Dr. Morten Christiansen

Biography

Morten H. Christiansen is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor in the Department of Psychology at Cornell University. His research primarily focuses on the interaction of biological and environmental constraints in the evolution, acquisition, and processing of language. He employs a variety of methodologies, including computational modeling, corpus analyses, statistical learning, psycholinguistic experiments, and neuroimaging. Current projects examine the role of chunking in memory and language processing, the statistical learning involved in acquiring multiword chunks as the building blocks of language, and individual differences in language acquisition, statistical learning, and reading. Christiansen also explores computational experimental approaches to cultural evolution in language. He is actively involved in the Cognitive Science of Language Lab and contributes to the Cognitive Science Program.

Research Interests