I-LABS has created an online program that trains teachers to help infants learn a second language. The new study demonstrates that the play-based program is effective in teaching young children from a wide variety of backgrounds. Because trainers learn the program online, the training is scalable and widely available. Naja Ferjan Ramírez, assistant professor of Linguistics and former I-LABS research … Read More
Deaf Infants Have Accelerated Gaze Following
Researchers and colleagues at I‐LABS published the first study of gaze following with Deaf infants of Deaf parents. The results show that Deaf infants had enhanced gaze following in comparison to hearing infants of the same age and gender. This suggests that Deaf infants pay special attention to social-communicative cues of other people due in part to exposure to sign language. The … Read More
Linguistic Diversity Promotes New Language Learning
LABS post-doc Kinsey Bice has shown that living among many languages may help monolinguals when they begin learning a second language. This research used EEG to show that the brains of monolinguals who were exposed to foreign languages responded differently to novel foreign words. The research was published in the Brain and Language journal as well as Tech Explorist and UW News. Read the research … Read More
Brain Interface Technology Moving Forward
I-LABS scientists, along with UW colleagues, are once again producing cutting edge research. I-LABS members Andrea Stocco, Chantal Prat, Darby Losey, and Justin Abernethy have been advancing research in brain-to-brain communication. In their latest study, three people played a video game using only their minds. The ground-breaking results were published in Scientific Reports. Read more at the UW Today or KOMO News.
I-LABS Video Wins APA Competition
Outreach and Education Specialist at I-LABS Marley Jarvis’ video, Moving in Unison has won The American Psychological Association’s PsycShorts Video Festival and Competition. Marley’s two-minute video highlights research on synchrony and cooperation done here at I-LABS through her original animation. Marley’s video can be seen here. Congratulations Marley!
I-LABS Graduate Student Jose Ceballos Wins Marr Prize
Congratulations to Jose Ceballos who, along with Andrea Stocco and Chantal Prat, co-authored the paper “The Role of Basal Ganglia Reinforcement Learning in Lexical Priming and Automatic Semantic Ambiguity Resolution.” This paper was one of only two to receive the Cognitive Science Society’s Marr Prize this year. This prize is given out annually to the best student-first authored paper at their … Read More
New research shows children’s brain responses in anticipation of touch
Anticipation is an exercise in focus, a neural preparation that conveys important visual, auditory or tactile information about what’s to come. New brain research among 6- to 8-year-old children conducted at the University of Washington’s Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) and Temple University shows not only this expectation in real time, but also how anticipation relates to executive … Read More
“Parent coaching” boosts early language skills
Teaching parents about communication strategies with their infants has a direct impact on their childrens’ language development according to new I-LABS research published online in Developmental Science. Parents instinctively use a special style of talking with their infants, called “parentese”. However, by coaching parents on the how and why of its importance when the infants were 6 and 10 months of … Read More
How the Baby Brain Represents Lips
I-LABS co-director Andrew Meltzoff, and his colleagues Joni Saby and Peter Marshall, recorded brain activity while touching baby lips, hands, and feet. They documented significant activity over the somatosensory cortex in 60-day-olds. The most prominent activity occurred when infant’s lips were touched. The researchers hypothesize that infant body maps are foundational for imitative learning and self-other connections in early infancy. … Read More
Separating children from families: Relevant scientific evidence
An article jointly written by the Scientific Advisory Group, Early Childhood of the Bezos Family Foundation presents scientific information regarding stress on the brain development of children. It appears in the Brookings Institution report on Future Development. I-LABS co-Directors, Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Meltzoff, are members of the Scientific Advisory Group. Read the article