Mohen Zhang

mohen
DPhil Candidate
Experimental Psychology

I am a fourth-year DPhil candidate in the Language & Development Group (Nation Lab).
My DPhil project focuses on morphology and reading. In particular, I am interested in the development of morphological processing in both adults, adolescents, and children.
I completed my undergraduate degree in Psychology at Tsinghua University, China. I moved to the UK afterwards and completed an MPhil degree in Developmental Psychology at the University of Cambridge. Then, I moved to Oxford and completed an MSc degree in Child Development, and subsequently spent a year as a Research Assistant at the University of Oxford. My previous research was mainly on cognitive development in children.

My favourite word

I like lots of words but the first one that comes to my mind is ‘polar bear’. Of course, I love this fascinating, strong, and beautiful creature, but for me, it’s more than that. This word brings me pleasant but also very different feelings. When I think of this word in the summertime, it makes me feel ‘fresh and cool’—it reminds me of glaciers, the North Pole, the blue ocean, and even ice cream. But on cold days, the white, fluffy, and fat bear which this word stands for makes me feel very warm and cosy. To me, the word is magical because it never makes me feel the other way around!

My favourite childhood book

My favourite childhood book is The History of Reynard the Fox. My mum read it to me (in Chinese) when I was around 4. I was fascinated by the life story of Reynard the fox, but I did not and will never want to be his friend. I still like the book now.