Researchers at I-LABS published a study showing that infants act altruistically, sharing food with unfamiliar people. This is true even when infants are hungry. This behavior demonstrates that infants systematically override their biological drive in order to engage in prosocial, helpful behavior. I-LABS co-authors Barragan, Brooks, and Meltzoff published their work in Scientific Reports (part of the Nature publishing group). … Read More
Parent Coaching Advances Infant Language Development
Parentese is a style of speech that parents often use with their children. It has a slower tempo with higher pitch and exaggerated sounds, and it helps children learn language. Now I-LABS researchers Naja Ferjan Ramirez, Sarah Lytle, and Patricia K. Kuhl have shown that coaching parents in Parentese helps them use it more often. This leads to improved language … Read More
New Research on Second Language Acquisition
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
Andrew Meltzoff Receives APS 2020 William James Award
The APS William James Fellow Award honors a lifetime of significant intellectual contributions to the basic science of psychology. It is the highest honor conferred by the Association for Psychological Science. Meltzoff was selected for outstanding contributions to research and theory about infant and child cognitive development. Read the announcement here. Go here for more information about the award and this year’s recipients. Dr. … Read More
I-LABS co-Directors at enlightED in Madrid
Co-Directors Patricia Kuhl and Andrew Meltzoff brought I-LABS insights to enlightED, an international conference of global experts in education, technology and innovation. enlightED focuses on education in the digital age. Kuhl talked about research studies on early bilingual education in Madrid schools and the path forward to help all children become bilingual. Meltzoff spoke about increasing female participation in STEM disciplines and … Read More
Promoting Children’s Memory Formation
I-LABS co-Director Andrew Meltzoff is featured in a New York Times article that describes how grandparents can help their grandchildren form lasting memories. Meltzoff describes how re-encountering events through repeated, evocative recollections builds long-term memories. Read the article online here. Read via PDF format file here. Read the article at NNY360 here.
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!