This Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences faculty member studies how the brain helps people understand one another—and how it adapts when its networks change.

A new University of Iowa study by associate professor Ece Demir-Lira suggests parents may be able to help children learn by pairing spoken words with hand gestures.

Ece Demir-Lira studies how children’s brains, environments, and relationships shape learning, with the goal of better understanding why children follow different developmental and academic paths.