Mariana Teles

Office: 216K Gilmer Hall

Biography

Mariana Teles is a cognitive scientist whose work examines how people learn and how educational environments can be designed to support effective learning. Her research combines experimental methods from cognitive psychology with computational tools and educational interventions to investigate the mechanisms that support durable learning, metacognition, and academic success.

A central focus of her work is the development and evaluation of cognitive science–based learning interventions for university students. She is the principal investigator of The Learning Hub, a research and intervention program that trains first-year students to apply evidence-based learning strategies grounded in research on memory, attention, cognitive load, and metacognition. The program is currently being evaluated through randomized controlled trials comparing mentor-led and AI-guided learning formats.

Her research also examines how artificial intelligence tools influence learning and metacognitive monitoring, including how AI-assisted studying affects performance, confidence, and students’ ability to accurately assess their own knowledge. Complementing these experimental studies, she uses natural language processing and large language models to analyze large-scale educational data, such as open-ended student feedback from course evaluations.

Dr. Teles is co-chair of the UVA Research Hub Designing Development: Environments, Intelligence, and Learning, where she leads the Science of Learning pillar. 

In addition to her work on learning and education, she continues to study memory and cognitive aging, including the organization of memory and retrieval processes across the lifespan. Her research in this area has drawn on large longitudinal datasets such as the Virginia Cognitive Aging Project.

Dr. Teles' research focuses on the following areas: Cognitive Psychology; Human-AI Interaction; Metacognition; Science of Learning; Cognitive Aging

Recent Publications

Teles, M., & Tomasevic, A. (2026). Making Sense of Student Feedback in Large Classes: A Practical Guide Using AI-Based Text Analysis. College Teaching, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1080/87567555.2026.2639369

Teles, M. (2026). Age-Related Differences in Memory Organization: How Depth of Processing and Learning Intention Affect Free Recall and Temporal Contiguity. Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics, 106157. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.archger.2026.106157

Websites

Personal Website: https://mariana-teles.netlify.app/

The Learning Hub: https://uva.theopenscholar.com/learning-hub

Cognitive Science Program: https://cogsci.as.virginia.edu/