Zach Studdiford

I’m an undergraduate researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison working with Dr. Gary Lupyan (Lupyan Lab) and Dr. Tim Rogers (Knowledge and Concepts Lab). Broadly, I’m interested in what language models can tell us about human cognition, and conversely how we can build human-like representations and inductive biases into language models. What is it about learning language that supports the kinds of emergent abilities we see in LLMs? What does this tell us about the extent to which human cognitive abilities (causal reasoning, cognitive control) rely on language? How can the representations and circuits learned by LLMs inform our theories of human cognition? To make progress on these questions, I use recent advances in mechanistic interpretability and behavioral evaluations rooted in cognitive science.

Currently, I’m in my final year at Wisconsin completing my BS in Computer Science and Psychology. During my undergrad I’ve had the privilege of leading projects with Gary Lupyan and Tim Rogers featured at ICML, EMNLP, and CogSci. I’ve also been fortunate to receive an NSF REU grant and a Hilldale Research Fellowship.

Outside of research, I teach jazz and classical piano, and play jazz piano at various restaurants and venues in Madison.