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Learning Research and
Development Center (LRDC)

Message from LRDC Director Elizabeth Votruba-Drzal


The Learning Research and Development Center (LRDC) is home to multidisciplinary research on human learning and education. Our research spans a wide range, from the neural bases of learning and memory through literacy, language, reasoning, and STEM learning, the social and developmental contexts that affect educational attainment and equity, and large-scale efforts for educational improvement. We are pleased to share some of our research with the University of Pittsburgh community and the wider learning and educational sciences communities through these occasional reports.

LRDC Research News is prepared by Elizabeth Rangel, LRDC Director of Communications. See the LRDC website for more on Center research. 

Summer 2026

 
research news heading with yellow text and blue backsplash

Hybrid LLM-Embedded Dialogue Agents for Learner Reflection


LRDC researchers present a hybrid dialogue system that embeds LLM responsiveness within a theory-aligned, rule-based framework to support learner reflections. Read about the research here.

Mindfulness Training Reduces Psychological Threat in Physics


An LRDC-led research team tested whether mindfulness, which centers attention to subjective experiences, can help provide students with tools to navigate their physics-related emotions. Read the study.

Language Input and Children's Cognitive and Socioemotional Development


The first narrative review of studies that examined the associations between Latin American caregivers' language input and children's cognitive and socioemotional was conducted by LRDC researchers. Read the complete article here.

 
recent news and awards heading with yellow text and blue backsplash.

2026 LRDC Graduate Student Coucil Awardees


Seven LRDC graduate students  were recipients of 2026 Spring Graduate Student Council (GSC) Awards. Read more about the award and the LRDC recipients here.

 

LRDC Researchers Ranked Most Productive Scholars in Educational Psychology


Three LRDC researchers (current and alum) have been included in a ranking of the 50 most productive researchers in the field of educational psychology. Read article to learn more about the ranking. 

Learning Sciences & Emergent Technologies Hub 


On April 22, LSET hosted "Co-Designing Teaching for a Gen AI World, Together" to address the challenge of structuring AI use to support education. Read about the convening here and LSET here. Follow LSET on LinkedIn.

Recent Publications


Benson-Greenwald, T.M., Pelakh, A., Tumminia, M.J., Jahanian, S., Diamond, M.S., Kuo, E., Good, M. Nokes-Malach, T.J. & Galla, B.M. (2026). Building courage, strength, and knowledge: Mindfulness training reduces psychological threat and promotes engagement in college physics.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Bruett, H., Qi, A., & Coutanche, M.N. (2026). Mechanisms of semantic composition in older adults: Control, semantic processing, and imagery. Frontiers in Psychology. 

Goyal, D. P., Hoshino, N. & Tokowicz, N. (2026) Translation norms for English and Japanese translation pairs: Translation ambiguity, proficiency, and production errors. Behavior Research Methods. 

Yang, Q. T., Leyva, D., Liu, Y., Rowe, M. L., & Wei, R. (2026). Caregivers' elaboration during join narratives predicts Chinese children's emotion regulation: Is theory of mind a mediator? Journal of Cognition and Development.

Riley, S., Soska, K., Libertus, M., Cabrera, N., & Tamis-LeMonda, C. (2026). Mothers’ and fathers’ multimodal behaviors scaffold toddlers’ spatial behaviors. Cognitive Development.

Li, T., Matsumura, L.C., Wang, E., Litman, D., Liu, Z., & Correnti, R. (2026). AI-Assisted evaluation of revision patterns in young students’ argument writing. Frontiers in Education. 

Miller, P., Podvysotska, T., Jones, E.J., Hanson, J.L., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2026). How family assets and debts relate to children’s achievement and behavior problems across development. Social Development. 

Guo, Y., Chen, D., Xu, X., Zhang, Z., Wen, Y., Zheng, X., Wu, Z., & Qin, X. (2026). Sensitivity analysis for unmeasured confounding in causal mediation analysis with survival outcome. Statistics in Medicine.

Yamada, T., Qin, X., Scanlon, C. L., & Wang, M.-T. (2026). How growth mindset shapes math achievement: The moderating role of classroom practices and the mediating role of engagement across adolescence. Developmental Psychology. 

Sharma, P., Sha, Y., Fofang, J. S. B., Yan, B., Turner, J. A., Balay, N., Asare, H. O., Stewart, A. E. B., & Walker, E. (2026). Hybrid LLM-embedded dialogue agents for learner reflection: Designing responsive and theory-driven interactions. In Proceedings of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI ‘26). 

LRDC authors in bold.
University of Pittsburgh