Our team

Norbert explores how language interacts with perception across the senses, from colour and pitch to taste and smell. A sensory psycholinguist with a love of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research, he is especially interested in how words and grammar can subtly tune the way we experience the world. He is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, where he leads the Sensory Psycholinguistics Lab. Outside work, Norbert enjoys scuba diving, playing with language and gastronautics, the joyful discoveries of unusual flavours and sensory experiences.

Sorour is a PhD candidate in linguistics at the University of Auckland. Her research focuses on pitch perception and examines the effect of conceptual metaphors on the way speakers of different languages (Persian and English) perceive and conceive pitch. Alongside her academic pursuits, Sorour enjoys graphic designing, learning new languages, reading psychology books, and listening to podcasts.

Ziyi Zhuang investigates how language influences the way people experience and remember flavours. Her work focuses on the relationship between linguistic processing and taste perception, examining how verbal labels and descriptions can subtly influence flavour experience and gustatory memory. She is particularly interested in cross-linguistic variation and second language acquisition effects, exploring how speakers of different languages describe, interpret, and evaluate sensory experiences. Outside of research, she enjoys exploring new restaurants, discovering unusual flavour combinations, and thinking about how language captures the richness of taste.

Tao is a PhD student in psycholinguistics at the University of Auckland (website: https://xiaotaoliu.owlstown.net/), where he works with Dr. Norbert Vanek and Dr. Rebecca Defina. He is interested in exploring how language, cognition, and society interact in the world around us. His current research focuses on how children and adults from different language backgrounds perceive and describe daily events. Outside of academics, Tao is working on becoming a gym beast and hopes to try as many restaurants around the world as possible.

Chika Okada is a PhD candidate in Linguistics at the University of Auckland. Her doctoral research explores how language interacts with sensory perception, focusing on tactile cognition and Japanese mimetic words. Using experimental methods from psycholinguistics, she investigates how verbal labels influence tactile discrimination and category formation across languages and linguistic backgrounds. She also works on topics in theoretical linguistics and language acquisition from a cross-linguistic perspective.
Outside research, she enjoys fashion, independent cinema (especially A24 films), and spending time on her Animal Crossing island.

Ran Bi is a PhD student in Applied Linguistics at the University of Auckland and a member of the Sensory Psycholinguistics Lab. Her research investigates the relationship between human echolocation and language, particularly focusing on the linguistic modulation at different levels of echo processing. Alongside her academic life, she enjoys skiing, hiking, and spending time with her cats.