Bella Fascendini

Department: Psychology
Faculty Adviser: Natalia Vélez
Year of Study: G1
Undergraduate School: Boston University
Undergraduate Major: Psychology

Personal Bio

Hi there! My name is Bella, and I'm a first-year PhD student in the Department of Psychology, working in the Princeton CoLab with Prof. Natalia Vélez. I'm interested in studying children's cognitive development, such as learning, causal reasoning, and how they come to understand the world around them and make decisions about things. So far, I've enjoyed living in Princeton, and I love exploring different coffee shops and sitting by Carnegie Lake and reading books. In my free time, I like to do soothing and mindful art projects, such as paint-by-number, and when the weather is nice, I like to spend in nature, such as camping!

Fun Fact

I have a cat named Cat and had a dog named Dog :)

Research Pitch

In my research, I’m interested in exploring how young children, particularly toddlers, come to understand their own abilities and the physical world around them. Are they as intrinsically curious to learn about themselves as they do about the world around them? For example, how do children figure out how complex, multi-part toys work? And when they encounter challenges, do they attempt to solve them independently, or do they seek help? What excites me most about this project is its potential insights to help us better understand the conditions that best support children's learning and problem-solving skills. I use both behavioral (in-lab & online experiments) and computational methods to answer my research questions. And by computational method, I mean to build formal mathematical model to characterize children's behaviors, such as their decision-making process.

Upcoming Programs That I Am Attending:

Plans for Summer 2025

Interested in participating in Summer 2025 ReMatch+ program.