News
- Visiting Researcher at the SMARTcognition LabWe are very pleased to welcome Allegra Bixio as a guest PhD student and visiting researcher at the SMARTcognition Lab for the next 6 months. Allegra is a PhD student at the University of Genoa, affiliated with the Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering (DIBRIS). During her stay in Heidelberg, Allegra will contribute to our… Read more: Visiting Researcher at the SMARTcognition Lab
- New publication in Scientific ReportsWe are pleased to share that the article by Adriana Hanulíková, Freya Gastmann, and Sarah Schimke, “Experience and personality modulate pupillary responses during real-time processing of within-language accent shifts,” has been accepted for publication in Scientific Reports. The study investigates how listeners process accent variation within the same language in real time. Using pupillometry, the authors examine how… Read more: New publication in Scientific Reports
- New PhD Student Joins the SMARTcognition LabWe are delighted to welcome our new PhD student Hao Cui to the SMARTcognition Lab. Her research focuses on the perception of synthetic and robot speech, examining how such synthetic speech may influence language processing, learning, and social cognition. We are very happy to have her join the lab and look forward to the exciting… Read more: New PhD Student Joins the SMARTcognition Lab
- SMARTcognition Lab participates in Girls’ Day 2026On April 23, 2026, the SMARTcognition Lab will participate in Girls’ Day. In the workshop “A Day in the SMARTcognition Lab – Being a Researcher in Social Robotics, AI, and Multilingualism,” students will gain insights into our current research. Participants will explore our lab environment, learn about research at the intersection of social robotics, AI, and multilingualism, and experience… Read more: SMARTcognition Lab participates in Girls’ Day 2026
Research at the SMARTcognition Lab
The SMARTcognition Lab at the Institute of German as a Foreign Language Philology (IDF) encompasses the Eyetracking Lab (HULC Lab) and the SMART Lab. Together, we investigate how people perceive, learn, use, and evaluate language — taking into account social, regional, and linguistic variation, interactions with robots and AI, and a range of contextual conditions. Our work focuses on the cognitive processes involved, individual differences, and the influence of social networks.
Research Areas
01
Speech Perception in Diverse Contexts
We investigate how people perceive and evaluate spoken language across social, regional, and linguistic variation. Our focus includes monolingual and bilingual individuals as well as the processing of regional and foreign-language accents. We also examine how familiarity, cognitive demands, and social attributions shape speech perception.
02
Robots as Social Learning Partners
We explore how social robots can support learning processes as interactive partners, foster language development, and help investigate cognitive processes under controlled conditions. Our work also addresses ethical and child-centered aspects of human–robot interaction.
03
Individual Differences and Temperament
We examine how individual behavior and language abilities influence children’s learning processes in social interactions. We investigate how communication behavior and learning strategies change when children interact with familiar or unfamiliar partners, or when the learning context shifts.
04
Linguistic Variation and Social Networks
We study the characteristics and dynamics of an individual’s social networks in relation to their linguistic and communicative development, based on the perspective that language is acquired through social relationships and interaction.
Current Projects
P1
ECHO
Ethics in Child–Robot Interaction: Investigating and Co-Designing Role Configurations in Educational Settings
Social robots are increasingly being deployed in educational contexts — particularly with children as a vulnerable group. The ECHO project examines the ethical implications of social role configurations (e.g., learning partner, teacher, learner) and co-designs guidelines for responsible, human-centered AI applications in education.
P2
SoLEARN
SoLEARN – 4EU+ European University Alliance
As part of the 4EU+ European University Alliance, SoLEARN investigates linguistic and social learning in European educational contexts. The project connects partner universities and builds a shared research infrastructure for multilingual learning.
P3
Lectal Coherence
Lectal Coherence: Empirical and methodological cross-disciplinary perspectives
This project seeks to clarify the dynamic balance between lectal coherence, linguistic variability, and language change: while the former is essential for structural integrity and social orientation, the latter two enable adaptation and differentiation. To this end, a group of researchers from diverse disciplines and universities, specialising in various fields of linguistics, have collaborated to address this issue. The researchers involved in this project hail from a diverse range of academic backgrounds, including but not limited to the fields of computational linguistics, machine learning and artificial intelligence research, quantitative linguistics, phonetics and speech processing, psycholinguistics, contact linguistics, dialectology, and variationist sociolinguistics.
Current publications
2026
Experience and personality modulate pupillary responses during real-time processing of within-language accent shifts
Hanulíková, A., Gastman, F., & Schimke, S. – Scientific Reports
Speech perception Accent Cognition2026
Robot speech: How variability matters for child–robot interactions
Hanulíková, A., Tolksdorf, N. F., & Kapp, S. – Frontiers in Robotics and AI
HRI Speech Children2026
The relation between children’s shyness and their contingent dialogical actions when reacting to a social robot’s instructions
Tykhonenko, V., Tolksdorf, N. F., & Rohlfing, K. J. — Philosophical Transactions B
HRI Children Shyness2025
Grammatical gender in Slovak word production: An event-related potential study
Stolle, S. I., Hanulíková, A., & Schiller, N. O. — Language, Cognition and Neuroscience
Grammatik EEG CognitionTeam
Prof. Dr. Adriana Hanulíková
Dr. Nils Tolkdorf
Sarah Kapp
Hao Cui
Sandra Bogdadi
Ruiyun Wang
Yutong He
Christoph Jörger
Mohammed Arsh
Valeriia Didushok
Odette Lehman
Contact
Get in touch
Whether you are interested in our research, would like to explore a collaboration, or wish to participate in a study, we would be happy to hear from you.
Address
Institute of German as a Foreign Language Philology
Heidelberg University
Plöck 55
69117 Heidelberg