Lena JägerView profile
Professor
Lena Jäger is a Professor in the Department of Computational Linguistics at the University of Zurich (UZH). Her research focuses on the intersection of linguistics, computational cognitive science, and machine learning, particularly analyzing cognitive mechanisms underlying human language processing through experimental psycholinguistics, computational modeling, and NLP methods. She holds an MA in Chinese Language and Culture, an MSc in Experimental and Clinical Linguistics, a PhD in Cognitive Science, and a BSc in Computer Science. Prior to UZH, she led a Machine Learning Junior Research Group funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (2020) and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Potsdam. Her work emphasizes developing machine learning methods for analyzing eye-tracking data to uncover cognitive processes reflected in eye movements. Notable contributions include creating multilingual eye-tracking corpora (e.g., MultiplEYE, PoTeC) and advancing tools like pymovements for data processing. Her research spans applications in language comprehension, biometric identification, and clinical diagnostics (e.g., ADHD detection via eye movements). Education: BA/MA: Chinese Language and Culture (University of Freiburg, Tongji University, Beijing Language and Culture University, Université Paris 7) MSc: Experimental and Clinical Linguistics (University of Potsdam) PhD: Cognitive Science (University of Potsdam) BSc: Computer Science (concurrent with PhD) Awards: Machine Learning Junior Research Group Grant (2020). Labs/Teams: Leads computational linguistics and machine learning research groups at UZH, collaborating on projects like ScanDL and CoLAGaze. Her recent work bridges AI and cognitive science, exploring how language models emulate human reading behaviors and developing frameworks for ethical AI applications. Ongoing projects include improving fairness in biometric identification systems and analyzing individual differences in reading through synthetic data.









