Our people

Dr Jasmine Spencer

Research Associate
Australian Centre for Advancement of Literature Faculty of Education and Arts

Areas of expertise: word reading; morphology; positional encoding mechanisms of morphological processing; orthographic skeletons; transposition paradigms/eeg/eye-tracking

ORCID ID: 0000-0002-0914-2000

Email: jasmine.spencer@acu.edu.au

Location: ACU North Sydney Campus

Dr Jasmine Spencer earned her PhD in Cognitive Science from Macquarie University in 2025 based on research that examined morphological processing in reading. She also holds a BSc-LLB (Honours), and MRes in Cognitive Science. Her experiments employ lexical decision paradigms, eye-tracking, and EEG to investigate orthographic skeletons and positional encoding mechanisms of English morphemes. This work aims to inform cognitive models of morpho-orthographic processing and reading development.

Dr Spencer enjoys the interdisciplinary nature of the cognitive science field, with extensive tertiary teaching experience across Neuroscience, Linguistics, and Psychology. Her current work with the Australian Centre for the Advancement of Literacy focuses on word learning, with the hope of further refining cognitive models and ultimately informing best practices in reading instruction and policy.  

Google Scholar

Select publications

Spencer, J., Popov, S., Kahraman, H., & Beyersmann, E. (2026). Windows into the positional encoding of stems and affixes: evidence from morpheme transposition effects via ERPs. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 41(6), 742–761. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2026.2673044

Spencer, J., Kahraman, H. & Beyersmann, E. (2025). The bestersell effect: Nuances in positional encoding of morphemes in visual word recognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13423-025-02693-7

Spencer, J., Kahraman, H., & Beyersmann, E. (2024). Positional encoding of morphemes in visual word recognition. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 50(5), 712–739. https://doi.org/10.1037/xlm0001296

Spencer, J., Kahraman, H., & Beyersmann, E. (2026). Windows into the positional encoding of stems and affixes: evidence from morpheme transposition effects via ERPs. Language, Cognition and Neuroscience, 41(6), 742-761. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2026.2673044

Beyersmann, E., Wegener, S., Spencer, J., & Castles, A. (2023). Acquisition of orthographic forms via spoken complex word training. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 30(2), 739-750.

Accolades or awards

• Macquarie PGRF grant for lab visit to ReadOxford (2024)
• David Hall Prize for Academic Excellence: Highest Scoring Master of Research Thesis in Faculty (2022)
• Research Training Program Scholarship (2022-2025)
• Full Year Executive Dean's Commendation for Academic Excellence (2021)
• Macquarie University Merit List (2021)
• Macquarie University Research Excellence Scholarship (2020-2021)
• Cochlear Prize in Cognitive Science (2019)
• COGS Unit High Achiever Awards x4 (Top 10 in Memory & Cognitive Neuroscience etc.)
• HSC Top Achievers List (2014)
• Premier’s All-round Excellence Award & HSC Dux (2014)

Public engagement activities

Conference Presentations

• Spencer, J., Kahraman, H., & Beyersmann, E. (2024). Positional encoding of morphemes in visual word recognition. Presented at the ReadOxford Language Seminar, Oxford, England.
• Spencer, J., Kahraman, H., & Beyersmann, E. (2024). The bestersell effect: Findings on positional encoding of morphemes in visual word recognition. Presented at the Experimental Psychology Society Meeting, York, England.
• Spencer, J., Kahraman, H., & Beyersmann, E. (2023). Positional encoding of morphemes in visual word recognition. Paper presented at 30th Annual Conference of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Port Douglas, Australia.