Erik Thiessen

Erik Thiessen is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of Undergraduate Studies at Carnegie Mellon University's Department of Psychology, part of the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. His research focuses on cognitive science, developmental psychology, and learning mechanisms in infants and children. He investigates how statistical learning contributes to language acquisition and general learning processes across modalities.

Thiessen leads the Infant Language and Learning Lab, exploring topics like auditory pattern recognition, phonemic contrast usage, and bilingual advantages in statistical learning. He has published extensively on executive function, attention dynamics, and neuroimaging techniques in developmental research. Notably, he received a Guggenheim Fellowship for advancing interdisciplinary neuroscience.

His work integrates experimental methods with computational models (e.g., iMinerva), examining how infants and adults process linguistic and non-linguistic information. Recent studies address the role of prefrontal cortex connectivity, exergame interventions, and digital media's impact on attention and learning.