Hometown: St. Louis, Missouri
Faculty mentor: Bob McMurray, PhD, F. Wendell Miller Professor, Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences; Ethan Kutlu, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Linguistics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Degree program and anticipated graduation date: BS in psychology and BA in linguistics, May 2025

Hannah Franke contributes to a range of linguistics research on campus. Her primary focus is a research project that explores the effects of meaning-based priming of word recognition. Franke presents participants with a short story to assess if it will speed their recognition of a related word or slow their ability to recognize an unrelated word. The team uses eye-tracking to measure participants’ attention to various written words. Currently, they are expanding this project to explore if priming participants to recognize words that have related meanings can impact their ability to recognize words that also share sounds. This work could aid in developments in reading education or the treatment of processing disorders.

Franke intends to pursue a PhD to continue her research. She particularly hopes to investigate the science of conversation and storytelling through observational or experimental research focused on how the brain understands these things.

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