human-computer interactions. In his free time, Matthew enjoys hockey, photography, and going to the movie theatre.