About

I am a postdoctoral researcher specializing in cognitive development. I am particularly interested in how humans use tools like language and mental representations to support the ability to think about abstract concepts, and how computational modeling can provide insights into cognitive processes such as memory and visual perception. I work with infants, children, and adults and employ a diverse range of research methods, primarily using eye-tracking and behavioral paradigms.

Currently, I am continuing my research at the University of Washington, with Dr. Ariel Starr. In my free time, I like to practice guitar, lift weights and watch a lot of movies!

Research

My ongoing work explores how spatial and abstract thinking abilities emerge in early childhood through two lines of research: 1) How does developing spatial representations of abstract concepts contribute to the development of our ability to reason about them? 2) How do diverse cultural and linguistic environments contribute to variability in the development of spatial thinking?

Current Projects

• Memory Development: I have been assessing the link between spatial representations of time and the development of temporal memory skills (e.g., remembering ‘when’ things happened, imagining the future based on previous experiences). This work suggests that children’s development of linear representations of time supports their ability to remember temporal information. Currently, I am conducting a series of experiments exploring how different spatial priming activities may boost children’s temporal memory performance.

    I am also collaborating on a project with Dr. Andrea Stocco, who is the     Principal Investigator of the Cognition and Cortical Dynamics Laboratory     at the University of Washington. This project utilizes the ACT-R cognitive     architecture to provide a model-based metric to quantify memory beyond     overall accuracy measures, across the lifespan.

• The Mental Timeline: In this project, I use eye-tracking and pupillometry measures to ask questions about the origins and development of space-time associations from infancy to adulthood. This work is conducted in parallel with Drs Lola de Hevia and Gisella Decarli at the University of Paris, to further explore cross-cultural differences in the development of spatial representations of time.

• Spatial Language Development: This work examines the relationship between early spatial language development and performance in non-linguistic spatial tasks. I aim to explore how different language environments and differences in bilingual and monolingual language trajectories interact with spatial vocabulary and spatial skill development in early childhood. I further explore diversity in the development of spatial language acquisition using multiple language groups with different grammatical structures. For this project, I am collaborating with the Dr. Tilbe Goksun who is the Principal Investigator of the Language and Cognition Lab at the Koc University.

Publications

Ayzenberg, V., Sener, S. B., Novick, K., & Lourenco, S. F. (2025). Fast and robust visual object recognition in young children. Science Advances, 11(27).

Capik, A., Hake, H., Sener, S. B., & Starr, A., Stocco, A. (2024). Model-Based Characterization of Forgetting in Children and Across The Lifespan. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 46.

Sener, S. B. & Starr, A. (2024). The Development of the Mental Timeline Is Related to Temporal Memory. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1–20.

O’Driscoll, C., Sener, S. B., Angmark, A., & Shaikh, M. (2019) Caregiving processes and expressed emotion in psychosis, a cross-cultural, meta-analytic review. Schizophrenia Research, 208, 8–15.

Presentations

Sener, S.B., Turan, E., Goksun, T., Starr, A. (May 2025). The Relation Between Spatial Language and Spatial Skills in Turkish and English-speaking Children. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, (Minneapolis, MN).

Sener, S.B., Decarli, G., de Hevia, L., Starr, A. (July 2024). The Origins of the Mental Timeline. Poster submission to be presented at the biennial meeting of the International Congress of Infant Studies Conference, (Glasgow, Scotland).

Sener, S.B., Decarli, G., de Hevia, L., Starr, A. (March 2024). The Origins of the Mental Timeline. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society Conference, (Pasadena, CA).

Sener, S.B., Sridhar, S., Starr, A. (March 2023). Remembering Time Using Space. Poster presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, (Salt Lake City, UT).

Sener, S.B., Starr, A. (April 2022). The mental timeline supports the development of temporal memory. Poster Submission presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society Conference, (virtual).

Sener, S.B., Starr, A. (April 2021). How does the mental timeline influence temporal memory? Flash Talk presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development,(virtual).

Contact

Email: sukranbaharsener@gmail.com

Curriculum Vitae

Google Scholar Profile