By Yechezkal Freundlich, Senior Science and Technology Editor
Harry Meister (YC ‘25) is a senior studying psychology with a concentration in neuroscience. He is from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, but originally grew up in Brooklyn. Meister discovered his passion for research in high school at the Torah Academy of Bergen County, where he participated in a program that allowed him to produce a research paper discussing the risks of rising antibiotic resistance to public health. His passion for research then became combined with his love of clinical work when he took his first neuroscience course while studying abroad one summer in England. From that point on he knew he wanted to pursue a career where he could see his research applied to the clinical world, which ultimately led him to neuroscience.
Whose lab do you work in and what do you study?
I spent the last summer working in a neuroscience lab at NYU Langone Hospital, but for the past year and a half I have been a research assistant in Professor Elizabeth Goldman’s lab at Stern College for Women. Our lab is called the Children and Technology Lab (CAT Lab), where we study children’s behavior when interacting with robots and other technologies in various capacities. I am currently working on a study in which we are looking to understand how young children attribute mental states to robots in various social scenarios. This has many implications for our understanding of children’s Theory of Mind, as well as practical applications for the classroom as we become a more technologically oriented society.
How did you get involved in this research?
I actually had no idea about what research options there were when I first came into YU, but I eventually figured I would ask Professor Ariel Malka, the chair of the psychology department at Yeshiva College at the time, about any opportunities he knew of. He said there was a new lab that was starting at Stern. At first, I was hesitant since I didn’t know if I was even allowed to conduct research at another campus, but Professor Malka reassured me of my decision, and when I met and spoke with Professor Goldman, I was immediately committed to joining the lab, and have been a part of the lab since its inception.
What did you hope to gain from this research experience?
I am hoping to pursue a masters in research followed by a doctorate in neuropsychology, which combines clinical training with research, in the hopes of ultimately pursuing pediatric neuropsychology. I am very interested in child development from a neuroscience perspective, but this is a hard field to enter and thus I wanted to first gain research experience in a related area in the hopes of then branching into the field. I hoped that by joining the CAT Lab, I would gain experience not only working with children but also being exposed to various models of testing child development, particularly developmental milestones related to social interaction. And that is exactly what happened.
What role do you play in this lab?
I am one of many research assistants in what is, thankfully, an ever-expanding lab. In my role, I am responsible for data collection and testing and scoring the interviews I conduct with children. I am working on only one experimental project, and am one of four working solely on the attribution of mental states. There are currently a half dozen projects being worked on in the lab. I am proud of being one of the first members to join and am glad to see it thriving.
Is there anything you encountered that was especially difficult during the research?
I think that if you do research of any kind, it’s going to be difficult if you do it well. You have to always be methodical and careful, and above all, patient. This challenge was something I had to adjust to at the beginning of my work with children; I needed to be patient but also firm when testing them, as they work at a different pace than an adult. It’s a nuanced skill but a critical one in this area of work.
What did you find most interesting about your research?
I was actually surprised to discover that children learn just about as well from robots as humans in certain social situations. This means that to some extent young children are actually attributing some form of mental abilities and thus Theory of Mind even to robots. It is really amazing work and I am excited to be working with Professor Goldman to collate our results, which we will be presenting at the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) conference in the coming weeks.
Lastly, do you have any advice for students interested in lab positions?
I think that ultimately the worst thing people can do is simply not try. There are many lab opportunities available at YU that people are not aware of, and therefore think that they have to leave the school or attempt to do research elsewhere throughout the year or during their summers. That isn’t the case. If you have a will to do research and you want to do it at YU, the opportunities are there, you simply have to be the one to seek them out. My advice is to not be afraid to ask one of your professors if there is research available, because even if they aren’t doing research, they know who is or will be. This was certainly true in my case and I know it has been in others.
Photo Credit: Harry Meister
Photo Caption: Harry Meister