How is our cognition changing due to mobile and social technologies?
How are our thoughts and emotions tied to time and space?
The MSC Lab explores how our cognition is on-the-move.
Our research teams study the mental processes that underlie how we connect to others -- and how smartphones and social media are changing our social cognition in the midst of daily life.
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Lab Philosophy
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We adopt a slow science mentality that aims to set the agenda for future research in communication and social psychology by integrating emerging methods and interdisciplinary perspectives.
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We prioritize ecological validity -- i.e., generalizability to real-world contexts -- by using experience sampling (ESM/EMA), mobile sensing, and naturalistic study stimuli (e.g., social media data and interfaces).
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We examine the importance of mobility at-large, including mobile media, physical movement, and spatial and temporal perception -- plus how people move between online social environments.
Our
Team
Joe Bayer, PhD
Lead City Explorer
Joe Bayer is an Associate Professor at The Ohio State University and Director of the Mobile Social Cognition Lab. His research grapples with how social cognition is changing due to communication technologies, with a central focus on mobile and social media habits. In the process, his work clarifies how people stay connected to others and move between on/offline spaces in daily life -- along with their implications for personal well-being.
Lab Students
Stephanie Torres-Pantoja
Lead Meme Tracker
Stephanie Torres-Pantoja is a PhD student in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. Her current research interests focus on the psychological processes in which people are navigating between online and offline social environments. Specifically, she is interested in how social identity (e.g., political identity) influences social learning and cognitive biases in various social environments.
Razieh Pourafshari
Lead Circular Hiker
Razieh Pourafshari is a PhD student in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. Her research interests primarily focus on the temporal modeling of technology use, including a combined focus on short-term and long-term trajectories of app use. She is motivated to employ time series and sequence analyses to study how "timing" and "temporality" influence the formation of digital habits and their psychological implications in daily life.
Yifei Lu
Lead Mobile Gamer
Yifei Lu is a master's student in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. Her research interests lie in information processing, social cognition, and social decision-making, especially as they relate to mobile technologies and pro-sociality. She is also interested in how these processes depend on personality as well as temporal and spatial context. To bridge individual and behavioral level data, she plans to employ a range of empirical methods, including surveys, data mining, mobile sensing, and experience sampling. Her ultimate goal is to help create an environment that encourages pro-social interactions and outcomes while minimizing the side effects of constant connectivity.
Enoch Montes
Lead Surfer
Enoch Montes is a Ph.D. student in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University. His research explores social comparisons on social media, focusing on the cognitive processes underlying these experiences and examining how they differ across diverse walks of life. Enoch also investigates how these dynamics vary across platforms and how social media can foster both positive and negative outcomes for users' well-being. By identifying the triggers behind these cognitive and emotional responses, his work aims to support healthier and more informed social media practices for all.
Lab Alumni
Morgan Quinn Ross, PhD
Lead Mountain Runner
Morgan Quinn Ross, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at Oregon State University. His research examines how people engage with communication technologies by drawing on theoretical perspectives tied to mobility and identity. His work explicates how mobility affords opportunities to connect with (but also disconnect from) others anyplace-anytime as well as how mobile technology can become integral to core aspects of the self.
Lisa Rhee, PhD
Lead Dance Instructor
Lisa Rhee received her PhD in the School of Communication at The Ohio State University in 2023. Her doctoral research focused on understanding the real-world social and psychological effects of social media use while prioritizing ecological approaches. In particular, she conducted studies on the roles of user definitions and expectations tied to social media, with the goal of clarifying how individuals navigate the rapidly growing social media ecosystem.
Lab Affiliates
David Lee
University of Buffalo
Lise-Marie Nassen
University of Vienna
Cameron Bunker
Emerson College
Alicia Gilbert
University of Mainz
Ozan Kuru
National University of Singapore
