michelle.hurst@rutgers.edu Download CV BSKY @michellehurst.bsky.social OSF osf.io/ukhsz
Hi There!
I’m a Developmental Scientist studying how the way we think changes
across two timescales - in-the-moment context effects and long-term
effects of experience.
My work is motivated by the observation that human cognition
doesn’t happen in a vacuum: it often differs between people, over time,
and across contexts. I am particularly interested in variation across
contexts; cases where contextual features impact cognitive processing by
eliciting different cognitive processes, even within the same
individual. To investigate these questions, I use behavioral
experiments, computational models, and a developmental perspective with
infants, children, and adults. This approach allows for developing and
quantitatively testing more complete cognitive theories that can speak
to causal mechanisms, while also providing key insights that can be
leveraged to improve children and adults’ learning and behavior.
I am an Assistant Professor at Rutgers University, in both the Department of Psychology and the Center for Cognitive Science. I am the PI of the Quantitative Development Lab.
Recruiting Students and Postdocs: I will be recruiting Graduate Students this cycle, to begin Fall 2025. Learn more about how to join my lab on my lab website: https://www.thequadlab.com/join/