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Trisha Thomas is a postdoctoral research fellow in the Learning Media Lab at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, working under the supervision of Assistant Professor of Education Ying Xu. Her research focuses on how children interact with AI technologies, particularly how these systems can enhance language, literacy, and STEM learning in multilingual contexts. Thomas is especially interested in how automatic speech recognition processes the diverse speech patterns of multilingual children and how human-AI interaction influences cognitive development.
In collaboration with Xu, Thomas explores how conversational AI can serve as a learning companion for children, supporting both their social and cognitive development. She also examines the neural differences in how children respond to AI versus human partners during conversations. The Learning Media Lab is dedicated to empowering educators and families to shape AI technologies that reflect their linguistic and cultural values. Thomas' research contributes to this mission by ensuring that these tools are inclusive and effective for diverse communities, fostering meaningful engagement with AI in educational settings.
Before joining Harvard, Thomas began her postdoctoral research with Xu at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She completed her Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience at the Basque Center on Cognition, Brain, and Language in 2023. During her doctoral studies, her research focused on how the identity of an interlocutor — such as whether they are a native or non-native speaker — affects the listener's cognitive processes, including attention and memory. She used electrophysiological techniques to investigate how the brain processes speech from different types of speakers.