Anna Leshinskaya

The Relational Cognition Lab at the University of California, Irvine, led by Anna Leshinskaya, is recruiting PhD students for Fall 2026 in the Cognitive Sciences program. The lab's research sits at the intersection of cognitive science, machine learning, and moral philosophy, focusing on combinatorial reasoning, moral decision-making, and conceptual cognition in both humans and large language models. The group employs cognitive mechanistic interpretability to analyze internal representations and processes in AI models, comparing them to human cognition. Research themes include moral reasoning as a lens for understanding combinatorial and relational thought, as well as the development of computational models of conceptual cognition and theory of mind. The position is funded, though specific financial details are not provided. Applicants should have a strong background in relevant fields and are encouraged to review the lab's website for more information. Applications should be submitted through the UCI portal, listing Anna Leshinskaya as a potential advisor. Suitable candidates will be invited for meetings after applying.