Ordered alphabetically by student's last name
Friedberg |
Schiffino |
Schnell |
Wilkins |
![]() Theory of Mind Development and Language Acquisition in Preschoolers A Comparison of Word Learning and False Belief Tasks Carlyn Friedberg, Matthew Cohen, and Anna Papafragou Department of Psychology Theory of Mind (ToM) is a cognitive ability that allows an individual to form representations of others’ mental states independent of one’s own realities or beliefs. Previous research has shown that by four years old, children ascribe false beliefs to others during explicit ToM tasks that involve prediction of actors’ actions or thoughts. However, around age two, children use ToM more implicitly during word learning, which requires the ability to recognize and comprehend adult intentions. This project aims to examine the role of language acquisition in ToM development. Modeled after Happé and Loth (2002) who showed that children tracked false belief significantly better during a word learning task than during the standard task, the current study compares a standard false scenario to an identical scenario with a word learning component. In the standard false belief task, children are asked to make a prediction about what a character thinks is inside of a box, after the contents have been switched during the character’s absence. In the word learning task, the character names the object in the box and the child must chose the intended target object. True belief tasks were included as control items. Results show that children did not perform significantly better on word learning tasks. Interpretations of this outcome are discussed. |
Differential Effects
of MK-801 Dosage on
Felipe L. Schiffino, Michael A. Burman & Mark E. Stanton Department of Psychology Classical
conditioning of the eyeblink response in which the conditioned stimulus
(CS)
and unconditioned stimulus (US) overlap (termed delay conditioning)
requires a well-defined
cerebellar-brainstem circuit. Insertion of a blank interval between CS
offset
and
|
Neonatal one-day binge-like ethanol exposure results in the loss of neurons in the CA1 subfield of the adult rat hippocampus. Courtney E. Schnell, R. M. A. Napper., Anna Klintsova Department of Psychology |
Assessing the
validity of prospective and
retrospective measures of attachment disruptions
Aundrea Wilkins, Roger Kobak, & Clare Smith Department of Psychology This study examines the
validity of two types of measures of
attachment disruptions in children’s relationships with their primary
caregivers. Prospective (beginning at
age 4) and retrospective (at age 15) measures were collected in a
sample of 113
economically disadvantaged families in |