Welcome to the Young Minds Research Lab!
Who we are
We are a non-profit research group at the University of Manitoba who studies human development. You may have met us in the community or on social media talking about research, healthy human development, and doing fun activities.
What we do
Human development is a multidisciplinary research area that spans across several fields, such as linguistics, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience. The goal is to understand how humans grow and change over time. We mainly do experimental research to understand the factors that affect how children think and reason. This means we play games with children or read them stories and then ask them questions after.
What we study
We are a multi-disciplinary lab who studies lots of different topics. Right now, we are hoping to learn more about how children think about and learn from technology. We also study related concepts like how children think about privacy in both physical and digital spaces, and how children make decisions. Sometimes we also do projects related to moral development and reasoning. Our goal is to fill critical knowledge gaps in how young children think and reason, so we can (one day) better support child development through appropriate policies and educational campaigns.
How you can help
We are always looking for families who may want to help with our projects so please consider signing up to hear about our research studies: Sign-Up to Help us do Science or visiting us at the Manitoba Museum at our Living Lab!
Our findings
You can see recent findings in the publications, or by reading our newsletters.
Our Team
Director
Shaylene Nancekivell (she/her)
Dr. Shaylene Nancekivell is an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba who directs the Young Minds Research Lab. She was previously an Assistant Professor at UNCG. Broadly, she is interested in understanding the nature of conceptual representations, specifically those (potentially) structured as intuitive theories. Right, now her primary interests center around how children and adults reason about digital contexts and possessions. But, as an educator, she has additional interests in people’s beliefs about learning Her work can be found in a wide range of developmental, cognitive science, and educational journals. She is currently funded by NSERC.
When she isn’t working, Shaylene enjoys speed skating, swimming with her daughter, and hiking in local parks with her family.
Learn more about recent papers here, or by sending her an email at shaylene.nancekivell@umanitoba.ca.
Postdoctoral Fellow
Anna-Elisabeth Baumann (she/her)
Dr. Baumann is a postdoctoral fellow in the Young Minds Research Lab. Previously, she worked with Dr. Susan Graham as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Calgary, and completed her Ph.D. at Concordia University, Montreal with Dr. Diane Poulin-Dubois. Dr. Baumann is interested in how children learn to trust in others and form social categories. In particular, she studies how children learn from and interact with new technologies, such as robots and AI.
In her free time, Anna enjoys antiquing and collecting as many trinkets as possible.
To see recent publications, please click HERE.
For more information, please contact anna.baumann@umanitoba.ca
Graduate Students
Ekam Banipal (she/her)
Ekam is a Ph.D. student in Experimental Psychology. She is interested in how kids make choices and the factors that affect how they feel about those choices. Other than conducting research, Ekam enjoys spending time with her family and friends and reading books.
Sarah Petriw (she/her)
Sarah is a Ph.D. student in Clinical Psychology. She is interested in how young children reason about privacy online (and offline). Specifically, she is studying if children believe privacy is important for happiness. Beyond school, Sarah enjoys yoga, hanging out with her dog, and reading.
Mark Dobrovolskyi (he/him)
Mark is pursuing a Masters in School Psychology. He aims to increase the inclusivity of children with diverse needs and promote evidence-based practices in education. His Master’s thesis focuses on how learning styles, a common learning myth, may impact how people think of students and the potential consequences of these perceptions. Beyond academia, Mark collects hobbies, like soccer, bowling, baseball, and recently, chess!
Kyla Sarmiento (she/her)
Kyla is pursuing a Masters in Psychology. She’s interested in mapping children’s beliefs about privacy. Specifically, she is interested in questions like what makes a space private to young children and when do young children understand entering other’s private spaces without permission is not acceptable. In her spare time, Kyla enjoys shopping, making t-shirts, reading, and anything pink.
Rebeca Urizar (she/her)
Rebeca is pursuing a Masters in Psychology. She’s interested in studying how social factors and emotional factors affect who people go to for personal advice compared to learning facts. In her spare time Rebeca likes to paint, do puzzles and advocate for animal welfare.
Lab Coordinators
Celeste Vermette (any pronouns) - Lab Manager
Celeste graduated from the University of Manitoba in June of 2026 with a B.A. Honours in Psychology and minor in Anthropology. Having completed their undergraduate thesis with the MINDLab in the Dept. of Psychology, they are interested in how language affects individual's lived experience and how to support second-language acquisition in young learners. Otherwise, they enjoy drawing and showing off their cat to anybody who asks.
Taylor French - Social Media Coordinator
Taylor is a B. A. Honours Psychology student. She joined the lab to gain valuable experience and expand her understanding of the clinical psychology field. Her interests centre around human development and behaviour modification.
Honours Thesis Students
Caleb Payment (he/him)
Caleb is an undergraduate student in the B.Sc. Honours Psychology program. He is interested in studying the reasons behind human behaviour and decision making. He joined the lab to learn the basis that children use to make decisions. Outside of school, Caleb enjoys playing hockey and basketball, watching Marvel movies, and learning about space.
Kiana Pagtakhan
Kiana is an undergraduate student in the B.A. Honours Psychology program. She joined the lab to get research experience and is happy she gets to do so by studying child development.
This could be you!
We are currently looking for undergraduate research assistants to join our lab.
Collaborators
We work with these amazing researchers:
Dr. Drew Weatherhead, Dalhousie University, Cognition and Language Learning Research Group
Dr. Jasmine DeJesus, UNCG, Development Culture Health Lab
Dr. Ori Friedman, University of Waterloo, Child Cognition Lab
Dr. Stephanie Denison, University of Waterloo, Developmental Learning Lab
Dr. Susan Gelman, University of Michigan, Conceptual Development Lab
Dr. Priti Shah, University of Michigan, Basic and Applied Cognition Lab
We also work closely with our Living Lab partner Manitoba Museum to bring research to the community.