The Cognitive Development Labs presented two posters at Cognitive Development Society’s Biennial Meeting in Portland, Oregon. The conference was held from October 12th – 14th. The Cognitive Development Labs were represented by former lab coordinator, Alexandra Zax, current lab coordinators, Katie Williams and Sona Kumar, BA/MA student Natalie May, and Faculty members Hilary Barth, Anna Shusterman, and Chenmu (Julia) Xing.
Former lab coordinator Alexandra Zax (above) presented “Digit identity strongly influences numerical estimates in adults and children” with Professor Hilary Barth. This work was done in collaboration with Maxine Lai (’17).
Post-doc Chenmu (Julia) Xing presented “Proportion Estimation Strategy in Number line Estimation and Non-Verbal Numerical Acuity Correlate with Math Ability in 6- to 8-Year-Olds”. This work was done in collaboration with former lab coordinators, Alexandra Zax, llona Bass, and Jessica Taggart, Wesleyan alum Emilie George, and Professors Andrea Patalano and Hilary Barth.
Blue Lab Director Anna Shusterman gave a talk as part of a symposium on the development of spatial reorientation. Her talk was titled “Children’s use of asymmetry and illusory depth as cues for reorientation”
Many other presentations at the conference were authored by up-and-coming scientists who are former members of the Wesleyan Cognitive Development Labs, too! Here is a sample of the work these alums (in bold) are doing now:
“Exploring links among subjective social status, prefrontal cortex structure and cognitive skills in children”
Pooja Desai (Columbia U), Xiaofu he (Columbia U), Elaine Maskus ’15 (Columbia U), Emily Merz (Columbia U), Kimberly Noble (Columbia U)
“Children’s use of asymmetry and illusory depth as cues for reorientation”
John Pacheco (Wesleyan U), Andrew Ribner ’14 (NYU), Anna Shusterman (Wesleyan U), Julian Waddell (Wesleyan U)
“Executive function facilitates learning from math instruction” Clancy Blair (NYC), Andrew Ribner ’14 (NYU), Michael Willoughby (RTI)
“Children use labels, but not discrete boundaries or stability over time, as cues to essentialize a novel category”
Rebecca Lange ’13 (Tufts U), Paul Muentener (Tufts U)
“‘Because it’s a girl thing’: Four-year-old children offer situational explanations for gender-stereotypical behavior”
Rebecca Lange ’13 (Tufts U), Paul Muentener (Tufts U)
“The roles of visuospatial memory and arithmetic strategy choice on arithmetic accuracy”
David Geary (U Missouri), Elida Laski (Boston College), Joanna Schiffman ’11 (Boston College)
“How an understanding of layers unfolds: A new mental folding task for young children”
Jacob Butts (U Chicago), Alana Foley (U Chicago), Susan Levine (U Chicago), Joanna Schiffman ’11 (Boston College)
“Preschoolers rationally deploy effort in social learning and collaborative contexts”
Mary DePascale (MIT), Max Kleinman-Weiner (MIT), Julia Leonard ’11 (MIT), Rachel Magid (MIT), Laura Schulz (MIT), Josh Tenenbaum (MIT)
“Children rely on hand configuration rather than number when labeling number gestures”
Talia Berkowitz (U Chicago), Jacob Butts (U Chicago), Dominic Gibson ’10 (U Chicago), Susan Goldin-Meadow (U Chicago), Susan Levine (U Chicago)
“Is math anxiety associated with math achievement over and above number line estimation in early elementary school?”
Sian Beilock (U Chicago), Talia Berkowitz (U Chicago), Susan Levine (U Chicago), Nancy Pantoja (U Chicago), Chris Rozek (U Chicago), Marjorie Schaeffer (U Chicago)
“Spatial language promotes cross-magnitude associations in early childhood”
Mahesh Srinivasan (UC Berkley), Ariel Starr ’07 (UC Berkley)
“Do Re Metaphor: Spatial metaphor provides an advantage for learning pitch words”
Alagia Cirolia (UC Berkley), Mahesh Srinivasan (UC Berkley), Ariel Starr ’07 (UC Berkley)
“The Real Thing: Preschoolers prefer actual activities to pretend ones”
Megan Heise (U Virginia), Angeline Lillard (U Virginia), Jessica Taggart (U Virginia)
“Emotion Regulation in Preschoolers: Comparing pretend play to another activity”
Gabrielle Cardwell (U Virginia), Megan Heise (U Virginia), Angeline Lillard (U Virginia), Jessica Taggart (U Virginia)
A big thank you to Andrew Ribner for organizing a reunion at CDS for former and current members of the Wesleyan Cognitive Development Labs!