2015 Media Coverage


12/10/2015 - Top of Mind with Julie Rose

Children’s self-esteem [Interview]
Dario Cvencek radio interview from www.byuradio.org

12/7/2015 - The Atlantic

Why robots should be more like babies
Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of I-LABS, explains babies' "secret sauce" for learning and how human learning and machine learning can benefit from roboticists and developmental psychologists working together.

11/12/2015 - Quartz

Scientists have developed an easy way to determine if kindergarteners have healthy self-esteem
Dario Cvencek research featured in Quartz article.

11/10/2015 - SciDev.Net

Will liking math help girls get better scores?
Dario Cvencek research featured.

11/4/2015 - The Huffington Post

A child’s lifelong self-esteem emerges earlier than we thought
Dario Cvencek research featured in Huffington Post article.

12/1/2015 - University of Washington news release

UW roboticists learn to teach robots from babies
A collaboration between I-LABS and computer scientists has demonstrated that robots can “learn” much like kids — by amassing data through exploration, watching a human do something and determining how to perform that task on its own.
Read more about the research, see additional media coverage »

11/5/2015 - Washington Post

By age 5, children have a sense of self-esteem that rivals adults, study says
Children develop self-esteem by age 5, much earlier than previously thought, according to new I-LABS research that suggests children gain either a positive or negative view of themselves before they begin formal schooling.

11/4/2015 - Huffington Post

A child's lifelong self-esteem emerges earlier than we thought
A provocative new study suggests that by kindergarten, a child's self-esteem is as strong as an adult's. I-LABS' Dario Cvencek and Andrew Meltzoff are co-authors of the study.

11/2/2015 - University of Washington news release

Children’s self-esteem already established by age 5, new study finds
By age 5 children have a sense of self-esteem comparable in strength to that of adults, according to a new study by University of Washington researchers, including I-LABS' Dario Cvencek and Andrew Meltzoff.
Read more about the research, see additional media coverage »

10/21/2015 - Wall Street Journal

For babies, copy-cat games provide a social compass
Babies have interactive neural maps that match their own bodily sensations to their observations of other people's movements. Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, is quoted.

10/11/2015 - SciDevNet

Will liking math help girls get better scores?
How strongly elementary-school children identify with math—their math “self-concept”—can predict how high they will score on a standardized test of math achievement, according to a study by I-LABS' Dario Cvencek and Andrew Meltzoff.

9/30/15 - University of Washington news release

Math and me: Children who identify with math get higher scores
How strongly children identify with math (their math “self-concept”) can be used to predict how high they will score on a standardized test of math achievement, according to a new study by I-LABS' Dario Cvencek and Andrew Meltzoff.

9/23/2015 - University of Washington news release

UW team links two human brains for question-and-answer experiment
UW researchers enabled pairs of participants to play a question-and-answer game by transmitting signals from one brain to the other over the Internet. Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat, of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, and Rajesh Rao, a UW professor of computer science and engineering, are collaborators on the research.
Read more, see additional media coverage of the research »

9/22/2015 - TIME

How to get more girls into computer science
"Geeky" representations may prevent girls from considering a career in computer science, according to research findings by I-LABS postdoctoral researcher Allison Master and Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of I-LABS.

9/15/2015 - KOMO News

UW researchers study body maps in babies' brains
Researchers at I-LABS are among the first to study a baby's sense of touch and how it's registered in the brain, which could be an important part of how babies learn.

9/13/2015 - BBC

Estereótipo de que 'matemática é para garotos' afasta meninas da tecnologia, diz pesquisador (Stereotype that 'Math is for boys' [steers] girls away from technology, says researcher)
BBC Brasil interviews Andrew Meltzoff about the power of stereotypes in shaping children's beliefs about their ability in STEM (science, technology, mathematics and engineering). Meltzoff was in Brazil to speak at a conference convened by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences.

9/8/2015 - University of Washington news release

UW scientists are pioneering research on ‘body maps’ in babies’ brains
I-LABS researchers led by Andrew Meltzoff are among the first scientists worldwide to study body maps in the infant brain.
Read more, see additional media coverage of the research »

8/25/2015 - Fortune

Would more girls study computer science if classrooms were 'less geeky'?
Three times as many high school girls were interested in enrolling in a computer science classes if the classroom where it was taught was “less geeky,” according to a study by I-LABS' Allison Master and Andrew Meltzoff.

8/24/2015 - University of Washington news release

To get girls more interested in computer science, make classrooms less ‘geeky’
A new study, co-authored by I-LABS' Allison Master and Andrew Meltzoff, revealed a practical strategy for narrowing the gender gap in computer science: redesign classrooms to make them more inviting.
Read more, see additional media coverage of the research »

7/30/2015 - KSPS-TV

Born to learn: Brain science and early learning
In a documentary film, I-LABS co-directors Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Meltzoff describe the latest baby brain science, share insights on how babies learn best, and give sneak peeks of new research studies at the Institute. Filmed in part on location at I-LABS.

7/31/2015 - Seattle Times

UW brain-wave study: Social babies get more out of Spanish lessons
Rechele Brooks of I-LABS talks about how babies who learned the sounds of a foreign language best were the ones who were better at looking back and forth between Spanish-speaking tutors and the toys the tutors described.

7/30/2015 - National Science Foundation | Science360

Babies’ brains show that social skills linked to second language learning
The National Science Foundation featured I-LABS research in its top story on Science360, a news site for "breaking science news that shapes your world."

7/29/2015 - Washington Post

How you talk to your baby now can impact his or her social skills later
Two research studies reveal how social interactions help babies learn language. Patricia Kuhl, co-director of I-LABS, is quoted about how infants' own social skills play a role in their learning.

7/27/2015 - University of Washington news release

Babies’ brains show that social skills linked to second language learning
New findings by I-LABS' Patricia Kuhl, Andrew Meltzoff and Rechele Brooks demonstrate for the first time that an early social behavior called gaze shifting is linked to infants’ ability to learn new language sounds.
Read more about the research »

6/9/2015 - ParentMap

Monkey see, monkey do: How mimicking is changing your child
Research by Andrew Meltzoff and Rebecca Williamson shows how young kids use social observation and imitation to learn STEM.

6/2/2015 - Wall Street Journal

Mixed expat families debate: Which language to speak at home?
One of the most important—and debated—decisions among mixed expat families is which language to speak at home. I-LABS' Naja Ferjan Ramirez, who is raising trilingual children, talks about some of the science behind language development.

6/1/2015 - Seattle Times

'Don't wake the baby' experiment gives new perspective on toddlers’ social skills
New work by Andrew Meltzoff and Rechele Brooks shows that young children understand how the sounds they make influence someone else, an important step toward appreciating that different people have different perspectives on the world.

5/28/2015 - Smithsonian

The many ways baby talk gives infant brains a boost
Studies by I-LABS researchers are highlighted in a feature about how infant-directed speech (“parentese”) is much more than child's play—it's an important learning tool.

4/23/2015 - Smithsonian

Why brain-to-brain communication is no longer unthinkable
Andrea Stocco is quoted in a feature about how brain-computer interfaces could dramatically change how to treat dementia, stroke and spinal cord injuries.

4/10/2015 - Seattle Times

UW expert wins prestigious neuroscience award
Patricia Kuhl's research into the social foundations of language learning has earned her one of the top awards in her field.

4/8/2015 - KUOW

New research suggests synchronizing creates empathy
Synchronous activities could be used to in school programs and, in adults, in improving geopolitical and cross-cultural relationships, I-LABS' Tal-Chen Rabinowitch says in an interview.

4/8/2015 - University of Washington news release

Game played in sync increases children's perceived similarity, closeness
A study by Tal-Chen Rabinowitch, an I-LABS post-doctoral fellow, shows that a simple game played simultaneously on a computer led 8-year-olds to report a greater sense of similarity and closeness to each other.

4/7/2015 - Univision

El mejor recurso educativo para los niños (The best education resource for children)
A reporting team from Univision sought out the expertise of I-LABS as a resource for what parents can do to help their children have the best start in life. The segment includes footage of the I-LABS MEG facility and interviews Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Meltzoff, co-directors of I-LABS.

3/13/2015 - Education Week

Adjectives, social cues, screens and more: What scientists know about baby brains
Sarah Roseberry Lytle, I-LABS outreach director, highlights practical strategies for parents, educators and other caregivers to use to help boost cognitive development in young children.

2/18/2015 - U.S. News & World Report

The benefits of bath time for babies
Bath time can be a multisensory experience that stimulates children's development. Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, is quoted.

2/11/2015 - University of Washington news release

How to interest more girls in computer science and engineering? Shift the stereotypes
Women have long been underrepresented among undergraduates in computer science and engineering. A new study by researchers including I-LABS' Andrew Meltzoff and Allison Master identifies inaccurate stereotypes as a main culprit for that disparity.  
More media coverage of I-LABS research on computer science stereotypes »

2/16/2015 - GeekWire

Study: Here's how to beat the stereotypes that keep women out of computer science
For computer science to grow, its most persistent stereotype has to fade. That's the takeaway from the work of a group of UW researchers. Andrew Meltzoff, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, is quoted.

1/26/2015 - Seattle Times

The growth of language/social skills may start with parents' gaze 
Rechele Brooks and Andrew Meltzoff, of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, are beginning to connect the dots between gaze-following at 10 months of age and skills that emerge later such as language and the ability to see the world from someone else’s perspective.
Read more about this research study »

1/18/2015 - Yakima Herald-Republic

Early learning benefits
A letter to the editor argues that "State legislators should be trying to figure out how to bring 'basic education' for Washington into the 21st century, based on early learning research" from UW's Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences.

1/12/2015 - The New Yorker

The talking cure
The poorer parents are, the less they talk with their children. The mayor of Providence is trying to close the "word gap." Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, is quoted.

1/2015 - National Geographic

The first year 
A baby’s brain needs love to develop. What happens in the first year is profound. Patricia Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, explains why the baby's brain holds the key to understanding what it means to be human.
Don't miss National Geographic's video featuring Kuhl, "How does a baby's brain work?" »