Jessica Horst

It's a Pleasure to Meet You!

I am currently in my final year of graduate school in the Developmental Science training area in the Psychology Department at the University of Iowa. I began my research at Iowa working with both, my advisor, Larissa Samuelson, and also with Lisa Oakes. Over the course of the last few years I have also begun working closely with Bob McMurray on a dynamic connectionist network, which captures the empirical data I have collected for my pre-dissertation with Larissa Samuelson.

In my free time, I enjoy cooking and grilling. I try to attend as many plays and other cultural events as possible. This year I was elected Vice President of the Graduate Student Senate, so there is always something to keep me happily busy.

I have created several Research Materials I am interested in sharing. Please take a look and let me know if anything was helpful.

Graduate Student Profile.

How I Got To Where I Am Today

I have always loved language and thought -- from creative writing to discussing theories. My understanding of language changed dramatically, however, when I moved to Germany in 1991. I did not speak any German when we moved -- so I had no idea what I was getting myself into as a I learned this fascinating language. I vividly remember learning new words from overhearing other students around me use them in conversation as well as changing how I thought about things such as "discussion of curves" (aka "calculus").

In 1998, I graduated with my Abitur from the Paul-Klee-Gymnasium in the top 10% of my class and considered myself to be virtually bilingual. Between Germany and Iowa I was at Boston University, where I majored in Philosophy and Psychology and minored in German Languages and Literature. I completed my Senior Work for Distinction with Prof. Klaus Brinkmann in the Philosophy Department. My undergraduate philosophy classes further sparked my ever expanding interests in cognition and language acquisition. After taking a course on developmental research methods with Dr. Albert Caron, I decided to pursue a career in developmental research....

My Fast Mapping Dog

You may already be familiar with Rico the German Border Collie who showed evidence of fast mapping. My parents also have a collie over in Germany, though one that speaks English. The video of my dog performing a fast mapping trial can be found here.

More experiments with Dr. Watson.