Andrew Meltzoff, the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Chair and co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, has been awarded the Kurt Koffka Medal. Bestowed each year by Giessen University in Germany, the award honors scientists who “advanced the fields of perception or developmental psychology to an extraordinary extent.” Meltzoff received the award during a ceremony at Giessen … Read More
Success in Second Language Learning Linked to Genetic and Brain Measures
A new I-LABS study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences demonstrates a relationship between genes, the brain and human learning. The study, published the week of June 13, 2016, shows that the final grades that college students received in a second-language class were predicted by a combination of genetic and brain factors. Variations in the gene … Read More
World Science Festival Features ‘Brain-to-Brain’ Research
Chantel Prat and Andrea Stocco, faculty researchers at I-LABS, will speak on their breakthroughs in brain-to-brain communication at the 2016 World Science Festival. With collaborators in computer science, Prat and Stocco’s brain-to-brain project has garnered headlines around the world as a leader in discovering how to use technology to help two human brains exchange information directly. The team’s latest achievement, published … Read More
Brain Pattern Predicts How Well an Adult Learns a New Language
Learning a new language is one thing that most babies can do better than adults, which makes language learning an excellent example of changes in neural plasticity across the lifespan. Despite this, some adults are better able to learn second languages than others, and researchers at the University of Washington have found that their secret may involve the rhythms of … Read More
Music Improves Baby Brain Responses to Music and Speech
New I-LABS findings reveal that a musical intervention helped babies learn to detect rhythmic patterns, a skill important for both music and speech. The study, published the week of April 25 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that a series of play sessions with music improved 9-month-old babies’ brain processing of both music and new speech … Read More
National Fellowship Awarded to I-LABS Graduate Student
The National Science Foundation selected I-LABS’ Lindsey Kishline for its prestigious National Graduate Fellowship Program. The fellowship “recognizes and supports outstanding graduate students” and is considered one of the highest achievements bestowed on early career graduate students. Kishline, a second year graduate student in speech and hearing sciences working with I-LABS’ faculty researcher Adrian KC Lee, is interested in how people … Read More
Individual Differences in Dyslexia, a New Research Path at I-LABS
Reading begins as a visual process with the retina seeing letters and transferring that visual information to other areas of the brain for interpretation. But it’s unclear how the visual system contributes to reading disorders such as dyslexia. That’s the aim of a new line of I-LABS research led by faculty researcher Jason Yeatman. Standard treatments for dyslexia target how individuals … Read More
Bilingualism Gives Baby Brains Practice in Executive Function
The latest I-LABS discovery reveals that bilingual baby brains have increased activity in executive function regions, suggesting early cognitive benefits to learning multiple languages. The new findings, published online April 4 in Developmental Science, underscore the importance of early childhood as the optimum time for learning multiple languages. The study is the first to use magnetoencephalography to compare whole-brain responses … Read More
Babies: Better Safe Than Sorry
Adults often form fast opinions about each other’s personalities, especially when it comes to negative traits. If we see someone argue with another driver over a parking space, for instance, we may assume that person tends to be confrontational. The two new research studies with hundreds of 15-month-old infants demonstrate that babies form similar generalizations about others and make attempts … Read More
Columns Magazine: ‘How Does Baby Learn?’
From how babies’ brains respond to speech and touch to the latest impacts early learning science has made in society, UW’s Columns magazine features I-LABS in its March 2016 issue. The story, “How Does Baby Learn?,” describes how I-LABS is “revolutionizing theories of human development.” The 4-page feature covers I-LABS’ most recent research and outreach accomplishments and gives sneak peeks … Read More