Toddlers learn how to make things happen by watching other people

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Publication, Research

A new I-LABS study shows that even children as young as two can learn valuable causal lessons from watching what others do.  24-month-old toddlers were able to learn new cause-and-effect relationships simply by “eavesdropping” on other people’s interactions with both people and objects. Toddlers were even able to learn when faced with imperfect causal evidence, when causes worked some, but … Read More

I-LABS Researcher Blogs for NAEYC

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Research

Allison Master, a Research Scientist at I-LABS, recently wrote a blog for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) website. The blog summarizes Allison’s research on how social environments help young children learn STEM skills. Read the full blog here!

Spotlight on distinguished women scientists at UW

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Research

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear I-LABS Co-Director Dr. Patricia Kuhl speak at the UW Frontiers of Science and Engineering Symposium! The symposium highlights distinguished women scientists and engineers at the UW. It is free and open to the public. Friday January 20 2017 3:00-5:00 (reception starting at 2:30)  Savery Hall Room 260 Read more about the event here: https://www.cs.washington.edu/frontiers2017 Hope to see you there!

Patricia Kuhl Recognized In Seattle Magazine’s Hall of Fame

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Research

Patricia Kuhl has been recognized by Seattle Magazine as one of the “trailblazers who have transformed Seattle in extraordinary ways.” Through her groundbreaking research in language and brain development, Kuhl showed how early language exposure alters the brain and determined that “parentese” (a natural way parents speak to babies) lays the foundation for infants to distinguish sounds and understand language. Read … Read More

Sarah Lytle on High-Quality Interactions with Children

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Outreach

I-LABS’ Dr. Sarah Lytle spoke about effective early learning interactions at a Birth-to-Three Policy Meeting on October 5. I-LABS Director of Outreach and Education, Dr. Sarah Lytle, recently spoke at a Birth-to-Three Policy Alliance meeting. Dr. Lytle provided an overview of how the brain develops in the first 2,000 days of a child’s life (birth to age 5) and explained how the important wiring takes … Read More

UW Perspectives features 3 I-LABS brain scientists

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Research

The August issue of UW Perspectives was focused on brain research.  Not surprisingly, three I-LABS faculty members’ research was featured in the issue:  Jason Yeatman’s work on the roots of dyslexia, and Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat’s pioneering brain-to-brain communication research. Read the issue of Perspectives here.

Predicting rate of second language learning

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Research

New research shows that brain ‘resting state’ is predictive of how easily adults can pick up a second language. Is there a way to predict the aptitude for second language learning by adults? Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) graduate student Brianna Yamasaki explains a new study designed to answer this question. Yamasaki and colleagues measured brain activity from … Read More

Ask I-LABS Outreach: How Early Does Learning Begin?

I-LABSMedia Coverage, Outreach

It’s common to want to give babies the best possible start in life, and many parents wonder how early they can begin giving their child enriching, brain-building experiences. Photo: Flickr, Jlhopgood In this edition of Ask I-LABS Outreach we turn to a topic that fascinates most people: how early does learning begin? I’ve been studying very early learning for decades. I started … Read More