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Tag: cognition

PhD Mom: Baby development

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[Pictured is a 4-month-old baby laying on his stomach on a bed while smiling at the camera and playing with a rattle toy and a teething toy.]

I’ve been doing this mom thing for about 2 years now and along the way I’ve gotten a chance to not only watch my child grow from being a squishy potato of a newborn into a boisterous, opinionated, and hilarious toddler, but I’ve also learned some cool things about baby cognition and child development along the way…

Love math, but don’t care too much

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[A child playing with number toys on a table.]

As part of my job as a researcher and graduate student in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, I invite parents and children to play math games in our lab. As I lead parents and children through studies about how children learn, I’ve seen very different attitudes in parents towards math. Some parents would happily talk about numbers and inferences in their daily interactions, and they make a lot of attempts to start a conversation about math…

Back to the Stone Age: Monkey see monkey do

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[A monkey looking into a mirror.]

Primate archaeology is a fast growing field. While archaeology usually refers to the study of the human past through the excavation of past tools, remains, and civilizations, primate archaeology unearths the technological (tool use) past of our primate relatives as well as observes tool use by primates in real time. Each year, scientists make new discoveries about primates and their behaviors that prompt questions about the full extent of our primate relatives’ cognition and how it relates back to our own cognitive evolution…

People get “brain drain” when smartphones merely exist in room

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[A person typing on the laptop with one hand while tapping the smartphone with the other hand.]

Have you – at least for a moment – ever imagined throwing your smartphone out the window, especially when you are trying to focus on your work? Now you might have a justification for your impulse. Behavioral scientists recently found that if your smartphone is merely present in your room, and even if you are not consciously thinking of it, you may still be distracted…

Goldfish myths: Does their memory really only last seven seconds?

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[A goldfish is trapped in a transparent light bulb filled with water.]

Have you ever dreamed about having a good relationship with your pet from day one? I believe that all pet owners have good hearts and the intention of sharing their lives with these cute creatures. Unlike dogs, who are often thought of as the symbolic figure of human beings’ most loyal friends, cats are considered more conservative in terms of revealing their feelings or emotions towards their owners. There is one pet’s feelings, however, that people might find more challenging to interpret — goldfish….

Hands, tools, and words, oh my!

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A hand holding a triangular stone tool, which was made millions of years ago.

It is relatively easy to list things that make our species, Homo sapiens, unique. From modest biological traits like hairless bodies and walking on two feet, to amazing things like culture, technology, and language, it is quite clear that we became some pretty quirky animals over the course of our evolution. Exactly how and why… Read more »

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