The National Academy of Sciences sponsored an online forum to feature innovative science and technology. These ‘micro science talks’ provide quick introductions to cutting edge research. The forum took place on Wednesday, May 20, but it was captured on video too! Click here to watch the event.
Investigating Moral Dilemmas During the Pandemic
I-LABS co-Director Andrew Meltzoff is one of three UW professors leading an investigation into moral dilemmas posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Using an online virtual lab called LabintheWild, participants from around the world can respond to different situations. Researchers hope to learn how people from different countries and age groups are responding to the crisis. Read about the research here. Read … Read More
Communication Skills Predict Programming Aptitude
Modern programming languages have vocabulary and grammar, just like natural languages. This observation led I-LABS researcher Chantel Prat and her team to suspect that language skills might be a better predictor than math skills of the ability to learn programming. Her research showed that it was. These findings have profound implications for how programming languages are taught. The research was … Read More
Altruistic Food Sharing in Infants
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.