Language and Cognition Lab

Language and Cognition Lab

The Language and Cognition Lab at Koç University (www.ku.edu.tr) investigates the link between language and various cognitive processes using multiple populations (children, adults, brain injured patients) and methodologies (e.g., eye tracking, EEG, experimental, observational methods using linguistic, multimodal language, and neural analyses). In particular, our developmental studies focus on how children learn their native language, what the precursors are for learning relational language (verbs and prepositions), and how other modalities such as gestures interact with these processes. We examine children’s narrative development and question-asking behavior and how they relate to children’s other cognitive skills. We also study children’s spatial and math development. Additionally, we examine the development of aesthetic preferences from a cross-cultural perspective. Our adult cognitive studies examine the interaction of multimodal language with multiple domains such as time, space, and emotion. In most of our research questions, we closely examine the role of gestures in thinking, communicating, recruiting, and executing information. 

Our Mission and Values 

Our main research mission is to conduct high-quality scientific research. We use multiple methods with rigorous experiments. We advocate for Open Science and value the timely dissemination of our research to the broader scientific community and society.  We openly share our experimental stimuli, data, and analysis. 

We try to create a supportive, friendly, and collaborative work environment for everyone. We would like to use “work” and “fun” in the same sentence. Students can fulfill their academic and personal needs. We aim to scaffold each lab member in their academic career and help them enhance their skills and knowledge. We do not compete with each other. We value and encourage collaborations between lab members as well as collaborations with other labs. We help each other’s projects. We openly discuss our research, criticize each other’s work in a friendly and constructive manner and work together. We always keep in mind that our main goal is to enhance our science. 

We strongly believe in diversity and inclusion. Diversity strengthens our science and broadens our perspectives. We respect everyone. We do not tolerate any discriminatory behavior, word or action. We also value different opinions and believe that science can only improve by paying attention to diverse perspectives. 

Mentorship

Tilbe Göksun is the PI of the lab. Tilbe strongly follows the lab mission and values in her mentorship. Graduate students and postdocs lead/co-lead their projects. We also collaborate with other labs at Koç University. Tilbe has several national and international collaborations, in which students also take part. 

Tilbe meets weekly with postdocs, graduate students, and undergraduate students conducting independent studies. She also organizes group meetings for specific projects throughout the semester.  Every week, a lab meeting for everyone is held. Other than these times, students can email Tilbe and ask for a specific time to meet. Tilbe assists students’ progress at each phase of their careers and is available when they need her. 

Principle Investigator

Prof. Tilbe Göksun

Dr. Göksun’s research interests center on the relation between language and various thinking processes. In the lab, she uses different populations (children, healthy adults, brain-injured patients) and methodologies (e.g., looking time-eye tracking, act-out tasks, linguistic and gestural analyses, and voxel-lesion symptom mapping) to answer her research questions. Tilbe loves reading, watching movies, and visiting new cities. 

Email: tgoksun@ku.edu.tr
Office Location: SOS Z17B
Office Phone: 0212-338-1872
Website: www.tilbegoksunyoruk.com

People

İbrahim Akkan

Ph.D. student in Psychology, 3rd year

Ibrahim is interested in the dynamic links between language and thought processes. Specifically, he focuses on multimodal language affecting second language learners’ memory processes. He is also interested in the effect of parent-level and individual-level factors on language development and children’s narrative skills. He watches only Sihirli Annem, Aski Memnu and Harry Potter. He said that he is not open to any suggestions about movies or TV shows because his anxiety and ADHD wouldn’t let him watch new things, and then he added: “Sorry, not sorry.” He also said psychology is his major, but sarcasm is his minor degree. 

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Begüm Yılmaz

Ph.D. student in Psychology, 2nd year

Begüm holds an MA in cognitive psychology and is currently pursuing a PhD in developmental psychology. Her research focuses on parental and child-related factors and their link to children’s cognitive development. In her free time, she enjoys swimming, reading, and solving puzzles. 

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Can Avcı

Ph.D. student in Psychology, 2nd year

Can is mainly interested in the interaction of language modalities and individual differences, focusing on how these factors influence both language production and comprehension. He specifically investigates how gesture manipulation (e.g., production and types) and cognitive abilities affect disfluency rates. Besides research, he enjoys reading and discussing philosophy. He is also passionate about fitness. 

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Kardelen Koç

MA student in Psychology, 2nd year

Kardelen completed her BA in theatre and psychology. She is interested in language-thought processes in relation to art and creativity. She is going to focus on the development of aesthetic art preferences in children for her graduate studies. Besides research, she loves movies and chocolate. 

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Sultan Karakaş

MA student in Psychology, 2nd year

Sultan is interested in exploring the interaction between language and thought, language development and usage, and bilingualism within developmental and social contexts. She has always been fascinated by the use of language as a means of expression and has a strong passion for literature and writing. Art and philosophy are also accompanying her on this journey. 

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Süleyman Can Ceylan

MA student in Psychology, 2nd year

Can is interested in the relationship between emotion and multimodal communication. His research emphasizes the brain’s role in encoding emotional information across different channels, including gestures, facial expressions, body posture, and head movements. By adopting a more holistic approach to these modalities, Can seeks to address gaps in our understanding of how emotions are conveyed. Can enjoys playing and watching basketball, running, and eating with love. 

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Research Assistants (2025 – 2026)

  • Alara Kaplanoğlu
  • Beril Kılıç
  • Berkay Bayram
  • Betül Karaağaç
  • Cansu Özdaş
  • Cemre Gülenç
  • Deniz Derin
  • Ece Gülüm
  • Ekin Melek Bulak
  • Emre Köseoğlu
  • Esma Kökten
  • Gökhan Aksoy
  • Işıl Paker
  • İlhan Emre Yavuz
  • Lale Rzayev
  • Merve Çobanoğlu
  • Merve Şahin
  • Sedef Nur Özmen
  • Yüsra Cebeci
  • Zeynep Arabacı
  • Zeynep Tezcan

 

Research Assistants from Other Universities (2024 – 2025)

  • Ahmet Egemen Kaya, İstanbul University
  • Selinay Kandemir, Boğaziçi University
  • Gülçin Gürçınar, Manchaster University

Dila Aleyna Falay

MA in Psychology, 2025 (Thesis on the role of metaphors in bilingual gestures and speech)

Currently, Ph.D. student at Warwick University

Can Avcı

MA in Psychology, 2024 (Thesis on the role of disfluencies and gestures in knowledge judgments of others)

Currently, Ph.D. student at Koç University

Hazal Civelek

MA in Psychology, 2024 (Thesis on emotional language use in preschoolers)

Currently, Ph.D. student at George Mason University

Nevin Gamze Şilit

MA in Psychology, 2024 (Thesis on the influence of event type and frequency on episodic details and gesture use)

Begüm Yılmaz

MA in Psychology, 2024 (Thesis on the role of gestures and disfluencies in metacognitive processes)

Currently, Ph.D. student at Koç University

İbrahim Akkan

MA in Psychology, 2023 (Thesis on foreign language effect on personal narratives and the role of gesture production)

Currently, Ph.D. student at Koç University

Dr. Burcu Arslan

Ph.D. in Psychology, 2023 (Thesis on understanding gesture-speech interaction
through the lens of gestures)

Salih Can Özdemir

MA in Psychology, 2023 (Thesis on combining forces for casual reasoning)

Currently, Ph.D. student at University of California, San Diego, USA

Şeref Can Esmer

MA in Psychology, 2023 (Thesis on sources of variation in preschoolers)

Currently, Ph.D. student at Yale University, New Heaven, USA

Dr. Demet Özer

Post-doctoral fellow (2021-2022)

Currently, Asst. Prof. at Bilkent University, Istanbul

Ceylan Beşevli

Ph.D. in Design and Society, 2022 (Thesis on design considerations for young children’s magnitude understanding)

Co-advised by Prof. Oğuzhan Özcan and Assoc. Prof Tilbe Göksun

Currently a Post-doctoral researcher at UCL, Multi-Sensory Research Group

Işıl Doğan

MA in Psychology, 2022 (Thesis on children’s iconic gesture comprehension)

Currently Ph.D. student at University of California, Davis, USA

Esma Asalıoğlu

MA in Psychology, 2022 (Thesis on emotion understanding and gestures)

Zeynep Adıgüzel

MA in Psychology, 2021 (Thesis on Turkish-learning children’s recency bias)

Erim Kızıldere

MA in Psychology, 2021 (Thesis on pretend play and language development)

Currently Ph.D. student at University of California, Davis, USA

Mert Kobaş

MA in Psychology, 2021 (Thesis on object exploration and spatial language development)

Currently Ph.D. student at New York University, USA

Aslı Yurtsever

MA in Psychology, 2021 (Thesis on bilingualism and inference-making)

Currently Ph.D. student at Iowa State University, USA

Ezgi Bilgin

MA in Psychology, 2020 (Thesis on the interplay between language and memory)

Currently Ph.D. student at Cornell University, USA

Sümeyra Saatçi

MA in Psychology, 2019 (Thesis on Parkinson’s Disease and gesture)

Currently Clinical Psychology MA student at Koç University

Zeynep Aslan

MA in Psychology, 2019 (Thesis on emotion and language)

Currently Ph.D. student at University of Chicago, USA

Junko Kanero 

Postdoctoral fellow (2016-1018)

Currently Asst. Prof. at Sabancı University, Istanbul

Aslı Aktan Erciyes

Postdoctoral fellow (2017-2018)

Currently Asst. Prof. at Kadir Has University, Istanbul

Gökçe Elif Baykal

Ph.D. in Design, Technology, and Society, 2018 (Dissertation on tangibles and spatial learning)

After the lab postdoctoral fellow at Aarhus University, Denmark

Currently Asst. Prof. at Özyeğin University

Seda Akbıyık

MA in Psychology, 2018 (Thesis on color categorization and language)

Currently Ph.D. student at Harvard University, USA

Hazal Kartalkanat

MA in Psychology, 2018 (Thesis on gesture and memory)

Eylül Turan 

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Honors Thesis  (2016-2018)

After the lab MS student at the Brain and Cognitive Sciences in University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Currently Ph.D. student at KU Leuven

Can Çarkoğlu

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Honors Thesis  (2015-2018)

After the lab MA student at the University of Chicago, USA

Currently Ph.D. student at Purdue University

Orhun Uluşahin

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Honors Thesis  (2015-2018)

After the lab MSc Student in Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Radboud University, Netherlands

Currently Ph.D. student at Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics at Nijmegen

Erim Kızıldere

Undergraduate Research Assistant (2016-2018)

Currently MA student at Koç University Psychology program

Yağmur Deniz Kısa

Undergraduate Research Assistant (2015-2017)

Currently Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago, USA

(Fulbright Scholarship recipient)

Dilara Avdagiç

Undergraduate Research Assistant (2015-2017)

After the lab MA Student in Family Therapy Program at Özyeğin University, Istanbul

(Fulbright Scholarship recipient)

Ezgi Mamus 

Research Assistant (2016-2017)

Currently Ph.D. student at Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics, Netherlands

Ege Ekin Özer 

Undergraduate Research Assistant (2015-2017)

Currently Ph.D. Student in University of Pompeu Fabra, Spain

Vasfiye Geçgin 

Postdoctoral Researcher (2016-2017)

Niloofar Akhavan

MA in Psychology, 2016 (Thesis on motion events in Farsi)

Currently Ph.D. student at UCSD and San Fransisco State University, CA, USA

Demet Özer

MA in Psychology, 2016 (Thesis on language and duration perception)

Currently Ph.D. student at Koç University

Deniz Çetin

Honors Student  (2015-2016)

After the lab MA Student at Leiden University, Netherlands

Melis Çetinçelik

Honors Student  (2015-2016)

After the lab MA Student at University of Amsterdam, Netherlands

Currently Ph.D. student at Max Planck Institute of Psycholinguistics at Nijmegen

Ayşenur Karaduman

MA in Cognitive Psychology, 2015 (Thesis on narrative production in focal brain injury)

Currently Ph.D. student at Bilkent University, Ankara

Esra Nur Çatak

MA in Cognitive Psychology, 2015 (Thesis on body specificity hypothesis and gestures)

Currently Ph.D. student at Bilkent University, Ankara

Aslıhan Bağcı

Undergraduate Independent Study Student (2014-2015)

After the lab MA in Applied Developmental Psychology Program at Özyeğin University, Istanbul

Sevgi Bahtiyar

Undergraduate Research Assistant, Honors Thesis  (2014-2015)

Currently Ph.D. Student in Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Radboud University, Netherlands

İdil Bostan

Undergraduate Research Assistant (2014-2015)

After the Lab  Research Assistant at Koç University Arçelik Research Center for Creative Industries  

MSc Student in Cognitive Neuroscience Program at Radboud University, Netherlands

Ceylin Ertekin 

Undergraduate Independent Study Student, Honors Thesis (2014-2015)

Currently works at UX division of Arçelik

After the Lab – MA Student at University of South California, USA

Summer Research Assistants from Other Universities

2019

Elif Erkekli (İstanbul University)

Mahmut Kurupınar (Boğaziçi University)

Gülfem Sarı (Ege University)

Yağmur Şentürk (Sabancı University)

2018

Alp Domaniç (Sabancı University)

Nesli Aslan (Sabancı University)

Feyza Nur Dik (Boğaziçi University)

Bartuğ Çelik (Bilkent University)

2016

Ayça Başçı (Bilkent University)

Buse Ölmez (Özyeğin University)

Mehmet Arda Güneyi (Boğaziçi University)

2015

İdil Alaftar (Bilkent University)

Benay Başkurt (Bilkent University)

Gülipek Candan (University of British Columbia, Canada)

Hilal Demircan (Boğaziçi University)

Melike Hazır (Boğaziçi University)

Atakan Kaya (Boğaziçi University)

Aziz Gürkan Tan (Uludağ University)

2014

Gürer Gündöndü (St. Johns College, USA)

Asst. Prof. Dilay Z. Karadöller (Middle East Technical University, Department of Psychology) https://avesis.metu.edu.tr/dilayk

Asst. Prof. Demet Özer (Bilkent University, Department of Psychology) https://psy.bilkent.edu.tr/?page_id=6808

Asst. Prof. Aslı Aktan-Erciyes (Kadir Has University, Department of Psychology) http://www.asliaktanerciyes.com/

Prof. İpek Akman (Bahçeşehir University Medical School, Department of Neonatalogy) https://www.ipekakman.com.tr/

Asst. Prof. Çağla Aydın (Sabancı University,  Department of Psychology) https://fass.sabanciuniv.edu/tr/cagla-aydin

Prof. Fuat Balcı (Koç University, Department of Psychology) https://tmdmlab.ku.edu.tr/

Prof. Anjan Chatterjee  (University of Pennsylvania, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience)  http://ccn.upenn.edu/chatterjee/

Asst. Prof. Ece Demir-Lira (University of Iowa, Department of Psychology)https://demir-lira.lab.uiowa.edu/

Asst. Prof. Nate George (Adelphi University, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies) http://www.nathanrgeorge.com/

Asst. Prof. Yasemin Kisbu-Sakarya (Koç University, Department of Psychology)https://www.yaseminkisbu.com/

Assoc. Prof. Alex Kranjec  (Duquesne University, Department of Psychology) https://sites.google.com/site/alexanderkranjec/

Prof. Aylin Küntay  (Koç University, Department of Psychology) http://www.aylinkuntay.com/

Prof. Oğuzhan Özcan  (Koç University, Department of Media and Visual Arts – Design Lab) http://designlab.ku.edu.tr/

Prof. Julio Santiago (University of Granada, Department of Psychology) http://www.ugr.es/~santiago/

Assoc. Prof. Leher Singh (National University of Singapore, Department of Psychology)https://blog.nus.edu.sg/babytalk/people/prof/ 

Asst. Prof. Asım Evren Yantaç (Koç University, Department of Media and Visual Arts – Design Lab)  http://www.asmevren.com//

Publications

  • Yılmaz, B., Karakaş, S., Göksun, T., & Demir-Lira, Ö. E. (2026). The Links Between Spatial and Math Skills in Preterm and Full-Term Children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1–26. 
  • Akkan, İ., Aydın, Ç, Gülgöz, S., & Göksun, T. (in press). Talking hands, shifting tongues: How using co-speech gestures and second language relate to emotional autobiographical memory narration? Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
  • Özer, D. #, Soyman, E. #, Badakul, A. N., Arslan, B., Yılmaz, F. S., & Göksun, T. (in press). Neural integration of speech and co-speech iconic gestures across L1-Turkish and L2 English: An ERP study. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General (# co-first authorship)
  • Hyusein, G. & Göksun, T. (in press). Thinking creatively in two languages: Effects of imagery vividness, foreign language proficiency, and hand gestures. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.
  • Ceylan, S. C., Özer, D., & Göksun, T. (2026). Retellings of emotional narratives: The dynamics of gesture characteristics in diverse emotional contexts. Cognition and Emotion, 40, 446-458.
  • Callizo, C., Casasanto, D., Chahboun, S., Göksun, T., Gu, Y., Kranjec, A., Ouellet, M., Tutnjevic, S., & Santiago, J. (2026). Deus ex machina: The influence of the arrival COVID-19 pandemic on young adults’ religiosity, value temporal focus, and time spatialization across cultures. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 18, 19-31.
  • Aktan-Erciyes, A. & Göksun, T. (2025). A longitudinal study on the development of narrative skills in L1-Turkish monolingual and L1-Turkish L2-English bilingual children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 46, e45, 1-32.
  • Avcı, C., Özer, D., Eskenazi, T., & Göksun, T.(2025). Judging others’ knowledge: Effects of speech disfluencies and gesture. Cognitive Science, 49, e70144.
  • Özcan, Ş. M., Göksun, T., & Kisbu, Y. (2025). The impact of learning to code on higher-order executive functions: A systematic review of the literature. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 57, 1276-1305.
  • Akbuğa, E., & Göksun, T. (2025). Spatial metaphors of time elicit more temporal gestures in second language. Cognitive Processing, 26, 947-962.
  • Hyusein, G.*, & Göksun, T. (2025). The role of non-representational gestures in creative thinking. Languages, 10, 206.
  • Doğan, I., Kobaş, M., Kızıldere, E., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Demir-Lira, E., Akman, İ., & Göksun, T. (2025). Parental multimodal input on language development in preterm and full-term infants. Language Learning and Development, 21, 347-373.
  • Akkan, İ., Esmer, Ş. C., Doğan, I., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Demir-Lira, E., & Göksun, T. (2025). Narratives of preterm and full-term children: Analyses of micro and macrostructure dimensions. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 43, 817-833.
  • Karadöller, D., Demir-Lira, Ö. E., & Göksun, T. (2025). Full-term children with lower vocabulary scores receive more math input multimodally than preterm children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 26, 630-650.
  • Ger, E., Ibbotson, P., Göksun, T. (2025). The relationship between cognitive and morphological skills in Turkish kindergarten children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 26, 558-578.
  • Özer, D., Özyürek, A., & Göksun, T. (2025). Spatial and verbal skills modulate comprehension of spatial language depending on the semantic relation with speech and gesture. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 32, 1639-1653.
  • Yurtsever, A., Göksun, T., & Gülgöz, S. (2025). Bilinguals’ logical inference making and language tagging. International Journal of Bilingualism, 29, 903-922.
  • Yilmaz, B., Furman, R., Göksun, T., & Eskenazi, T. (2025). Speech disfluencies and hand gestures as metacognitive cues. Cognitive Science, 49, e70093.
  • Demir-Lira, Ö. E., & Göksun, T. (2025). Through thick and thin: Gesture and speech remain as an integrated system in atypical development. Topics in Cognitive Science, 17, 508-526.
  • Kobaş, M., Demir-Lira, Ö. E., Akman, İ., & Göksun, T. (2025). Spatial language development in preterm and full-term infants: The role of object exploration and parents’ spatial input. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 256, 106264.
  • Göksun, T. (2025). Variations in early relational vocabulary development: How do children become language-specific users? European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 22, 353-374.
  • Göksun, T., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Karadöller, D., Demir-Lira, Ö. E. (2025). Multifaceted nature of early vocabulary development: Connecting child characteristics with parental input types. Child Development Perspectives, 19, 30-37.
  • Arslan, B., Göksun, T., & Akçay, Ç. (2025). Does source reliability moderate the survival processing effect? The role of linguistic markers as reliability cues. Memory and Cognition, 53, 666-681.
  • Kızıldere, E. & Göksun, T. (2025). Playing minds: Parental pretend play input and infants’ vocabulary development. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 49, 26-37.
  • Esmer, Ş., Turan, E., Karadöller, D., & Göksun, T. (2025). Sources of variation in preschoolers’ relational reasoning: The interaction between language use and working memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 252, 106149.
  • Yılmaz, B., Doğan, I., Karadöller, D., Demir-Lira, Ö. E., & Göksun, T. (2025). Children’s early math achievement: The role of gesture use and parental attitudes towards math. Cognitive Development, 73, 101531.
  • Farmer, I., Nelson, P. M., Göksun, T. & Demir-Lira, Ö. E. (2025). The role of verbal and spatial skills in basic numerical processing differs for preterm versus term-born preschoolers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 251, 106128.
  • Doğan, I., Özer, D., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Furman, R., Demir-Lira, Ö. E., Özçalışkan, Ş., & Göksun, T. (2024). The link between early gesture comprehension and receptive language. Infant and Child Development, 33, e2552.
  • Özdemir, S. C.*, Aktan-Erciyes, A., & Göksun, T. (2024). Parental use of causal language for preterm and full-term children: A longitudinal study. Journal of Child Language, 51, 1370-1394.
  • Güneş-Acar, N., Göksun, T., & Tekcan, A. (2024). Details in hand: How does gesturing relate to autobiographical memory? Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 10, 1310-1324.
  • Aslan, Z., Özer, D., & Göksun, T. (2024). Exploring Emotions Through Co-speech Gestures: The Caveats and New Directions. Emotion Review, 16(4), 265-275
  • Aktan-Erciyes, A., Ger, E., & Göksun, T. (2024). Influences of early and intense L2 exposure on L1 causal verb production: Comparison of 5-, 7-, and 9-year-old bilingual and monolingual children. First Language, 44(5), 474-492.
  • Esmer, Ş. C., Kızıldere, E., & Göksun, T. (2023). Smashing verb learning through parental sound symbolic input in preterm and full-term children. Language Acquisition, 31(3–4), 284–305.
  • Güneş Acar, N., Göksun, T., & Tekcan, A. İ. (2024). Details in hand: how does gesturing relate to autobiographical memory? Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 1–15.
  • Özcan, M. Ş., Göksun, T., & Kisbu, Y. (2024). The impact of learning to code on higher-order executive-functions: a systematic review of the literature. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 1–29.
  • Arslan, B., Göksun, T., & Akçay, Ç. (2024). Does source reliability moderate the survival processing effect? The role of linguistic markers as reliability cues. Memory & Cognition, 1-16.
  • Yurtsever, A., Göksun, T., & Gülgöz, S. (2024). Bilingual false recognition: Examining inferences and language tagging in the dual-language context. International Journal of Bilingualism, 0(0).
  • Arslan, B., Avcı, C., Yılmaztekin, A., & Göksun, T. (2024). Do bilingual adults gesture when they are disfluent?: Understanding gesture-speech interaction across first and second languages. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 39(5), 571–583.
  • Hyusein, G., & Göksun, T. (2024). Give your ideas a hand: the role of iconic hand gestures in enhancing divergent creative thinking. Psychological Research, 88(4), 1298-1313.
  • Arslan, B., Göksun, T., & Akçay, Ç. (2024). Does source reliability moderate the survival processing effect? The role of linguistic markers as reliability cues. Memory & Cognition, 1-16.
  • Demir-Lira, Ö. E., & Göksun, T. (2024). Through thick and thin: Gesture and speech remain as an integrated system in atypical development. Topics in Cognitive Science, 1–19.
  • Arslan, B., Ng, F., Göksun, T., & Nozari, N. (2024). Trust my gesture or my word: How do listeners choose the information channel during communication? Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(4), 674–686.
  • Akbuğa, E., & Göksun, T. (2024). Temporal gestures in different temporal perspectives. Cognitive Science, 48, e13425.
  • Çapan, D., Furman, R., Göksun, T., & Eskenazi, T. (2024). Hands of confidence: When gestures increase confidence in spatial problem solving. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77, 257-277
  • Akbuğa, Y. E. & Göksun, T. (2024). The role of spatial words in the spatialization of time. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 77, 383-392
  • Özdemir, S. C., Aktan-Erciyes, A., & Göksun, T. (2023). Parental use of causal language for preterm and full-term children: A longitudinal study. Journal of Child Language, 1–25.
  • Esmer, Ş. C., Kızıldere, E., & Göksun, T. (2023). Smashing verb learning through parental sound symbolic input in preterm and full-term children. Language Acquisition, 31(3–4), 284–305.
  • Arslan, B., Özer, D., & Göksun, T. (2023). Grammatical complexity and gesture production of younger and older adults. Dilbilim Araştırmaları Dergisi, 34, 201-216.
  • Bilgin, E., Adıgüzel, Z., Göksun, T., & Gülgöz, S. (2023). The cost of changing language
    context: The language-dependent recall of fictional stories. Memory and Cognition, 51, 1607-1622.
  • İleri, Ç. İ., Erşan, M., Kalaça, D., Coşkun, A., Göksun, T., & Küntay, A. C. (2023). Malleability of spatial skills: Bridging developmental psychology and toy design for joyful STEAM learning. Frontiers in Psychology (Developmental Psychology), 14.
  • Arslan, B., Aktan-Erciyes, A., & Göksun, T. (2023). Gesture production and speech disfluency in bilingual and monolingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition.
  • Balcı, F., Baykal, G. E., Göksun, T., Kisbu-Sakarya, Y., & Yantaç, E. (2023). My Creative World (MCW): Improving creative thinking in elementary school-aged children. Creativity Research Journal.
  • Özer, D., Karadöller, D., Özyürek, A., & Göksun, T. (2023). Gestures cued by demonstratives in speech guide listeners’ visual attention during spatial language comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 152, 2623-2635.
  • Asalıoğlu, E., & Göksun, T. (2023). The role of hand gestures in emotion communication: Do type and size of gestures matter? Psychological Research, 87, 1880-1898.
  • Özdemir, S. C., George, N., Göksun, T. (2023). Combining forces for causal reasoning:
  • Children’s predictions about physical interactions. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 234, 105711.
  • Hyusein, G., & Göksun, T. (2023). The creative interplay between hand gestures, convergent thinking, and mental imagery. PLOS One, 18(4), e0283859.
  • Aydın, Ç., Göksun, T., Ötenen, E, Tanış, S. B., & Şentürk, Y. D. (2023). The role of gestures in autobiographical memory. PLOS One.18(2), e0281748.
  • Asalıoğlu, E., & Göksun, T. (2023). The role of hand gestures in emotion communication: Do type and size of gestures matter? Psychological Research.
  • Özder, L. E., Özer, D., & Göksun, T. (2023). Gesture use in L1-Turkish and L2-English: Evidence from emotional narrative retellings. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology.
  • Aktan-Erciyes, A., Akbuğa, Y. E., Kızıldere, E., & Göksun, T. (2023). Motion event representation in L1-Turkish vs. L2-English speech and gesture: Relations to eye movements for event components. International Journal of Bilingualism, 27, 61-86.
  • Aktan-Erciyes, A., & Göksun, T. (2023). Early parental causal language input is associated with later child causal verb understanding. Journal of Child Language, 50, 177-197.
  • Singh, L., Göksun, T., Hirsh-Pasek, K, & Golinkoff, R. M. (2023). Sensitivity to visual cues within motion events in monolingual and bilingual infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 227, 105582.
  • Kobaş, M., Kızıldere, E., Doğan, I., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Demir-Lira, Ö., Akman, İ., & Göksun, T. (2023). Motor skills, language development, and visual processing in preterm and full-term infants. Current Psychology, 1-13.
  • Kızıldere, E., Esmer, Ş. C., & Göksun, T. (2022). From woof woof to dog: Interactions between parents’ use of sound symbolic words and infants’ vocabulary development. Infancy, 27, 972-996.
  • Ünlütabak, B., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Yılmaz, D., Kandemir, S., Göksun, T. (2022). Parental input during shared book reading and toddlers’ elicited and spontaneous communicative interactions. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 81, 101436.
  • Aktan-Erciyes, A., Akbuğa, Y. E., Dik, F. N., & Göksun, T. (2022). Linguistic and nonlinguistic evaluation of motion events in a path-focused language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 43, 829-865.
  • Beşevli, C., Genç, H. U., Coşkun, A., Göksun, T., Yemez, Y., & Özcan, O. (2022). 2HandTouch: A user centered design process for hand specific on-skin gestures in the kitchen. Design Journal, 22, 353-373.
  • Callizo, C., Tutnjevic, S., Pandza, M., Ouellet, M., Kranjec, A., Ilic, S., Gu, Y., Göksun, T., Chahboun, S., Casasanto, D., & Santiago, J. (2022). Does time extend into the past and the future symmetrically or asymmetrically? A cross-cultural study. Language and Cognition, 14, 275-302.
  • Avcı, C., Arslan, B., & Göksun, T. (2022). Gesture and speech disfluency in narrative context: Disfluency rates in spontaneous, restricted, and encouraged Gesture Conditions. In J. Culbertson, A. Perfors, H. Rabagliati, & V. Ramenzoni (Eds.), Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. Austin, TX: Cognitive Science Society.
  • Ger, E., Küntay, A., Göksun, T., Stoll, S., & Daum, M. (2022). Do typological differences in the expression of causality influence preschool children’s causal event construal? Language and Cognition, 1-24. doi:10.1017/langcog.2021.26.
  • Ger, E., You, G., Küntay, A., Göksun, T., Stoll, S., & Daum, M. M. (2022). General route to productivity: Evidence from Turkish morphological causatives. Cognitive Science, 46, e13210.
  • Arslan, B., & Göksun, T. (2022). Aging, Gesture Production, and Disfluency in Speech: A Comparison of Younger and Older Adults. Cognitive Science, 46(2), e13098.
  • Akbıyık, S., Göksun, T., & Balcı, F. (2022). Elucidating the Common Basis for Task‐Dependent Differential Manifestations of Category Advantage: A Decision Theoretic Approach. Cognitive Science, 46(1), e13078.
  • Kanero, J., Oranç, C., Koşkulu, S., Kumkale, T., Göksun, T., & Küntay, A. C. (2022). Are robots for everyone? The influence of attitudes, anxiety, and personality on robot-led language learning. International Journal of Social Robotics, 14, 297-312.
  • Aktan-Erciyes, A., & Göksun, T. (2021). Early parental causal language input predicts children’s later causal verb understanding. Journal of Child Language, 1-21.
  • Göksun, T., Özer, D., & Akbıyık, S. (2021). Gesture in the Aging Brain. In A. Morgenstern & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.), Gesture in Language: Development across the lifespan. De Gruyter Mouton.
  • Ger, E., Stuber, L., Küntay, A., Göksun, T., Stoll, S., & Daum, M. M. (2021). Influence of causal language on causal reasoning: A comparison of Swiss-German and Turkish. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology.
  • Kobaş, M., Aktan-Erciyes, A., & Göksun, T. (2021). Fine motor abilities and parental input of spatial features predict object word comprehension of Turkish-learning children. Infant and Child Development. 
  • Özcan, M. Ş., Çetinkaya, E., Göksun, T., & Kisbu-Sakarya, Y. (2021). Does learning coding influence cognitive skills of elementary school children? Findings from a randomized experiment. British Journal of Educational Psychology.
  • Clingan-Siverly, S., Nelson, P., Göksun, T., Demir-Lira, E. (2021). Spatial thinking in term and preterm-born preschoolers: Relations to parent-child speech and gesture. Frontiers in Psychology, 19, 923.
  • Söğüt, M., Göksun, T., Altan-Atalay, A. (2021). The role of numerical ability on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task performances of 5- to 8-year-old children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39, 231-246.
  • Turan, E., Kobaş, M., & Göksun, T. (2021). Spatial language and mental transformation in preschoolers: Does relational reasoning matter? Cognitive Development, 57, 100980.
  • Arslan, B., & Göksun, T. (2021). Aging, working memory, and mental imagery: Understanding gestural communication in younger and older adults. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 74, 29-44.
  • Callizo, C., Tutnjevic, S., Pandza, M., Ouellet, M., Kranjec, A., Ilic, S., Gu, Y., Göksun, T., Chahboun, S., Casasanto, D., & Santiago, J. (2020). Temporal focus and time spatialization across cultures. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 26, 1247-1258.
  • Demir-Lira, E., Kanero, J., Oranç, C., Koşkulu, S., Franko, İ., Göksun, T., & Küntay, A. (2020). L2 vocabulary teaching by social robots: The role of gestures and on-screen cues as scaffolds. Frontiers in Education.
  • Özer, D., & Göksun, T. (2020). Gesture use and processing: A review on individual differences in cognitive resources. Frontiers in Psychology.
  • Arslan, B., & Göksun, T. (2020). Understanding Multimodal Communication: Gesture Production and Disfluency in Speech. Gesture and Speech in Interaction (GESPIN) Conference.
  • Aktan-Erciyes, A., Göksun, T., Tekcan, A., & Aksu-Koç, A. (2020). Thinking-for-Speaking in Bilingual and Monolingual Children Bidirectional Effects of L1-Turkish and L2-English. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism.
  • Kızıldere, E., Aktan-Erciyes, A., Tahiroğlu, D., & Göksun, T. (2020). A multidimensional investigation of pretend play and language competence: Concurrent and longitudinal relations in preschoolers. Cognitive Development, 54, 100870.
  • Özer, D. & Göksun, T. (2020). Visual-spatial and verbal abilities differentially affect processing of gestural vs. spoken expressions. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 35, 896-914.
  • Akbıyık, S., Göksun, T., & Balcı, F. (2020). Cathodal tDCS stimulation of left anterior temporal lobe eliminates cross-category color discrimination response time advantage. Behavioral Brain Research, 391, 112682.
  • Oranç, C., Baykal, G.E., Kanero, J., Küntay, A., & Göksun, T. (2020). A look into the future: How digital tools advance language development. In K. Rohlfing & C. Müller-Brauers (Eds.), International Perspectives on Digital Media and Early Literacy: The Impact of Digital Devices on Learning, Language Acquisition and Social Interaction.
  • Buruk, O.T., Özcan, O., Baykal, G.E., Göksun, T., Acar, S., et al. (2020). Children in 2077: Designing children’s technologies in the age of transhumanism. In Proceedings of alt.CHI (CHI 2020).
  • Kartalkanat, H., & Göksun, T. (2020). The effects of observing different gestures during storytelling on the recall of path and event information in 5-year-olds and adults. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 189, 104725.

Research

In this line of research we examine language and thought relation focusing on different areas such as time-space relation, time perception, spatial events, and metaphors. Our goal is to figure out the role of language in various cognitive processes. Below are  some of our projects in this area:

Spatial events: Languages vary in how they encode motion elements. A motion event consists of four semantic components; figure (the actor of the action), ground (where the action occurs), path (the trajectory of the action), and manner (how the action is performed). In a series of studies we examine how individuals speaking different languages encode motion elements and whether gestural expressions resemble the spoken expressions. 

Time-space interaction: Languages use various ways to express temporal relations between two time points or to describe the length of a given time. It is difficult to talk about time without benefiting from more concrete domains like space. Temporal concepts are described using these spatial metaphors such as “time flies.” In the last decade, a large amount of research has been conducted to investigate how people speaking different languages perceive and talk about time, the relation between spatial and temporal concepts, and how it develops through childhood. Yet, there are comparatively fewer studies that examine how people use other modalities such as spontaneous gestures to represent various temporal concepts. Here we examine the mapping of time onto space (metaphoric expressions) in monolingual and bilingual individuals’ verbal and gestural expressions.

Gesture and cognitive processes: Gestures reflect thought processes when people talk about spatial information, such as giving directions or describing motions, and reveal information about problem solving strategies. In several studies, we examine the role of gestures in both thinking and communicating about spatial information. We compare low and high-spatial individuals’ performance on tasks based on gesture use as well as comparing various age groups and populations. We not only test gesture production but also multimodal comprehension. In this research line we examine how people integrate information from different modalities (verbal and gestural), the factors that may influence this integration, and individual differences in using these resources.

Our neuropsychology of language work mainly focuses on how unilateral brain-injured patients comprehend and use language, the role of gestures in these processes, and the brain lesion correlate with these processes. We follow a cross-linguistic approach and examine speakers of different languages. Below are the some of our projects in this area:

This line of research mainly focuses on how unilateral brain-injured patients comprehend and use language, the role of gestures in these processes, and the brain lesions correlating with these processes. In our new line of research, we investigate different patient groups such as individuals with Parkinson’s Disease and individuals with Schizophrenia. To understand neural correlates of different levels of event representations (verbal and gestural), we use a voxel-lesion symptom mapping analysis as well as case statistics. We again follow a cross-linguistic approach and test different language groups. This line of research tells us the nature of language and thought relation and how changes in one cognitive process can influence the other.

Gallery

News

Information on KU Summer Research Program 2026!

Language and Cognition Lab is now accepting applications for Koç University Summer Research Program!

Open to both undergraduate and graduate students

🗓️ Application deadline: 15 May 2026

For more info & application, click here.

Information on KU Summer Research Program 2024

Dear applicants, please be informed that unfortunately the Language & Cognition Lab will not accept interns/research assistants for the 2024 Summer Research program.

Şeref Can Esmer received his MA degree!

Şeref successfully defended his thesis titled “Sources of variation in preschoolers’ relational reasoning: The interaction between language use and working memory.” We congratulate his on her outstanding thesis and thank his for all her contributions to L&C Lab!

Şeref will continue his academic journey at Yale University as a PhD student!

Burcu Arslan received her PhD degree!

Burcu successfully defended her thesis titled “Understanding gesture-speech interaction through the lens of gestures’ self-oriented functions: Gesture production and speech disfluency.” We congratulate her on her wonderful thesis and thank her for all her contributions to L&C Lab!

Burcu will continue her academic journey at Koç University as a post-doctoral researcher!

Information on KU Summer Research Program 2023

Are you interested in the relationship between language and thought? Do you wonder about the role of language in development?

Language & Cognition Lab will be accepting interns for Summer 2023 as a part of KU Summer Research Program! The summer internship program will be held from July 3 to August 18.

The application deadline is April 28, 2023.

If you have any questions about the program, please get in touch with us through our e-mail address: kudilvebilislabi@gmail.com

13th Annual Budapest CEU Conference on Cognitive Development 2023

On January 5-7, we presented our work at BCCCD 2023! Dr. Dilay Z. Karadöller, Salih Özdemir, Şeref Can Esmer, and İbrahim Akkan presented our work at the conference.

Links

Other Developmental and Language Labs in Turkey

Contact

E-mail

lclabkoc@gmail.com

Address

Koç University College of Social Sciences and Humanities Language and Cognition Lab SOS B20