Graduate Students
*Ordered by surnames*
Elif Müjdeci
Elif Müjdeci is a second-year Master’s student in Bilkent University Psychology Program under the supervision of Dr. Demet Özer. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Middle East Technical University, with a minor degree in Philosophy of Science and Logic. Her master’s research focuses on how gestures, as embodied tools, support working memory and the role of individual differences in this process. Additionally, she is working on a project about multimodal audience design with Dr. Özer, specifically examining the role of speaker- and listener-related factors in gesture and speech production.
Elif Orakçı
Elif Orakçı is a second-year PhD student in the Psychology Department at Kadir Has University, co-supervised by Dr. Demet Özer and Dr. Aslı Aktan-Erciyes. She also works as a research assistant in the Psychology Department at Istanbul University. She obtained both her BA and MA degrees in Psychology from Middle East Technical University. For her MA thesis, she examined the interaction between the perspective of gestures and children’s spatial performance on visuospatial maps. Her current research focuses on the internal and external factors that influence gesture use and comprehension, with a particular emphasis on audience design from a developmental perspective.
Ece Yılmaz
Ece Yılmaz completed her undergraduate studies at Kadir Has University and she is currently pursuing her Master’s degree at Kadir Has University, under the supervision of Dr. Demet Özer. Her research interests broadly include language and communication processes as well as spatial cognition. Specifically, she is interested in how listeners’ and speakers’ spatial cognitive resources interact with contextual factors and how these processes are reflected in the integration of gestures and speech. Currently, as part of her graduate studies at MuLab, she investigates how speakers adapt different spatial perspectives (e.g., ego- or listener-centered) and how gestures and speech are jointly employed in these processes. Beyond her academic work, Ece enjoys swimming and spending time with her dog in her free time.
Undergraduate Students
Can Dora Akcan
Dora is a third-year undergraduate student in the Psychology Department at Bilkent University. He serves as the President of the Bilkent Cognitive Science Society. He has been involved in MuLab for one year. His main interests lie in the behavioral and evolutionary perspectives of psychology and neuroscience. Outside of academia, he enjoys playing the guitar, repairing musical instruments, and collecting vinyl records.
İmge Algüner
İmge Algüner is a third-year Psychology student at Bilkent University. She serves as a board member of the Bilkent Cognitive Science Society and as the Vice President of the Bilkent Sports Enthusiasts Society. For the past year, she has been working as a research assistant at MuLab. She is currently working on Tübitak project led by Dr. Demet Özer, which examines multimodal language use strategies in the interaction between the cognitive characteristics of interlocutors. Her academic interests include clinical psychology, social psychology, and sports psychology.
Uras Bıyıklı
Uras Bıyıklı is a third-year Psychology student at Bilkent University. He serves on the executive board of the Bilkent Cognitive Science Society and has been a lab member at MuLaB since 2024 September. His interests include neuropsychology and the philosophy of mind.
Çağatay Büyükyumak
Çağatay Büyükyumak is a third-year Psychology student. He is interested in the functioning of language and in social psychology. In previous years, he volunteered in the project “Şiddetin İzleri 1” carried out within the Equal Generations Association and later worked as a Project Assistant in “Şiddetin İzleri 2.” He is currently an active board member of the Cognitive Science Club.
Vildan Kahveci
Vildan Kahveci is a third-year Psychology student at Bilkent University. For about a year, she has been working as a research assistant at MuLab. During this time, she has taken part in a TÜBİTAK project led by Dr. Demet Özer, which investigates multimodal language adaptations depending on the interaction between the cognitive characteristics of speakers and listeners. Her research interests include developmental psychology and cognitive psychology. She also volunteers in the Tomorrow Raising Project (Yarınları Yetiştirme Projesi) under the Community Involvement Projects (TDP) and serves as a board member of the Bilkent Cognitive Science Society.
Şeyma Mızraklı
Şeyma Mızraklı is a second-year student in Linguistics at Boğaziçi University. Her main research interests are language acquisition, multimodal communication, and the role of gestures in spatial language. She is also interested in how neurodivergent individuals acquire language and how cognition and language interact.
Elif İpek Özdemir
Elif İpek Özdemir is a third-year Psychology student at Bilkent University. She is mainly interested in clinical and developmental psychology. Her interest extends to how multimodal aspects of language interact with cognitive processes. She also is an active member of the Bilkent Cognitive Science Society.