About The Program

Asst. Prof. Ahu Gökçe

Dr. Gökçe has a B.A. degree in Psychology from Istanbul Bilgi University. She obtained her M.A and PhD degrees from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München in Neuro-cognitive Psychology and Experimental Psychology, respectively.

Her research focuses on visuospatial attention, selective visual attention, visual working memory, visual reasoning, ensemble representations, attention and food selection and the interplay between attention and emotional processes.

For more information: http://visualcoglab.khas.edu.tr

Assoc. Prof. Aslı Aktan-Erciyes

Dr. Aktan-Erciyes has a B.A. degree in Management from Boğaziçi University and completed her M.A. and PhD studies in Psychology at Boğaziçi University.

Dr. Aktan-Erciyes studies the interaction between language and cognition. In her research, she investigates how early and intense exposure to a second language affects the first language and vice versa. She is also interested in narrative development and event conceptualization. She runs Studies in Language and Bilingualism (SiLab) since September 2018. She has completed TÜBİTAK 3501 project and TÜBİTAK 1002 project, in which she examined the effects second language exposure on narrative development and the effects of written language on the time flow direction. In 2024, she started a TÜBİTAK 1001 project in which she will investigate causal and counterfactual language processes.

For more information: https://silab.khas.edu.tr/

Assoc. Prof. Aslı Çarkoğlu

Assoc. Prof. Çarkoğlu has a B.A. degree in Psychology from Boğaziçi University and obtained her M.A. and PhD degrees in Child Development and Family Studies from Purdue University.

Dr. Çarkoğlu’s research interests include interaction of chronic illnesses with family relationships (diabetes in specific), smoking, cessation, emergent adulthood and tobacco use. Dr. Çarkoğlu’s most recent familial focus point is impact of fathers on their child’s identity development.

For more information: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Asli_Carkoglu

Asst. Prof. Berna Uzundağ

Dr. Uzundağ obtained her B.S. degree in Computer Engineering from Boğaziçi University. She completed her M.A. degree in Cognitive Science at Boğaziçi University and her PhD degree in Psychology at Koç University.

Dr. Uzundağ is the director of the Child and Family Research Laboratory (http://cocukveaile.khas.edu.tr). Her research focuses on infants’ and children’s cognitive development (language, attention, executive functions) and related environmental factors (mother-child interactions, socioeconomic status, screen use).

For more information: http://www.bernaarslanuzundag.com

Assoc. Prof. Burak Doğruyol

Dr. Burak Doğruyol earned his M.Sc. degree in 2008 and Ph.D. degree in 2014 from Middle East Technical University.

He is a member of the Moral Intuitions Lab (MINT Lab; www.moralintuitionslab.com). His work focuses on the intersection between moral judgment and decision-making. More specifically, he tries to understand the cognitive underpinnings of moral judgments and behavior and improve the psychometric characteristics of the relevant measures and manipulations.

For more information: https://mintlab.khas.edu.tr/

Asst. Prof. Demet Özer

Dr. Demet Özer completed her BA degree in Business Administration and Psychology Double Major Program at Koç University, and her MA and PhD degrees in Cognitive Psychology, again at Koç University.

Dr. Özer is the director of the Multimodal Language Lab (MuLab). In her research, she aims to examine human communication in its situated, multimodal and interactive ecology, and examines the coordination of speech and different multimodal communicative signals (such as iconic hand gestures, eye gaze) during language and learning. Additionally, she conducts a TÜBİTAK 3501 National Young Researchers Career Development Program Project, where she investigates how speakers design their multimodal utterances according to their own and their addressees’ cognitive abilities across different contexts.

For more information: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Demet-Ozer

Asst. Prof. Gamze Turunç

Dr. Gamze Turunç completed her undergraduate and master’s education in Psychology at Middle East Technical University. She received her PhD in Developmental Psychology from Koç University.

Her research interests include well-being and socio-cognitive development of children, and determinants of parenting behaviors and parental well-being in vulnerable populations such as refugee families, families affected by armed conflict and families living in low and middle income countries.

For more information: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gamze-Turunc

Assoc. Prof. Onurcan Yılmaz

Dr. Yılmaz has a B.A. degree in Psychology from Yeditepe University. He holds two M.A. degrees in Psychological Sciences and Social Psychology from Boğaziçi University and Istanbul University, and a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Istanbul University.

Generally speaking, Dr. Yılmaz tries to understand the psychological causes and consequences of human morality. He founded and currently leads the Moral Intuitions Lab (https://www.moralintuitionslab.com). He also writes a regular scientific blog called “Moral Intuitions” for the website of a leading popular science magazine, Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/moral-intuitions).

Assoc. Prof. Sezin Öner

In her research, Dr. Öner explores the interplay between emotions and cognitive processes, particularly on mental time travel and the self. Her work particularly delves into the functional aspects of memory and how individual differences influence these processes, framed by the central question, "Why do we remember certain things, and why do we forget others?" Recently, Dr. Öner has expanded her research to explore how we remember the collective past and simulate the collective future. In her studies, she not only focuses on the Turkish collective memory, her, she also examines how global events are portrayed across different countries and identifies the individual factors that contribute to varying representations of these events. Dr. Öner's recent studies have centered on the personal and social impacts of major ongoing events like the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis. She intends to continue her work in this area, investigating how these large-scale issues affect memory and social cognition.

For more information: https://memoryemotionlab.wordpress.com/