Psychology

Education

• Ph.D., Psychology, Cornell University
• B.S., Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego

Courses taught

• Neurodivergence
• Introduction to Psychology

Research interests

Long silences or constant interruptions spoil a good chat. In casual conversations, the average gap between two individuals’ turns is around 250 milliseconds. Despite the incredibly tight time window, people, including infants, engage in these rapid back-and-forths effortlessly. How do we achieve that? Dr. Vivian Zhang’s research explores this question by examining conversational turn-taking across diverse developmental populations, including multilingual children and neurodivergent groups. Coming to Eckerd, she is thrilled about the potential to add a comparative perspective and analyze turn-taking dynamics in dolphin vocal communication.

Biography

Vivian Hanwen Zhang grew up in China in a multigenerational family with her parents and grandparents. She moved to San Diego, CA for her undergraduate studies at UCSD in 2015. She then relocated to the Bay Area for a research coordinator position at Stanford University, followed by a move to Ithaca, NY in 2019 to pursue her Ph.D. in Psychology from Cornell University. Vivian is excited to complete her journey by joining Eckerd and making St. Pete her new home! After spending just over a decade in the U.S., Vivian will have lived in all four corners of the country in clockwise order.