Meet our team

Dr. Diane Poulin-Dubois, PhD.
Lab Director

Dr. Diane Poulin-Dubois received her Ph.D from Université de Montréal and completed postdoctoral training at McGill and Harvard University. She has been a Full professor at Concordia University since 2001. She currently holds a Concordia University Research Chair in Developmental Cybernetics. Throughout her career, Dr. Poulin-Dubois has been a visiting professor at many universities, including Cornell, Oxford, UBC, and University of Queensland. She has been awarded the Distinguished Scholarship Award from the Faculty of Arts and Science at Concordia University in 2007 and the Concordia University Research Fellowship in 2012. She is the recipient of the 2019 Pickering Award for Outstanding Contributions to Developmental Psychology in Canada and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science. Professor Poulin-Dubois is internationally known for her theoretical and empirical contributions on cognitive and language development. Her current research, which is currently funded by NSERC and SSHRC concerns the early acquisition of a theory of mind, selective learning, conceptual categories, the cognitive benefits of early bilingualism and child-robot interactions. She is the author of more than 130 publications.

Isadora Silva Coser
Research Coordinator
B.A. Psychology (Honours), Concordia University, 2024

I joined the Cognitive and Language Development research team following the completion of my B.A. in Psychology at Concordia University. As the Research Coordinator, I act as the principal administrative liaison and assist the research team on projects examining infants’ language and cognitive development. I plan on pursuing graduate level studies in Clinical Psychology and hope to work with children with developmental disorders.

Elizabeth Dutemple
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Concordia University, In Progress
M.A. Clinical Psychology, Concordia University, 2020
B.Sc. Psychology (First Class Honours), McGill University, 2019

I am a fourth-year Ph.D. student in the research and clinical training stream. My thesis focuses on the socio-cognitive skills and environmental factors that impact a child's readiness for school. Clinically, I work at the Herzl Teenage Health Unit. Next year, I will starting my final internship at the Montreal Children's Hospital.

Marilyne Dragon
Ph.D. Clinical Psychology, Concordia University, In Progress                            M.A. Clinical Psychology, Concordia University, 2022
B.A. Psychology (First Class Honours, Dean's Honour List), McGill University, 2020

I am a third-year Ph.D. student in the Clinical Psychology program at Concordia University. I am currently collecting data for my doctoral thesis, which focuses on social learning abilities in young children, and more specifically on overimitation and its link with social affiliation. Clinically, I am currently finishing an assessment practicum at the Montreal Neuropsychology Center and will start in fall 2024 a practicum at the Elevate Clinic.

Victoria Fratino
M.A. Clinical Psychology, Concordia University, in progress
B.Sc. Psychology (First Class Honours, Dean's Honour List), McGill University, 2022

I am a second year Master's student in Concordia's Clinical Psychology Program. During my undergraduate degree at McGill University, I completed two Honours theses and two summer fellowships. During this time, I investigated the perception of triads and the effects of pupil size on the Cone of Direct Gaze. I am interested in the development of social cognition in children, both typically developing, and special populations. My master's thesis is examining the link between bilingualism and executive function in toddlers. I will begin my first external practicum at the Jewish General Hospital this September at the Neonatal Follow-Up Clinic.

Alexandra Piuze
M.A. Clinical Psychology, Concordia University, in progress
B.A. Psychology (Honors, Magna Cum Laude), Ottawa University, 2022

I am a first-year M.A. student in the clinical training and research Psychology program at Concordia University. I am interested in studying cognitive and language development in infants and young children, especially involving immersion in a second language. My M.A. research currently involves studying whether differences in executive functioning exist between monolingual and bilingual infants. I am also broadly interested in behavioural neuroscience in children. I completed my B.A. in psychology at the University of Ottawa, where my honours thesis centred around the neurophysiological consequences of an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest on working memory and response inhibition.