A study underway at I-LABS uses neurofeedback to help train the brain to maintain attention while reading. Upon receiving her ADHD diagnosis at age 17, Marissa Pighin remembers her first interaction with her doctor as, “‘I’ll write you a ‘script and send you out the door.’” Pighin, now 22 and a UW psychology honors student, thought that there must be … Read More
Ask I-LABS Outreach: How can I make my child exceptionally smart?
The question comes in different forms. Parents ask, “What can I do to make sure my child is successful later in life?,” “How can I help my toddler be ready to enter kindergarten?,” and even “I want my child to be gifted—what can I do to ensure that?” In this inaugural installment of a new series “Ask I-LABS Outreach,” we’ll … Read More
Ask I-LABS Outreach: Announcing a New Series
When they’re out on the road, the I-LABS Outreach team fields a lot of the same questions from parents, educators and others working with young children. People are concerned about pressure to make kids smart and bilingual. They want guidance on allowing digital media in their home. They’re curious about brain development. They all want to know how to give … Read More
New Paper in Influential Journal: Defining Auditory-Visual Objects
If you’ve ever been at a crowded bar, you may notice that it’s easier to hear your friend if you watch his face and mouth movements. And if you want to pick out the melody of the first violin in a string quartet, it helps to watch the strokes of the player’s bow. I-LABS faculty member Adrian KC Lee and … Read More
New I-LABS Faculty Member: Brain Readiness for Learning to Read
Learning to read—like learning to speak—requires hard work, practice and sophisticated wiring of the brain. A literate brain must first recognize the visual pattern of letters, convert them into sounds which are combined into words that are then made sense of. Once learned reading happens in the blink of an eye and requires little effort. “Reading is so effortless that … Read More
I-LABS Modules on National List of Early Literacy Resources
The I-LABS Outreach Training Modules have been included in a national list of early literacy resources compiled by the nonprofit think tank New America and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop. Designed as an interactive map, “Integrating Technology in Early Literacy” is meant to show the scope of how technology is being used by early learning programs. It … Read More
What Black Adolescents Say about Stereotypes
What does it mean to be young, Black and male? In what ways do Black male youths accommodate and resist the social stereotypes of their demographic? And how does this shape Black boys’ development of their own identity, and who they become? These are among the questions Onnie Rogers explored with Black urban teenagers in a recently published paper in … Read More
Tech Outlets Include Direct Brain Communication in ‘Best of 2015’
Photo: UW graduate student Jose Ceballos wears an electroencephalography (EEG) cap that records brain activity and sends a response to a second participant over the Internet. Andrea Stocco and Chantel Prat, of I-LABS, along with UW computer scientist Rajesh Rao published a study this fall in PLOS ONE showing for the first time that two human brains can be linked … Read More
I-LABS Researcher Speaks at Slovenian Prime Minister Visit to UW
Photo caption: Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Dr. Miro Cerar, Dr. Naja Ferjan Ramirez, UW President Ana Mari Cauce, and UW Vice-Provost for Global Affairs Jeffrey Riedinger. Photos by Piotr and Marija Horoszowski. Naja Ferjan Ramirez, an I-LABS research scientist who was born and raised in Slovenia, took part in a recent UW meeting with Slovenian Prime Minister … Read More
UW Roboticists Learn to Teach Robots from Babies
Photo caption: The UW team used I-LABS research on how babies follow an adult’s gaze to “teach” a robot to perform the same task. Credit: University of Washington. A collaboration between I-LABS and University of Washington computer scientists has demonstrated that robots can “learn” much like kids — by amassing data through exploration, watching a human do something and determining … Read More