2025
June 23, 2025
Welcome to Anika Ajwani, the new Lab Manager of the Early Minds Lab! Anika moved to Boston from Seattle. She earned her Bachelor's of Science degree from the University of Washington and worked as a Research Coordinator in a lab that studies executive functions in children with Down Syndrome. She was selected from a pool of more than 140 highly qualified candidates. Welcome to our lab, Anika!
Welcome to Anika Ajwani, the new Lab Manager of the Early Minds Lab! Anika moved to Boston from Seattle. She earned her Bachelor's of Science degree from the University of Washington and worked as a Research Coordinator in a lab that studies executive functions in children with Down Syndrome. She was selected from a pool of more than 140 highly qualified candidates. Welcome to our lab, Anika!
|
May 24, 2025
Our graduate student Jamie presented her poster: Testing the Interleaving Effect Without Response Bias: A Replication of Kornell & Bjork at the Association for Psychological Science in Washington, D.C. Well done Jamie! |
|
|
May 23, 2025
Our honors student Sophie did a great job at her first poster presentation: Understanding How Observational Memories Impact Children's Episodic Future Thinking at the Association for Psychological Science in Washington, D.C. |
|
|
May 21, 2025
Our team had a wonderful time at Welcome Wednesday at the Dorchester Boys & Girls Club! We loved meeting so many new faces and were excited to sign up new friends to participate in our research games. Thanks to everyone who stopped by—we can’t wait to see you again soon! |
|
|
May 21, 2025
Well done to our honors students; Lily Charbonneau, Katie Duross and Dayana Ukraine for presenting their honor thesis! |
|
|
May 20, 2025
Our graduate student Shibo Cao presented his poster at the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) conference in St. Pete, FL! |
|
|
May 19, 2025
Our graduate student Candice Koolhaas presented her poster: The Sampling-Remembering Tradeoff in a Naturalistic Task at the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) conference in St. Pete, FL! |
|
|
May 16, 2025
Our graduate students Jade and Jamie did an awesome job at our Brain Awareness day at UMass Boston. They were able to give a demonstration of our studies to over 80 high school student. Way to go team! |
|
|
May 9, 2025
Congratulations to Dr. Shibo Cao who successfully defended his dissertation titled "How What we Feel is Associated With What we Hear Early in Development: The Role of Vision in Audio-tactile Association". His committee members included: Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, Dr. Erik Blaser, Dr. S. Tiffany Donaldson, Dr. André Mouraux |
|
|
May 2, 2025
Our graduate student Quinn Pham presented at the Mental Time Travel Across Development Symposium at the Research in Child Development SRCD conference in Minneapolis, MN! Her presentation was titled: Personal and Observational Episodic Memory Support Episodic Future Thinking for Oneself and Another |
|
|
May 2, 2025
Our graduate student Jade Zack presented her poster: Plan Chunking Supports Working Memory During Episodic Future Thinking at the Society for Research in Child Development SRCD in Minneapolis, MN! |
|
|
May 2, 2025
Our graduate student Candice Koolhaas presented her poster: Proactive Interference Disrupts 2-year-olds' Working Memory at the Society for Research in Child Development SRCD in Minneapolis, MN! |
|
|
May 1, 2025
Our research assistant, Katie Duross, presented her poster: Changes in the Angry Male/ Happy Female Bias with Attention: Behavioral and Neural Correlates at the Umass Boston CLA Undergraduate Research Showcase! |
|
|
May 1, 2025
Our research assistant, Lily Charbonneau, presented her poster: Development of Crossmodal Sound--Shape Correspondence: The Role of Intuitive Audio-Visual Physical Knowledge in the Bouba--Kiki Effect at the Umass Boston CLA Undergraduate Research Showcase! |
|
|
April 24, 2025
What a day! We had an incredible time celebrating April school vacation with our Annual Easter Egg Hunt — a big, heartfelt thank you to all the amazing families who participated in our studies and came out to join the fun! From chasing eggs to crafting beautiful necklaces to playing lawn games, the energy was unforgettable. We loved every moment with you and can’t wait to celebrate together again next year! |
|
|
April 23, 2025
Shout out to our lab member Jade Zack, Jack, Alexa Soto and Jeffrey Tremblay for helping out with our STEM day demos with local high school students! |
|
|
April 18, 2025
Our research assistant, Lily Charbonneau, presented her poster: Development of Crossmodal Sound--Shape Correspondence: The Role of Intuitive Audio-Visual Physical Knowledge in the Bouba--Kiki Effect at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst! |
|
|
April 18, 2025
Our research assistant, Katie Duross, presented her poster: Changes in the Angry Male/ Happy Female Bias with Attention: Behavioral and Neural Correlates at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst! |
|
|
April 18, 2025
Our research assistant, Dayana Ukraine, presented her poster: Temporal Memory in 3- to 6-Year-Old Children at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst! |
|
|
April 18, 2025
Our research assistant, Alexa Soto, presented her poster: Episodic Future Thinking in Elementary School Math at the Massachusetts Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst! |
|
|
April 16, 2025
Our research assistant, Alireza Rozati, presented his poster: The Sampling-remembering Tradeoff in a Naturalistic Task at the Northeastern Undergraduate Research conference! |
|
|
April 8, 2025
Our primary investigator, Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy was interviewed for the podcast "Under the Cortex" about our Psych Science paper on the external mind. The podcast is titled: Young Minds, Smart Strategies: How Children Decide When to Use External Memory Aids. You can listen in here! [Linked] |
|
|
April 2, 2025
Our graduate student, Quinn Pham, attended a ceremony honoring students who defended their dissertation proposal. Congrats, Quinn! |
|
|
April 2, 2025
Our graduate student Shibo Cao presented his poster yesterday at the Cognitive Neuroscience Society conference right here in Boston! |
|
|
|
March 25, 2025
We are excited to invite you to a special Egg Hunt for children and families! Join us during the April school vacation for a fun-filled day of crafts, egg hunting, and research activities! If this is something you would be interested in please fill out the RSVP form. Event Details Date: Thursday, April 24 Time: 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM Locations: Integrated Science Complex at the UMass Boston Address: Integrated Sciences Complex, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston, MA 02125 Parking will be available at the West Garage on campus |
|
|
February 28, 2025
Our PI, Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy, gave a Zoom talk for the Mandy Babies Consortium (Workshop: Preregistration – The Nudge You Need to Preregister Your Next Project). Tune in here: https://manybabies.org/events/ |
|
|
February 20, 2025
We will be hosting a Winter Wonder Story Time at the Hyde Park Boston Public Library. Join us for a cozy winter story time on Thursday, March 6th, at 12:30 PM!
Contact us at: 617-287-6363 or [email protected] Interested in attending? RSVP Here! |
|
|
February 19, 2025
Our team had so much fun meeting you all at the Boston Children’s Winter Festival at the Boston Common Frog Pond! We can't wait to have you participate in our exciting research studies. |
|
|
February 10, 2025
Our graduate student Quinn Pham successfully proposed her dissertation titled: The Development of Social and Nonsocial Episodic Future Thinking in Children 2-7 Years Old. Congratulations Quinn! |
|
|
January 13, 2025
Our team will be at the Boston Children’s Winter Festival at the Boston Common Frog Pond on Wednesday, February 19th from 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM! Come visit our booth to learn about the fun and exciting research we’re doing on how children’s brains grow and develop! |
|
2024
|
December 19, 2024
Wishing you and your family Happy Holidays! from the UMASS Boston Early Minds Lab! As a note: our lab will be closed from December 23, 2024 to January 2, 2025 for the holidays. However, our team will return to the lab on January 3, 2025! |
|
|
November 27, 2024
Wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving from the UMASS Boston Early Minds Lab! As a note: our lab will be closed from Thursday (11/28/2024) to Sunday (12/1/2024). However, our team will return to the lab on Monday (12/2/2024)! |
|
|
October 29, 2024
Our graduate student Quinn Pham received the Council of Graduate Departments of Psychology (COGDOP) award. Congratulations Quinn! |
|
|
October 7, 2024
Our team will join the Fall-o-ween Children's Festival at the Boston Common Frog Pond on Friday, October 18th from 5:00 - 8:00 pm. Please stop by our booth and learn more about our studies on cognitive development in children. We will be making hall-o-ween masks and offering face painting for children. We hope to see you there! |
|
|
|
October 1, 2024
Dr. Jenny Wang led our lab meeting with an exciting topic titled "What do infants know about numbers?". Her research suggests that infants may be able to recognize the core structure of counting long before being able to count by themselves. Visit the Cognitive and Learning Center website to learn more about Dr. Wang's work: bit.ly/4dEomZ5 |
|
|
September 3, 2024
The Early Minds Lab Welcomes Two New Graduate Students to the DBS Program Mahan Abdollahinarenjbon and Jade Zack started the DBS PhD program this fall. Mahan will be working with Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Jade with Dr. Tashauna Blankenship and Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy. |
|
|
August 21, 2024
Our previous undergraduate research assistant Lívia Trindade received a post bacc research assistant position at the University of Connecticut in the CAP lab (Cognition, Action and Psychophysiology Lab) under Dr. Kimberly Cuevas. |
|
|
July 11, 2024
Our team presented posters at the International Conference of Infant Studies this year in Glasgow, Scotland. |
|
|
July 4, 2024
Candice Koolhass and Quinn Pham presenting their poster 'Sticker Machine: Spontaneous Episodic Future Thinking in 5-7-year-olds' at European Society of Philosophy and Psychology conference in Grenoble. |
|
|
June 4, 2024
Our PI Dr. Kaldy gave a webinar talk with other colleagues about our eye-tracking studies. This talk was organized by Tobii. Want to learn more? Watch the webinar here: bit.ly/3VERhFx |
|
|
May 14, 2024
Congratulations to Candice Koolhass who received a 2024 National Defense Science and Engineering (NDSEG) award from the U.S. Department of Defense! Learn more about Candice and her research interest in the following UMB Article: bit.ly/3yl5KOE |
|
|
May 2, 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Yibiao (Bill) Liang who successfully defended his dissertation titled "Remembering More or Less: Studies of the Development of Memory in Infants and Young Children"! |
|
|
April 19, 2024
Our team hosted an Easter Egg Hunt during the April school vacation as a big thank you to our families for participating in our studies! Thank you to all the families that came by. We all had a blast chasing eggs, making necklaces and playing lawn games! We hope to see you all again next year! |
|
|
March 26, 2024
Congratulations to Dr. Erinda Morina, who defended her dissertation titled "A Behavioral and Neural Investigation of Biases in Emotional Perception"! |
|
March 25, 2024
Check out our SPRING 2024 NEWSLETTER for all the newest updates and information!
March 1, 2024
Two of our papers just got published!
Westebbe, L., Liang, Y., & Blaser, E. (2024). The Accuracy and Precision of Memory for Natural Scenes: A Walk in the Park. Open Mind: Discoveries in Cognitive Science, 8, 131–147. PDF
Hamilton, M., Roper, T., Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2024). Can’t get it out of my head: Proactive interference in 3- to 8-year-old children’s visual working memory. Developmental Psychology, 60, 3, 582–594. PDF
-> This paper is featured as the APA Spotlight: link.growkudos.com/1ebhqwn1mo0
February 26, 2024
Jamie Donenfeld has successfully defended her dissertation proposal today. Her committee members are Zsuzsa Kaldy, Erik Blaser, Tiffany Donaldson (UMB) and Viola Störmer (Dartmouth College). Congrats, Jamie!
Check out our SPRING 2024 NEWSLETTER for all the newest updates and information!
March 1, 2024
Two of our papers just got published!
Westebbe, L., Liang, Y., & Blaser, E. (2024). The Accuracy and Precision of Memory for Natural Scenes: A Walk in the Park. Open Mind: Discoveries in Cognitive Science, 8, 131–147. PDF
Hamilton, M., Roper, T., Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2024). Can’t get it out of my head: Proactive interference in 3- to 8-year-old children’s visual working memory. Developmental Psychology, 60, 3, 582–594. PDF
-> This paper is featured as the APA Spotlight: link.growkudos.com/1ebhqwn1mo0
February 26, 2024
Jamie Donenfeld has successfully defended her dissertation proposal today. Her committee members are Zsuzsa Kaldy, Erik Blaser, Tiffany Donaldson (UMB) and Viola Störmer (Dartmouth College). Congrats, Jamie!
2023
December 19, 2023
Shibo Cao has successfully defended his dissertation proposal today. His committee members are Vivian. Ciaramitaro, Erik Blaser, Tiffany Donaldson (UMB), and Andre Mouraux (Universite Catholique de Louvain). Congrats, Shibo!
November 2023
Three new publications from the lab!
Chow, H.M., Briggs, D., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2023). Does task-irrelevant brightness modulation affect auditory contrast processing? Exploring the interplay between temporal synchrony and stimulus salience. Multisensory Research. PDF
Hamilton, M., Roper, T., Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2024). Can’t get it out of my head: Proactive interference in 3- to 8-year-old children’s visual working memory. Developmental Psychology. PDF
Sirois, S., Brisson, J., Blaser, E., Calignano, G., Donenfeld, J., Hepach, R., Hochmann J., Kaldy, Z., Liszkowski, U., Mayer, M., Ross-Sheehy, S., Russo, S., & Valenza, E. (2023). The pupil collaboration: A multi-lab, multi-method analysis of goal attribution in infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 73, 101890, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101890
Shibo Cao has successfully defended his dissertation proposal today. His committee members are Vivian. Ciaramitaro, Erik Blaser, Tiffany Donaldson (UMB), and Andre Mouraux (Universite Catholique de Louvain). Congrats, Shibo!
November 2023
Three new publications from the lab!
Chow, H.M., Briggs, D., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2023). Does task-irrelevant brightness modulation affect auditory contrast processing? Exploring the interplay between temporal synchrony and stimulus salience. Multisensory Research. PDF
Hamilton, M., Roper, T., Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2024). Can’t get it out of my head: Proactive interference in 3- to 8-year-old children’s visual working memory. Developmental Psychology. PDF
Sirois, S., Brisson, J., Blaser, E., Calignano, G., Donenfeld, J., Hepach, R., Hochmann J., Kaldy, Z., Liszkowski, U., Mayer, M., Ross-Sheehy, S., Russo, S., & Valenza, E. (2023). The pupil collaboration: A multi-lab, multi-method analysis of goal attribution in infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 73, 101890, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2023.101890
May 11, 2023
The UMB Baby Lab has a new name: Early Minds Lab at UMass Boston. The new name better captures that we are studying not just babies, but toddlers and older children, too!
The UMB Baby Lab has a new name: Early Minds Lab at UMass Boston. The new name better captures that we are studying not just babies, but toddlers and older children, too!
April 21, 2023
The UMB Baby Lab hosted its very first Easter egg hunt on April 21 and we all had a blast! The children had so much fun getting their faces painted, hunting for eggs, and playing hungry bunny toss. We even got to see a real life Easter bunny! A huge thank you to all the families that came!
The UMB Baby Lab hosted its very first Easter egg hunt on April 21 and we all had a blast! The children had so much fun getting their faces painted, hunting for eggs, and playing hungry bunny toss. We even got to see a real life Easter bunny! A huge thank you to all the families that came!
|
March 23-25, 2023
The Baby Lab team presented our recent research findings at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development in Salt Lake City, UT.
|
|
March 15, 2023
|
Congratulations to Dr. Mollie Hamilton, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "The Resolution of Proactive Interference in Young Children” on March 15th 2023! Her committee members were Zsuzsa Kaldy, Erik Blaser, Susan Zup from UMass Boston, and Martha Ann Bell from Virginia Tech.
|
March 8, 2023
What happens when a group of eight grade students visits the Baby Lab to observe a day in the life of our scientists? First, they stopped by the eye-tracker room to learn how we conduct our infant studies to understand what babies are thinking! Afterward, they tinker with our tactile studies to understand how children process information using their senses. And finally, they squeeze into a tiny circle, eager to see how we developed our shopping game to observe how children use external sources (i.e., a shopping list) to aid in their memory.
Our team was over the moon after we read their stellar reviews of their experience at our lab! Check them out in the photo below!
What happens when a group of eight grade students visits the Baby Lab to observe a day in the life of our scientists? First, they stopped by the eye-tracker room to learn how we conduct our infant studies to understand what babies are thinking! Afterward, they tinker with our tactile studies to understand how children process information using their senses. And finally, they squeeze into a tiny circle, eager to see how we developed our shopping game to observe how children use external sources (i.e., a shopping list) to aid in their memory.
Our team was over the moon after we read their stellar reviews of their experience at our lab! Check them out in the photo below!
March 6, 2023
Congratulations to Tessyia Roper, who was admitted to UMass Boston's Masters Program in School Psychology!
March 1, 2023
Thanks to Dr. Melissa Kibbe (Developing Minds Lab, Boston University) for her exciting talk titled "Computations underlying arithmetic over non-symbolic representations of quantity".
Congratulations to Tessyia Roper, who was admitted to UMass Boston's Masters Program in School Psychology!
March 1, 2023
Thanks to Dr. Melissa Kibbe (Developing Minds Lab, Boston University) for her exciting talk titled "Computations underlying arithmetic over non-symbolic representations of quantity".
February 22, 2023
Welcome to Candice Koolhaas, the newest PhD student member of the Baby Lab! Candice will officially join us in September and she is going to be working with Dr. Kaldy.
Welcome to Candice Koolhaas, the newest PhD student member of the Baby Lab! Candice will officially join us in September and she is going to be working with Dr. Kaldy.
2022
Oct 3, 2022
Check out our FALL 2022 NEWSLETTER for all the newest updates and information!
Aug 14, 2022
Julie Freschl, with her advisor, Dr. Blaser, and Dr. Kaldy, just published a review article in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience! This paper also have two undergraduate student co-authors: Lina Al Azizi and Lilyann Balboa! Congrats to all! The paper is accessible to all who are interested in it by clicking on the the link above.
Julie Freschl, with her advisor, Dr. Blaser, and Dr. Kaldy, just published a review article in Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience! This paper also have two undergraduate student co-authors: Lina Al Azizi and Lilyann Balboa! Congrats to all! The paper is accessible to all who are interested in it by clicking on the the link above.
Aug 2, 2022
Dr. Kaldy was interviewed for an episode of Brains On! Why can't we remember the time when we were little? Listen to the podcast here: https://www.brainson.org/episode/2022/08/02/why-cant-we-remember-when-we-were-babies
Dr. Kaldy was interviewed for an episode of Brains On! Why can't we remember the time when we were little? Listen to the podcast here: https://www.brainson.org/episode/2022/08/02/why-cant-we-remember-when-we-were-babies
June 20 - July 1, 2022
Yibiao (Bill) Liang was accepted to the Kavli Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience in Santa Barbara, CA! This is a highly competitive training program and acceptance comes with full funding for the two-week visit.
Yibiao (Bill) Liang was accepted to the Kavli Summer Institute in Cognitive Neuroscience in Santa Barbara, CA! This is a highly competitive training program and acceptance comes with full funding for the two-week visit.
May 13-18, 2022
Jamie Beshore presented her poster at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society in St. Pete Beach, FL with Dr. Kaldy and Dr. Blaser! She received a travel grant to support her trip from VSS. The title of the project is: Pupillary response indicates the resolution of proactive interference in a visual working memory task. Congrats, Jamie!
Jamie Beshore presented her poster at the meeting of the Vision Sciences Society in St. Pete Beach, FL with Dr. Kaldy and Dr. Blaser! She received a travel grant to support her trip from VSS. The title of the project is: Pupillary response indicates the resolution of proactive interference in a visual working memory task. Congrats, Jamie!
April 28, 2022
Mollie Hamilton was awarded a Diversity Travel Grant to help support the costs of attending the International Congress on Infant Studies in Ottawa, CA in July 2022! Congrats, Mollie!
Mollie Hamilton was awarded a Diversity Travel Grant to help support the costs of attending the International Congress on Infant Studies in Ottawa, CA in July 2022! Congrats, Mollie!
April 21-23, 2022
Mollie Hamilton and Tessyia Roper presented their poster at the meeting of the Cognitive Development Society in Madison, WI! Both of them received travel grants to support their trip (thanks, CDS and UMB's Undergraduate Research Fund!) The title of the project is: Proactive interference from LTM hinders retrieval from visual working memory in 3-year-olds.
Mollie Hamilton and Tessyia Roper presented their poster at the meeting of the Cognitive Development Society in Madison, WI! Both of them received travel grants to support their trip (thanks, CDS and UMB's Undergraduate Research Fund!) The title of the project is: Proactive interference from LTM hinders retrieval from visual working memory in 3-year-olds.
February 23, 2022
Erinda Morina and Jamie Beshore have been awarded the National Eye Institute Early Career Scientist Travel Grant to help support the costs of attending the 2022 Vision Sciences Society Meeting in Florida in May!
Erinda Morina and Jamie Beshore have been awarded the National Eye Institute Early Career Scientist Travel Grant to help support the costs of attending the 2022 Vision Sciences Society Meeting in Florida in May!
January 18, 2022
Dr. Chen Cheng (PhD mentee of Erik, DBS Class of 2019, postdoc at BU in Melissa Kibbe's lab) has accepted a job and will be setting up her lab as an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in September 2022! Congratulations, Chen!
Dr. Chen Cheng (PhD mentee of Erik, DBS Class of 2019, postdoc at BU in Melissa Kibbe's lab) has accepted a job and will be setting up her lab as an Assistant Professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in September 2022! Congratulations, Chen!
2021
|
November 30, 2021
Many thanks to Dr. Alice Skelton from Sussex University for a super interesting talk on infants' color perception! |
October 19, 2021
Check out our FALL 2021 NEWSLETTER for all the newest updates and information!
June 1, 2021
Taylor Stone will be working the Baby Lab as a visiting summer research apprentice from Lafayette College, PA. Welcome, Taylor, in Boston!
May 26, 2021
Julia Kelly, an alumna of the Baby Lab, was accepted into a master's program at Simmons College in Applied Behavioral Analysis. Congratulations, Julia!
May 10th, 2021
Congratulations to Mollie Hamilton and Jamie Beshore for being admitted to Central European University's (CEU) online summer school on developing object representations! https://summeruniversity.ceu.edu/developing-mind-2021
March 31st, 2021
Bella Baidak, an alumna of the Baby Lab received a merit-based scholarship and was admitted to Cornell University's masters program in connective media-a-first-of-its kind degree, which lies at the intersection of technology, human psychology and cognition, and entrepreneurship. Congratulations, Bella!
March 26th, 2021
Congratulations to Dr. Julie Freschl, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "The Development of Visual Temporal Processing” on March 26th 2021! Her committee members were Erik Blaser, Zsuzsa Kaldy Tiffany Donaldson and David Melcher from NYU Abu Dhabi.
March 16, 2021
Laura Keegan, an alumna of the Baby Lab, was admitted to Boston University's PhD program in Neuroscience! Laura will be working on the development of motor control in the lab of Dr. Simone Gill. Congratulations, Laura!
March 10, 2021
Zsuzsa Kaldy gave a talk (online) at the Psychology Department of University of East Anglia, in Norwich, UK. It was followed by a lively discussion with colleagues Teea Gliga, John Spencer, Barbara Pomiechowska and others.
March 9, 2021
Congratulations to Mollie Hamilton for defending her dissertation proposal on March 9th! Her committee members were Zsuzsa Kaldy, Erik Blaser, Susan Zup, and Martha Ann Bell from Virginia Tech Psychology Department.
January 2021
The Baby Lab Team Welcomes Dr. Blankenship, the new Principal Investigator
Dr. Tashauna Blankenship joined the team of faculty members in the Baby Lab in January 2021! Dr. Blankenship is interested in how young children's representational capacities develop, and studies infants, toddlers, and children using behavioral and electrophysiological methods (EEG). Welcome, Dr. Blankenship!
2020
November 17, 2020
Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Izen, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "The Role of Attention in Perceiving Seen and Heard Emotional Information”on November 17th 2020! Her committee members were Vivian Ciaramitaro, Richard Hunter, Erik Blaser and Sam Ling from Boston University, Psychological and Brain Sciences Department.
November 10, 2020
New publication! Julie Freschl, together with Dr. Blaser, Dr. Kaldy, and their two collaborators, Dr. Alice Carter (UMass Boston) and Dr. David Melcher (University of Trento) has published her research on visual temporal integration in toddlers with ASD in Autism Research.
Check out our FALL 2021 NEWSLETTER for all the newest updates and information!
June 1, 2021
Taylor Stone will be working the Baby Lab as a visiting summer research apprentice from Lafayette College, PA. Welcome, Taylor, in Boston!
May 26, 2021
Julia Kelly, an alumna of the Baby Lab, was accepted into a master's program at Simmons College in Applied Behavioral Analysis. Congratulations, Julia!
May 10th, 2021
Congratulations to Mollie Hamilton and Jamie Beshore for being admitted to Central European University's (CEU) online summer school on developing object representations! https://summeruniversity.ceu.edu/developing-mind-2021
March 31st, 2021
Bella Baidak, an alumna of the Baby Lab received a merit-based scholarship and was admitted to Cornell University's masters program in connective media-a-first-of-its kind degree, which lies at the intersection of technology, human psychology and cognition, and entrepreneurship. Congratulations, Bella!
March 26th, 2021
Congratulations to Dr. Julie Freschl, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "The Development of Visual Temporal Processing” on March 26th 2021! Her committee members were Erik Blaser, Zsuzsa Kaldy Tiffany Donaldson and David Melcher from NYU Abu Dhabi.
March 16, 2021
Laura Keegan, an alumna of the Baby Lab, was admitted to Boston University's PhD program in Neuroscience! Laura will be working on the development of motor control in the lab of Dr. Simone Gill. Congratulations, Laura!
March 10, 2021
Zsuzsa Kaldy gave a talk (online) at the Psychology Department of University of East Anglia, in Norwich, UK. It was followed by a lively discussion with colleagues Teea Gliga, John Spencer, Barbara Pomiechowska and others.
March 9, 2021
Congratulations to Mollie Hamilton for defending her dissertation proposal on March 9th! Her committee members were Zsuzsa Kaldy, Erik Blaser, Susan Zup, and Martha Ann Bell from Virginia Tech Psychology Department.
January 2021
The Baby Lab Team Welcomes Dr. Blankenship, the new Principal Investigator
Dr. Tashauna Blankenship joined the team of faculty members in the Baby Lab in January 2021! Dr. Blankenship is interested in how young children's representational capacities develop, and studies infants, toddlers, and children using behavioral and electrophysiological methods (EEG). Welcome, Dr. Blankenship!
2020
November 17, 2020
Congratulations to Dr. Sarah Izen, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "The Role of Attention in Perceiving Seen and Heard Emotional Information”on November 17th 2020! Her committee members were Vivian Ciaramitaro, Richard Hunter, Erik Blaser and Sam Ling from Boston University, Psychological and Brain Sciences Department.
November 10, 2020
New publication! Julie Freschl, together with Dr. Blaser, Dr. Kaldy, and their two collaborators, Dr. Alice Carter (UMass Boston) and Dr. David Melcher (University of Trento) has published her research on visual temporal integration in toddlers with ASD in Autism Research.
September 25, 2020
Dr. Kaldy and Dr. Blaser has just received a 3-year research grant from the NIH! The grant will support our work studying the role of cognitive effort in visual working memory performance in infants and young toddlers. YAY!
Dr. Kaldy and Dr. Blaser has just received a 3-year research grant from the NIH! The grant will support our work studying the role of cognitive effort in visual working memory performance in infants and young toddlers. YAY!
September 1, 2020
Congratulations to Dr. Mihye Choi, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "Frequency Distribution in Phoneme Learning Across the Lifespan” on September 1st 2020! Her committee members were Vivian Ciaramitaro, Tiffany Donaldson, and Zsuzsa Kaldy from UMass Boston and Richard Aslin from Yale/Haskins Laboratories.
September 2020
The Baby Lab Welcomes Three New Graduate Students to the DBS Program
Jamie Beshore, Elisabeth Boyce Jacino, and Shibo Cao started the DBS PhD program this fall. Elisabeth and Shibo will be working with Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Jamie with Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy.
July 6-9, 2020
Graduate students (Mollie Hamilton and Cheng Cheng) and professors (Erik Blaser and Zsuzsa Kaldy) attended the International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS) virtually from July 6-9. Student and faculty presented the following posters:
Hamilton, M., Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2020). Proactive interference disrupts toddlers’ visual working memory. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, July 6-9, 2020. [VIRTUAL DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC]
Cheng, C., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2020). Multimodal stimuli with sound/shape correspondence help the working memory of 9-month-old infants. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, July 6-9, 2020. [VIRTUAL DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC]
June 19-24, 2020
Graduate student Julie Freschl and professors Erik Blaser and Zsuzsa Kaldy attended the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Conference virtually from June 19-24. They presented the following poster:
Freschl, J., Melcher, D., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2020). Visual temporal integration windows are longer in infants. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, June 19-24, 2020, St. Pete Beach, FL. [VIRTUAL DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC]
June 11, 2020
Karina DeAndrade, an alumna of the Baby Lab, received a Presidential Fellowship to attend Merrimack College's Master's Program in Mental Health Counseling! Congratulations, Karina!
Congratulations to Dr. Mihye Choi, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "Frequency Distribution in Phoneme Learning Across the Lifespan” on September 1st 2020! Her committee members were Vivian Ciaramitaro, Tiffany Donaldson, and Zsuzsa Kaldy from UMass Boston and Richard Aslin from Yale/Haskins Laboratories.
September 2020
The Baby Lab Welcomes Three New Graduate Students to the DBS Program
Jamie Beshore, Elisabeth Boyce Jacino, and Shibo Cao started the DBS PhD program this fall. Elisabeth and Shibo will be working with Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Jamie with Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy.
July 6-9, 2020
Graduate students (Mollie Hamilton and Cheng Cheng) and professors (Erik Blaser and Zsuzsa Kaldy) attended the International Conference on Infant Studies (ICIS) virtually from July 6-9. Student and faculty presented the following posters:
Hamilton, M., Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2020). Proactive interference disrupts toddlers’ visual working memory. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, July 6-9, 2020. [VIRTUAL DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC]
Cheng, C., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2020). Multimodal stimuli with sound/shape correspondence help the working memory of 9-month-old infants. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, July 6-9, 2020. [VIRTUAL DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC]
June 19-24, 2020
Graduate student Julie Freschl and professors Erik Blaser and Zsuzsa Kaldy attended the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Conference virtually from June 19-24. They presented the following poster:
Freschl, J., Melcher, D., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2020). Visual temporal integration windows are longer in infants. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, June 19-24, 2020, St. Pete Beach, FL. [VIRTUAL DUE TO COVID-19 PANDEMIC]
June 11, 2020
Karina DeAndrade, an alumna of the Baby Lab, received a Presidential Fellowship to attend Merrimack College's Master's Program in Mental Health Counseling! Congratulations, Karina!
April 20, 2020
Neïssa Ambroise, a graduating member of the Baby Lab, won the Psychology Department's Barnett Prize! The prize is given annually, for the best undergraduate literature review paper. Neïssa's paper was titled "The Ability to Resolve Proactive Interference: Do Bilinguals and Monolinguals Differ?" Congratulations, Neïssa!
Neïssa Ambroise, a graduating member of the Baby Lab, won the Psychology Department's Barnett Prize! The prize is given annually, for the best undergraduate literature review paper. Neïssa's paper was titled "The Ability to Resolve Proactive Interference: Do Bilinguals and Monolinguals Differ?" Congratulations, Neïssa!
April 17, 2020
Our work (Erik, Chen, Zsuzsa) got a surprise endorsement from Harvard Emeritus Professor Dr. Jerry Kagan! :)
Our work (Erik, Chen, Zsuzsa) got a surprise endorsement from Harvard Emeritus Professor Dr. Jerry Kagan! :)
|
January 15, 2020
Dr. Tashauna Blankenship will join the team of faculty members in the Baby Lab in the 2020/21 academic year! Dr. Blankenship is interested in how young children's representational capacities develop, and studies infants, toddlers, and children using behavioral and electrophysiological methods (EEG). Welcome, Tashauna! |
2019
December 13, 2019
Our former research assistant, Alexia Williams who is completing her PhD at UC Davis gave a talk for the UMass Boston IMSD Alumni Symposium on Friday December 13th.
Our former research assistant, Alexia Williams who is completing her PhD at UC Davis gave a talk for the UMass Boston IMSD Alumni Symposium on Friday December 13th.
July 1st, 2019
Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy was selected to serve as a member of a grant review panel (Cognition & Perception) of the National Institutes of Health. Three times a year, she will be traveling to meet with other members of the group (in the Washington, DC area or in California) to discuss grant proposals.
May 23-26, 2019
Under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, four of her undergraduate research assistants, Julia Kelly (pictured left), Bella Baidak, Kevin Nguyen, and Nicolas Raymond (pictured right) recently presented their posters at the 31st annual Association for Psychological Sciences in Washington D.C.
Nicolas Raymond presented the poster on "Quantifying perceptual biases in social anxiety: How do different measures compare?"
Julia Kelly presented the poster on "Feeling bouba or kiki: a role for visual exposure in tactile-audio associations."
Bella Baidak and Dylan Hughes presented the poster on "Does the attractiveness of a face bias how we perceive emotion in a face?"
Under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, four of her undergraduate research assistants, Julia Kelly (pictured left), Bella Baidak, Kevin Nguyen, and Nicolas Raymond (pictured right) recently presented their posters at the 31st annual Association for Psychological Sciences in Washington D.C.
Nicolas Raymond presented the poster on "Quantifying perceptual biases in social anxiety: How do different measures compare?"
Julia Kelly presented the poster on "Feeling bouba or kiki: a role for visual exposure in tactile-audio associations."
Bella Baidak and Dylan Hughes presented the poster on "Does the attractiveness of a face bias how we perceive emotion in a face?"
|
|
May 17-22, 2019
Graduate student: Julie Freschl,; professors: Erik Blaser, Vivian Ciaramitaro, and Zsuzsa Kaldy; and Lab Manager: Sangya Dhungana attended the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida (May 17-22, 2019). Students and faculty presented the following posters:
Freschl, J., Melcher, D., Carter, A. S., Dhungana, S., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2019). Visual temporal integration windows in 2-year-old toddlers with and without ASD. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 17-22, 2019, St. Pete Beach, FL. freschl_vss_2019.pdf
Ciaramitaro, V., Chow, H.M., Morina, E. (2019). Cross-modal correspondences between abstract shapes and nonsense words modulate a neuronal signature of visual shape processing. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 17-22, 2019, St. Pete Beach, FL.
Graduate student: Julie Freschl,; professors: Erik Blaser, Vivian Ciaramitaro, and Zsuzsa Kaldy; and Lab Manager: Sangya Dhungana attended the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida (May 17-22, 2019). Students and faculty presented the following posters:
Freschl, J., Melcher, D., Carter, A. S., Dhungana, S., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2019). Visual temporal integration windows in 2-year-old toddlers with and without ASD. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 17-22, 2019, St. Pete Beach, FL. freschl_vss_2019.pdf
Ciaramitaro, V., Chow, H.M., Morina, E. (2019). Cross-modal correspondences between abstract shapes and nonsense words modulate a neuronal signature of visual shape processing. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 17-22, 2019, St. Pete Beach, FL.
|
|
May 15, 2019
Congratulations to Dr. CHEN CHENG, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "The early development of visual working memory" on May 15, 2019! Her committee members were Erik Blaser, Zsuzsa Kaldy, Susan Zup (UMass Boston) and Lisa Feigenson from Johns Hopkins University.
Congratulations to Dr. CHEN CHENG, who successfully defended her dissertation titled "The early development of visual working memory" on May 15, 2019! Her committee members were Erik Blaser, Zsuzsa Kaldy, Susan Zup (UMass Boston) and Lisa Feigenson from Johns Hopkins University.
June 12, 2019
Julie Freschl has been accepted into the Cold Spring Harbor Lab Course-Vision: A Platform for Linking Circuits, Perception, and Behavior where she will be trained in classic and novel approaches to studying vision in order to gain a deeper understanding of the visual system's structure and function.
Julie Freschl has been accepted into the Cold Spring Harbor Lab Course-Vision: A Platform for Linking Circuits, Perception, and Behavior where she will be trained in classic and novel approaches to studying vision in order to gain a deeper understanding of the visual system's structure and function.
April 25, 2019
We have uploaded our Spring 2019 Newsletter for the lab. Check it out for all the newest updates and information! Click Here!
We have uploaded our Spring 2019 Newsletter for the lab. Check it out for all the newest updates and information! Click Here!
April 24, 2019
Under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, four of her undergraduate research assistants, Kaitlin Parent, Bella Baidak, Kevin Nguyen, and Julia Kelly recently presented their posters at UMB CLA Undergraduate Research Day.
From left to right, respectively: Kaitlin Parent presenting "Perception of Emotional Faces and Voices in Social Anxiety"
Kevin Nguyen and Julia Kelly presenting "Seeing Abstract Shapes Enhances Children's Ability to Associate Abstract Shapes They Feel with Nonsense Words they Hear"
Bella Baidak presenting "Does the Attractiveness of a Face Bias How we Perceive the Emotion in a Face?".
Under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, four of her undergraduate research assistants, Kaitlin Parent, Bella Baidak, Kevin Nguyen, and Julia Kelly recently presented their posters at UMB CLA Undergraduate Research Day.
From left to right, respectively: Kaitlin Parent presenting "Perception of Emotional Faces and Voices in Social Anxiety"
Kevin Nguyen and Julia Kelly presenting "Seeing Abstract Shapes Enhances Children's Ability to Associate Abstract Shapes They Feel with Nonsense Words they Hear"
Bella Baidak presenting "Does the Attractiveness of a Face Bias How we Perceive the Emotion in a Face?".
|
|
|
April 3, 2019
Congratulations to Elicia Kelley and Julia Kelly for being the Psychology Department's 2019 Prize Winners. Elicia (pictured left) won the Psychology Department's Samuels Prize for her paper titled “The Nonselective Visual Pathway of Scene Recognition and its Development”. Julia (pictured right) won the Barnett Prize for her paper titled “The Impact of Parenting and Cultural Values on Anxiety Development and Treatment Within those Identifying as Hispanic or Latinx”.
|
|
March 2019
In September 2019, Yibiao Liang will join the DBS program under the mentorship of Erik and Zsuzsa. Yibiao received a Masters degree from Zhejiang Normal University in China, where he worked on the neural bases of Theory of Mind abilities in preschoolers. He is moving to Boston from Hangzhou, China.
March 1st 2019
Mihye Choi successfully defended her dissertation proposal on March 1! Her work is aiming to understand how infants and adults can learn phonemes (speech sounds) in a new language. Her committee members are Vivian Ciaramitaro, Tiffany Donaldson, and Zsuzsa Kaldy from UMass Boston and Richard Aslin from Yale/Haskins Laboratories.
February 2019
Congratulations to Sarah Izen for defending her dissertation proposal on February 1st! Her committee members were Vivian Ciaramitaro, Richard Hunter, Mohinish Shukla, and Sam Ling from Boston University, Psychological and Brain Sciences Department.
January 2019
Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Mihye Choi Presented at BCCCD19
Zsuzsa and Mihye participated in the ninth annual BCCCD meeting in Budapest, Hungary (BCCCD19, January 3-5, 2019).
Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Mihye Choi Presented at BCCCD19
Zsuzsa and Mihye participated in the ninth annual BCCCD meeting in Budapest, Hungary (BCCCD19, January 3-5, 2019).
|
|
2018
December 2018
|
Congratulations to Julie L. Freschl for successfully defending her dissertation proposal on December 12th! |
|
|
September 2018
The Baby Lab Welcomes Two New Graduate Students to the DBS Program
Erinda Morina and Mollie Hamilton started the DBS PhD program this fall. Erinda Morina earned her bachelor’s and master’s in Public Health from the University of Medicine Tirana in Albania, and then she earned a B.S. degree in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Mollie Hamilton earned a bachelor’s degree in Opera Performance and two master’s degree in French Studies and Cognitive Science. Erinda will be working with Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Mollie with Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy.
The Baby Lab Welcomes Two New Graduate Students to the DBS Program
Erinda Morina and Mollie Hamilton started the DBS PhD program this fall. Erinda Morina earned her bachelor’s and master’s in Public Health from the University of Medicine Tirana in Albania, and then she earned a B.S. degree in Psychology at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Mollie Hamilton earned a bachelor’s degree in Opera Performance and two master’s degree in French Studies and Cognitive Science. Erinda will be working with Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Mollie with Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy.
July 25th to 28th 2018
CHEN CHENG gave her first talk at a major international conference, at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society in Madison, WI! Congratulations Chen!
CHEN CHENG gave her first talk at a major international conference, at the annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society in Madison, WI! Congratulations Chen!
|
July 11, 2018 HIU MEI (DORIS) CHOW has defended her dissertation titled "AN EXAMINATION OF THE INTERACTION OF ATTENTION AND CROSSMODAL CORRESPONDENCES WITH DEVELOPMENTAL AND NEUROPHYSIOLOGICAL APPROACHES" on July 11. Congratulations to Dr. Chow, the fourth PhD of the Baby Lab! 
|
|
|
June 30 - July 3rd, 2018
Under the mentorship of Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy, her graduate students, Cheng Chen and Julie Freschl, and lab manager Sangya Dhungana, presented their posters at the International Congress of Infant Studies (ICIS) in Philadelphia, PA. The following posters were also presented at this meeting: Cheng C., Kaldy Z. & Blaser E. Using eye movement and pupillometry to uncover the role of endogenous attention in VWM. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, June 30 - July 3, Philadelphia, PA Cheng C., Kaldy Z., Dhungana S. & Blaser E. Successful updating of object-location bindings in Visual Working Memory in 20- and 25-month olds. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, June 30 - July 3, Philadelphia, PA Freschl, J., Melcher, D., Carter, A. S., Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2018). Visual Temporal Integration Windows are longer in 2-year-old toddlers with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, June 30-July 3, 2018, Philadelphia, PA. |
|
May 29, 2018
Dr. Allison Fitch and Dr. Hayley Smith received their doctoral hoods today!
May 10, 2018
We have uploaded our Spring 2018 Newsletter for the lab. Check it out for all the newest updates and information! Click Here!
We have uploaded our Spring 2018 Newsletter for the lab. Check it out for all the newest updates and information! Click Here!
|
May 10, 2018
Under the guidance of Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy, her undergraduate research assistant, Natalia Sabogal, was awarded the Barnett Prize for the best undergraduate research paper-- "When Do Labels Aid Short-term Memory?", (2017-2018) at the Psi Chi Graduation Reception to honor Psychology graduating undergraduates. 
|
|
|
April 27, 2018
Under the guidance of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, eight of our undergraduate research assistants, Erinda Morina, Neuba Silva, Newton Jordao, Xenia Leviyah, Kaitlin Parent, Valerie Goutama, Aleksandra Sabov, and Nicolas Raymond attended the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference. This conference is held each year, where 1,200 student from campuses across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts present their findings from a wide range of academic disciplines. The following posters were presented within this conference: Leviyah, X.,Chow, H.M, & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2018). Interactions between stimulus salience and timing determine the extent to which a sound alters visual detectability. Poster presented at the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 27, 2018, Boston, MA Morina, E., Raymond, N., Izen, S.C., & Ciaramitaro, V.M (2018). Maintained negative biases in social anxiety via biased adaptation to happy and angry faces depends on face gender.Poster presented at the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 27, 2018, Boston, MA Jordao, N., Chow, H.M, & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2018). Video Gamers Outperform Non-Video Gamers in Crossmodal Attention. Poster presented at the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 27, 2018, Boston, MA Parent, K., Goutama, V., Izen, S.C., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2018). How the Emotion We See is Influenced by the Emotion We Hear Depends on the Visibility of a Face. Poster presented at the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 27, 2018, Boston, MA Sabov, A.,Chow, H.M, Leonardo, B., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2018). A neuronal signature for correspondences between abstract shapes and sounds. Poster presented at the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 27, 2018, Boston, MA Silva, N.,Chow, H.M, & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2018). Does Musical Training Improve Crossmodal Attention? Poster presented at the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 27, 2018, Boston, MA |
Xenia Leviyah presents her poster: "Interactions between stimulus salience and timing determine the extent to which a sound alters visual detectability."
Newton Jordao presents on his poster: "Video Gamers Outperform Non-Video Gamers in Crossmodal Attention."
Neuba Silva presents her poster: "Does Musical Training Improve Crossmodal Attention?"
|
Both Valerie Goutama and Kaitlin Parent present their poster: "How the Emotion We See is Influenced by the Emotion We Hear Depends on the Visibility of a Face."
Nicolas Raymond presents his poster: "Maintained negative biases in social anxiety via biased adaptation to happy and angry faces depends on face gender."
A group photo of our research assistants at the 24th Annual Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference.
|
|
March 24 - 27, 2018
Under the mentor-ship of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, her graduate students, Doris Chow and Sarah Izen, and research assistants Brianna Leonardo and Erinda Morina, presented their posters at the 25th CNS Annual Meeting. The following 4 posters were also presented at this meeting: Morina, E., Izen, S.C., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2018). Weakened adaptation for negative compared to positive emotions in individuals high in social anxiety. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of The Cognitive Neuroscience Society, March 24-27, 2018, Boston, MA Izen, S.C., Bethancourt, X., & Ciaramitaro, V.M (2018). Seen and heard emotions of a crowd alter perception and state affect. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of The Cognitive Neuroscience Society, March 24-27, 2018, Boston, MA Chow, H.M, Leonardo, B., Sabov, A., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2018). Is a round shape integrated with a /bouba/ sound? Enhanced neuronal signals at the intermodulation frequencies of congruent audio-visual stimuli. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of The Cognitive Neuroscience Society, March 24-27, 2018, Boston, MA Ciaramitaro, V.M., Izen, S.C., Lapp, H.E., Harris, D.A & Hunter, R.G. (2018). Seen and heard emotions alter perception and cortisol. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of The Cognitive Neuroscience Society, March 24-27, 2018, Boston, MA Under the mentor-ship of Dr. Mohinish Shukla, his graduate students, Mihye Choi and Ertugrul Uysal also presented their work at the same conference. Choi M., Uysal, E., Shukla, M. (2018). Phoneme learning in a musical context. Poster presented at CNS, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. cnsposter_mihyechoi.pdf Uysal, E., Choi M., de Villiers, J., Shukla, M. (2018). Some Complex Concepts Require Language: An eye-tracking study with 12- to 24-mo-old infants and adults. Poster presented at CNS, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. cnsposter_ertuuysal.pdf |
Doris Chow, our graduate student, and Brianna Leonardo, our research assistant presenting their poster: "Is a round shape integrated with a /bouba/ sound? Enhanced neuronal signals at the intermodulation frequencies of congruent audio-visual stimuli."
Erinda Morina, one of our research assistants, presenting her poster: "Weakened adaptation for negative compared to positive emotions in individuals high in social anxiety."
|
|
March 23 & 24, 2018
Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro's graduate student Sarah Izen and research assistant Cheryl Ellis ran a total of 17 individuals, who ranged from children, high school student, to young adults, in their current face study at the Museum of Science Health Fair. The Museum of Science held this health fair to spark the interest of those who want to know more about how our brains work and how to become a part of science! 
Two high school student who participated in our face study.
|
Sarah Izen, our graduate student, running a high school student at the Museum of Science Health Fair.
Cheryl Ellis, our research assistant, running a high school student at the Museum of Science Health Fair.
|
March 6, 2018
HAYLEY SMITH has defended her dissertation titled "THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL ATTENTIONAL MECHANISMS IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER" on March 6. Congratulations to Dr. Smith, the third PhD of the Baby Lab!
HAYLEY SMITH has defended her dissertation titled "THE EARLY DEVELOPMENT OF VISUAL ATTENTIONAL MECHANISMS IN AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER" on March 6. Congratulations to Dr. Smith, the third PhD of the Baby Lab!
February 7, 2018
Shivaun Bennett, (Baby Lab Research Assistant in Spring 2017, BS in 2017) just got accepted to the Nurse Practitioner's Program of Simmons College! Congratulations, Shivaun!
Shivaun Bennett, (Baby Lab Research Assistant in Spring 2017, BS in 2017) just got accepted to the Nurse Practitioner's Program of Simmons College! Congratulations, Shivaun!
February 5, 2018
A research paper by Dr Zsuzsa Kaldy and her collaborators at De Paul University (Sheila Krogh-Jespersen) and University of Chicago (Amanda Woodward) just got published in Autism Research! Other co-authors were Dr. Alice Carter and Annalisa Valadez.
Krogh-Jespersen, S., Kaldy, Z., Valadez, A., Carter, A. S., & Woodward, A. (in press). Goal prediction in 2-year-old children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder: An eye-tracking study. Autism Research. PDF
A research paper by Dr Zsuzsa Kaldy and her collaborators at De Paul University (Sheila Krogh-Jespersen) and University of Chicago (Amanda Woodward) just got published in Autism Research! Other co-authors were Dr. Alice Carter and Annalisa Valadez.
Krogh-Jespersen, S., Kaldy, Z., Valadez, A., Carter, A. S., & Woodward, A. (in press). Goal prediction in 2-year-old children with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder: An eye-tracking study. Autism Research. PDF
2017
October 21, 2017
Under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, three of her undergraduate research assistants, Erinda Morina, Xenia Leviyah, and Audrey Zutrau, recently attended the annual New England Psychological Association Conference at Williams James College.
Below on the left is a picture Xenia Leviyah presenting her poster:
Attention determines how exposure to emotional information effects mood. Xenia Leviyah, Sarah Izen, and Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, New England Psychological Association, Williams James College, MA, October 21, 2017.
Below in the middle is a picture of Erinda Morina presenting her poster:
Changes in perceiving and reacting to emotional faces in individuals high in social anxiety. Erinda Morina, Sarah Izen, and Dr. Vivian M. Ciaramitaro, New England Psychological Association, Williams James College, MA, October 21, 2017.
Below on the right is a picture of Audrey Zutrau who also attended this conference as part of the research portfolio.
Under the supervision of Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, three of her undergraduate research assistants, Erinda Morina, Xenia Leviyah, and Audrey Zutrau, recently attended the annual New England Psychological Association Conference at Williams James College.
Below on the left is a picture Xenia Leviyah presenting her poster:
Attention determines how exposure to emotional information effects mood. Xenia Leviyah, Sarah Izen, and Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, New England Psychological Association, Williams James College, MA, October 21, 2017.
Below in the middle is a picture of Erinda Morina presenting her poster:
Changes in perceiving and reacting to emotional faces in individuals high in social anxiety. Erinda Morina, Sarah Izen, and Dr. Vivian M. Ciaramitaro, New England Psychological Association, Williams James College, MA, October 21, 2017.
Below on the right is a picture of Audrey Zutrau who also attended this conference as part of the research portfolio.
|
|
|
October 13, 2017
Sylvia Guillory's research paper that was based on part of her dissertation was accepted for publication at the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology!
Sylvia Guillory's research paper that was based on part of her dissertation was accepted for publication at the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology!
July 7, 2017
Allison Fitch has defended her dissertation titled "EXPLORING TODDLERS’ USE OF LANGUAGE TO UPDATE MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS: EVIDENCE FROM CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER" on July 7, 2017. Congratulations to the second PhD of the Baby Lab! Allison will start working as a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University in August, 2017.
Allison Fitch has defended her dissertation titled "EXPLORING TODDLERS’ USE OF LANGUAGE TO UPDATE MENTAL REPRESENTATIONS: EVIDENCE FROM CHILDREN WITH AND WITHOUT AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER" on July 7, 2017. Congratulations to the second PhD of the Baby Lab! Allison will start working as a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University in August, 2017.
|
|
|
May 26th, 2017
Under the supervision of Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, three research assistants recently graduated with honors. Laura Keegan graduated with honors from the Honors College. Nilam Thaker graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Psychology. Danielle Briggs also graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Psychology. Congratulations you three on your hard work and dedication! Good luck with your future endeavors!
Under the supervision of Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, three research assistants recently graduated with honors. Laura Keegan graduated with honors from the Honors College. Nilam Thaker graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Psychology. Danielle Briggs also graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Psychology. Congratulations you three on your hard work and dedication! Good luck with your future endeavors!
May 19th-22nd, 2017
Two of our undergraduate research assistants Danielle Briggs & Brianna Leonardo presented their research for the first time at an international conference (International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville)! Their work is mentored by PI Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and graduate student Doris Chow. We had a great time in the Music City! The group presented the following posters:
Briggs, D., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). The interdependence of visual salience and audiovisual synchrony on auditory contrast detection. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
Leonardo, B., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017) Do global or local features make an abstract shape appear more "baba" or "kiki"? Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
Chow, H.M. & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). What makes a shape /baba/ to a child versus an adult? Changing contributions from shape contour, protrusion number, and protrusion size in sound-shape correspondence. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
Ciaramitaro, V.M., Chow, H.M., & Eglington, L.G. (2017). Crossmodal attention alters contrast sensitivity for amplitude and frequency modulated auditory information via a mechanisms of contrast gain. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
Two of our undergraduate research assistants Danielle Briggs & Brianna Leonardo presented their research for the first time at an international conference (International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville)! Their work is mentored by PI Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and graduate student Doris Chow. We had a great time in the Music City! The group presented the following posters:
Briggs, D., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). The interdependence of visual salience and audiovisual synchrony on auditory contrast detection. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
Leonardo, B., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017) Do global or local features make an abstract shape appear more "baba" or "kiki"? Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
Chow, H.M. & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). What makes a shape /baba/ to a child versus an adult? Changing contributions from shape contour, protrusion number, and protrusion size in sound-shape correspondence. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
Ciaramitaro, V.M., Chow, H.M., & Eglington, L.G. (2017). Crossmodal attention alters contrast sensitivity for amplitude and frequency modulated auditory information via a mechanisms of contrast gain. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the International Multisensory Research Forum, May 19-22, 2017, Nashville, TN. PDF
May 16th, 2017
Sylvia Guillory has defended her doctoral dissertation on May 16, 2017. She is the first student to graduate with a PhD from the Baby Lab! Congratulations, Dr. Guillory!
Sylvia Guillory has defended her doctoral dissertation on May 16, 2017. She is the first student to graduate with a PhD from the Baby Lab! Congratulations, Dr. Guillory!
April 25th and 28th, 2017
Congratulations to a number of our undergraduate research assistants (Nora Portillo, Brianna Leonardo, Laura Keegan, Carlos Valentin, Xenia Leviyah, Erinda Morina, Danielle Briggs, Sherry Green, and Nilam Thaker) who recently presented their research at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst and the UMass Boston College of Liberal Arts Research Showcase. They presented the following posters:
Briggs, D., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). The interdependence of visual salience and audiovisual synchrony on auditory contrast detection. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Keegan, L., Smith, H., & Kaldy, Z. (2017). The effect of familiarity on visual search performance of 2-year-old toddlers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Leonardo, B., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). Do global or local features make an abstract shape appear more "baba" or "kiki"? Poster presented at the University of Massachusetts Boston College of Liberal Arts Showcase, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Leviyah, X., Izen, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). Mood Changes After Brief Exposure To Emotional Information: Positive and negative affect changes in relation to visual and auditory emotional information. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Morina, E., S., Izen, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). Investigating the effects of social anxiety on the perception of negative emotions in faces. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Portillo, N., Valentin, C., Green, S., Izen, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). How does race bias our perception of emotion? Emotional judgements of same-race vs different-race faces after adapting to happy or angry. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Thaker, N., Fitch, A., & Kaldy, Z. (2017). Do Labels Help? Exploring the Interaction Between Visual Working Memory and Verbal
Labels in Very Young Infants. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Congratulations to a number of our undergraduate research assistants (Nora Portillo, Brianna Leonardo, Laura Keegan, Carlos Valentin, Xenia Leviyah, Erinda Morina, Danielle Briggs, Sherry Green, and Nilam Thaker) who recently presented their research at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst and the UMass Boston College of Liberal Arts Research Showcase. They presented the following posters:
Briggs, D., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). The interdependence of visual salience and audiovisual synchrony on auditory contrast detection. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Keegan, L., Smith, H., & Kaldy, Z. (2017). The effect of familiarity on visual search performance of 2-year-old toddlers with and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Leonardo, B., Chow, H.M., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). Do global or local features make an abstract shape appear more "baba" or "kiki"? Poster presented at the University of Massachusetts Boston College of Liberal Arts Showcase, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Leviyah, X., Izen, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). Mood Changes After Brief Exposure To Emotional Information: Positive and negative affect changes in relation to visual and auditory emotional information. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Morina, E., S., Izen, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). Investigating the effects of social anxiety on the perception of negative emotions in faces. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Portillo, N., Valentin, C., Green, S., Izen, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2017). How does race bias our perception of emotion? Emotional judgements of same-race vs different-race faces after adapting to happy or angry. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
Thaker, N., Fitch, A., & Kaldy, Z. (2017). Do Labels Help? Exploring the Interaction Between Visual Working Memory and Verbal
Labels in Very Young Infants. Poster presented at the Massachusetts Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference, April 28, 2017, Amherst, MA. PDF
April 6th-8th, 2017
Graduate students Ali Fitch and Chen Cheng, accompanied by Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Erik Blaser attended the 2017 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting: Developmental Science and Society in Austin, Texas. They presented the following posters:
Cheng, C., Kaldy, Z., Dhungana, S., & Blaser, E. (2017). Using object history to predict future behavior: Are young infants essentialists? Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 6-8, 2017, Austin, TX. PDF
Fitch, A., Groth, A., Ganea, P., Carter, A. S., & Kaldy, Z. (2017). Toddlers with ASD can use language to form expectations about the visual world. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 6-8, 2017, Austin, TX. PDF
Graduate students Ali Fitch and Chen Cheng, accompanied by Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Erik Blaser attended the 2017 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting: Developmental Science and Society in Austin, Texas. They presented the following posters:
Cheng, C., Kaldy, Z., Dhungana, S., & Blaser, E. (2017). Using object history to predict future behavior: Are young infants essentialists? Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 6-8, 2017, Austin, TX. PDF
Fitch, A., Groth, A., Ganea, P., Carter, A. S., & Kaldy, Z. (2017). Toddlers with ASD can use language to form expectations about the visual world. Poster presented at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, April 6-8, 2017, Austin, TX. PDF
March 2017
Graduate students Doris Chow and Hayley Smith are the recipients of the International Student Research Grants from the Office of Global Programs at UMB. Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Erik Blaser have also received a faculty research grant from the same office.
Graduate students Doris Chow and Hayley Smith are the recipients of the International Student Research Grants from the Office of Global Programs at UMB. Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Erik Blaser have also received a faculty research grant from the same office.
January 2017
Graduate students Doris Chow and Mihye Choi are the recipients of the Graduate Student Assembly Craig R. Bollinger and the Dr. Robert W. Spayne Research Grants, respectively. Doris was awarded the Bollinger grant to support her dissertation research where she plans to examine multisensory influences on perception and attention early in development using visual and auditory stimuli calibrated along a meaningful, amodal, dimension: stimulus salience, to be equally interesting and engaging. She plans to quantify how the relative salience of a stimulus in one modality alters attention and detectability of a stimulus in another modality. Mihye’s award for her master’s work will investigate how infants learn phonemes based on frequency distributions of speech sounds in an ambient language. She is studying whether infants are still able to discriminate the sounds when presented with speaker variations and how infants use visual information in order to learn phonemes. Congratulations, Doris and Mihye!
Graduate students Doris Chow and Mihye Choi are the recipients of the Graduate Student Assembly Craig R. Bollinger and the Dr. Robert W. Spayne Research Grants, respectively. Doris was awarded the Bollinger grant to support her dissertation research where she plans to examine multisensory influences on perception and attention early in development using visual and auditory stimuli calibrated along a meaningful, amodal, dimension: stimulus salience, to be equally interesting and engaging. She plans to quantify how the relative salience of a stimulus in one modality alters attention and detectability of a stimulus in another modality. Mihye’s award for her master’s work will investigate how infants learn phonemes based on frequency distributions of speech sounds in an ambient language. She is studying whether infants are still able to discriminate the sounds when presented with speaker variations and how infants use visual information in order to learn phonemes. Congratulations, Doris and Mihye!
2016
December 2016
Graduate students Allison Fitch & Chen Cheng were accepted to present their respective work at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development in April 2017!
Graduate student Doris Chow was accepted to attend the Rethinking the Senses Spring School in April 2017 in Dubrovnik, Croatia!
Graduate students Allison Fitch & Chen Cheng were accepted to present their respective work at the Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research on Child Development in April 2017!
Graduate student Doris Chow was accepted to attend the Rethinking the Senses Spring School in April 2017 in Dubrovnik, Croatia!
September 2016
The Baby Lab welcomes two new graduate students: Ertu Uysal, who is working under the supervision of Dr. Shukla, and collaborator Julie Freschl, who is working under the supervision of Dr. Erik Blaser.
The Baby Lab welcomes two new graduate students: Ertu Uysal, who is working under the supervision of Dr. Shukla, and collaborator Julie Freschl, who is working under the supervision of Dr. Erik Blaser.
July 2016
We have uploaded our Summer 2016 Newsletter for the lab. Check it out for all the newest updates and information! Click Here!
May 2016
Under the supervision of Dr.Vivian Ciaramitaro (center), three more research assistants recently graduated with honors. Daniel Harris (right) graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Psychology. Brandon Mui (left) graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Biology. Kimberly Ellis (not pictured here) also graduated with honors from the Honors College. Congratulations you three on your hard work and dedication! We will miss you!
Under the supervision of Dr.Vivian Ciaramitaro (center), three more research assistants recently graduated with honors. Daniel Harris (right) graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Psychology. Brandon Mui (left) graduated with honors from the Honors College and Honors in Biology. Kimberly Ellis (not pictured here) also graduated with honors from the Honors College. Congratulations you three on your hard work and dedication! We will miss you!
May 26-29, 2016
Sylvia Guillory, a graduate student studying under Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy, attended the Association for Psychological Science's 28th Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois. She presented the following poster:
Guillory, S., Blaser, E., Ivester, R., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Expectations can influence cognitive resource allocation in a visual short-term memory task: evidence from behavioral and pupillometric measures. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science 28th Annual Convention, May 26-29, 2016, Chicago, IL. Poster
Sylvia Guillory, a graduate student studying under Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy, attended the Association for Psychological Science's 28th Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois. She presented the following poster:
Guillory, S., Blaser, E., Ivester, R., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Expectations can influence cognitive resource allocation in a visual short-term memory task: evidence from behavioral and pupillometric measures. Poster presented at the Association for Psychological Science 28th Annual Convention, May 26-29, 2016, Chicago, IL. Poster
May 23-26, 2016
Graduate students Ali Fitch and Chen Cheng, accompanied by Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Erik Blaser attended the International Conference on Infant Studies in New Orleans, Louisiana. They presented the following posters:
Fitch, A., Ganea, P., Harris, P., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Infants continue to trust language input even after multiple false testimonies. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, May 24-26, 2016, New Orleans, LA. Poster
Fitch, A., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Preverbal infants’ use of labels in visual working memory: An eye-tracking study using Delayed Match Retrieval. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, May 24-26, 2016, New Orleans, LA. Poster
Cheng, C. Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2016). Development of Visual Working Memory in 13- to 16-month olds in an anticipatory looking task. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, May 24-26, 2016, New Orleans, LA. Poster
Graduate students Ali Fitch and Chen Cheng, accompanied by Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy and Dr. Erik Blaser attended the International Conference on Infant Studies in New Orleans, Louisiana. They presented the following posters:
Fitch, A., Ganea, P., Harris, P., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Infants continue to trust language input even after multiple false testimonies. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, May 24-26, 2016, New Orleans, LA. Poster
Fitch, A., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Preverbal infants’ use of labels in visual working memory: An eye-tracking study using Delayed Match Retrieval. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, May 24-26, 2016, New Orleans, LA. Poster
Cheng, C. Kaldy, Z., & Blaser, E. (2016). Development of Visual Working Memory in 13- to 16-month olds in an anticipatory looking task. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies, May 24-26, 2016, New Orleans, LA. Poster
|
May 23, 2016
Undergraduate Abrar Ahmed and Professor Vivian Ciaramitaro at the Biology Honors Ceremony. Abrar worked with Professor Ciaramitaro's Social Perception Lab in order to complete a project for her Biology Honors Program. Congratulations Abrar! |
|
May 13-18, 2016
Graduate students: Chen Cheng, Doris Chow, and Sylvia Guillory; professors: Erik Blaser, Vivian Ciaramitaro, and Zsuzsa Kaldy; and undergrauate: Teddy Haile attended the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida (May 13-18, 2016). Students and faculty presented the following posters:
Cheng, C. Kaldy, Z. & Blaser, E. (2016). Accounting for cognitive effort in a visual working memory task in 13- and 15-month old infants. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL.
Chow, H.M., Harris, D.A., Eid, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2016) Early experience alters the developmental trajectory of visual, auditory, and tactile sound-shape correspondence. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster
Ciaramitaro, V.M., Izen, S., Lapp, H.E., Harris, D., Phan, A., & Hunter, R.G.(2016). Does hearing an emotion alter how we see emotion in a face and the corresponding physiological stress response. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster
Guillory, S.B., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Quantifying the effect of a distractor on the fidelity of visual working memory representations in 4-7-year-old children and adults. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL.
Harris, D., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2016). Are mechanisms for processing the gender and emotion of a face interdependent? Not for angry male faces. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster
Graduate students: Chen Cheng, Doris Chow, and Sylvia Guillory; professors: Erik Blaser, Vivian Ciaramitaro, and Zsuzsa Kaldy; and undergrauate: Teddy Haile attended the Vision Sciences Society (VSS) Annual Conference in St. Pete Beach, Florida (May 13-18, 2016). Students and faculty presented the following posters:
Cheng, C. Kaldy, Z. & Blaser, E. (2016). Accounting for cognitive effort in a visual working memory task in 13- and 15-month old infants. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL.
Chow, H.M., Harris, D.A., Eid, S., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2016) Early experience alters the developmental trajectory of visual, auditory, and tactile sound-shape correspondence. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster
Ciaramitaro, V.M., Izen, S., Lapp, H.E., Harris, D., Phan, A., & Hunter, R.G.(2016). Does hearing an emotion alter how we see emotion in a face and the corresponding physiological stress response. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster
Guillory, S.B., & Kaldy, Z. (2016). Quantifying the effect of a distractor on the fidelity of visual working memory representations in 4-7-year-old children and adults. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL.
Harris, D., & Ciaramitaro, V.M. (2016). Are mechanisms for processing the gender and emotion of a face interdependent? Not for angry male faces. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, May 13-18, 2016, St. Pete Beach, FL. Poster
May 10, 2016
Graduate student, Sylvia Guillory, will participate in the Methods in Computational Neuroscience course at the Summer School at Woods Hole which involves understanding how the brain can solve complex computational problems at the molecular to cognitive/behavioral levels though decomposing these processes into manageable mathematical units. From her participation in this year's course, Sylvia plans to strengthen her computational background and delve into new modeling techniques that will help build her career as a research scientist.
Graduate student, Sylvia Guillory, will participate in the Methods in Computational Neuroscience course at the Summer School at Woods Hole which involves understanding how the brain can solve complex computational problems at the molecular to cognitive/behavioral levels though decomposing these processes into manageable mathematical units. From her participation in this year's course, Sylvia plans to strengthen her computational background and delve into new modeling techniques that will help build her career as a research scientist.
|
April 28, 2016
Baby Lab presents at the National Living Laboratory Poster Session, Research Showcase at the Museum of Science Boston Professor Ciaramitaro; graduate students Doris Chow and Sarah Izen; research assistants: Vickee Sanchez, Keri Swenson all presented posters at the National Living Laboratory Poster Session at the Museum of Science, Boston. Students presented the following posters: Does this feel familiar? Repeated exposure strengthens crossmodal correspondence associations. Victoria E Sanchez, Hiu Mei Chow, Sarah Izen, and Vivian, M. Ciaramitaro. Poster The development of emotional interactions across the senses: Interactions between visual and auditory emotional information in children versus adults Keri Swenson, Hiu Mei Chow, Sarah Izen and Vivian M. Ciaramitaro. The strength of associations between abstract shapes and sounds, crossmodal correspondences, decreases for older compared to younger adults. Tracy Tam, Aleksandra Sabov, Hiu Mei Chow, and Vivian M. Ciaramitaro. Poster Does a baba sound feel spikey or round to you? Crossmodal correspondence across the audio-somatosensory modalities. Sandy Eid, Hiu Mei Chow, Daniel Harris, Victoria Sanchez & Vivian M. Ciaramitaro. Poster |
Sophomore, Vickee Sanchez and Professor Vivian Ciaramitaro
Keri Swenson, Sarah Izen, Prof. Vivian Ciaramitaro, Vickee Sanchez, Doris Chow
|
April 26, 2016
The Baby Lab attends the UMass Amherst Undergraduate Research Conference
Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro with her undergraduates: Danielle Briggs, Keri Swenson, Anh Phan, Brandom Mui, Tracy Tam, Vickee Sanchez, Sasha Sabov, and Terrence Cook attended the UMass Amherst Undergraduate Research Conference. Anh Phan presented the poster: Cross-modal adaptation to emotional information: Influences on the magnitude and rate of perceptual change. Danielle Briggs presented the poster: Interactions between visual salience and synchrony on auditory detectability in adults. Terence Cook presented the poster: Perceptual biases for negative emotions in social anxiety. Tracy Tam and Aleksandra Sabov presented the poster: The strength of the association between abstract shapes and sounds, cross-modal correspondences, decreases for older compared to younger adults. Victoria Sanchez presented the poster: Does this feel familiar? Repeated exposure strengthens crossmodal correspondence associations.
The Baby Lab attends the UMass Amherst Undergraduate Research Conference
Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro with her undergraduates: Danielle Briggs, Keri Swenson, Anh Phan, Brandom Mui, Tracy Tam, Vickee Sanchez, Sasha Sabov, and Terrence Cook attended the UMass Amherst Undergraduate Research Conference. Anh Phan presented the poster: Cross-modal adaptation to emotional information: Influences on the magnitude and rate of perceptual change. Danielle Briggs presented the poster: Interactions between visual salience and synchrony on auditory detectability in adults. Terence Cook presented the poster: Perceptual biases for negative emotions in social anxiety. Tracy Tam and Aleksandra Sabov presented the poster: The strength of the association between abstract shapes and sounds, cross-modal correspondences, decreases for older compared to younger adults. Victoria Sanchez presented the poster: Does this feel familiar? Repeated exposure strengthens crossmodal correspondence associations.
From left to right: Danielle Briggs, Keri Swenson, Tray Tam, Anh Phan, Brandon Mui, Aleksandra Sabov, Vickee Sanchez (Missing fro photo: Terrence Cook)
|
Tracy Tam presenting her poster at the conference this past weekend!
|
April 2-5, 2016
The Baby Lab attends Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting
Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, Doris Chow, Sylvia Guillory, Dan Harris, and Ahn Phan presented posters at the 2016 Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting. Sylvia Guillory, Doris Chow, and Professor Ciaramitaro presented their poster: Matching a shape and a sound: Does sound-shape correspondence modulate a neuronal signature of visual shape processing? Dan Harris and Professor Ciaramitaro presented their poster: Interdependent mechanisms for processing the gender and emotion of a face. Ahn Phan and Professor Ciaramitaro presented their poster: Hearing an emotion alters how we see emotion in a face and the corresponding physiological stress response.
The Baby Lab attends Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting
Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro, Doris Chow, Sylvia Guillory, Dan Harris, and Ahn Phan presented posters at the 2016 Cognitive Neuroscience Society Annual Meeting. Sylvia Guillory, Doris Chow, and Professor Ciaramitaro presented their poster: Matching a shape and a sound: Does sound-shape correspondence modulate a neuronal signature of visual shape processing? Dan Harris and Professor Ciaramitaro presented their poster: Interdependent mechanisms for processing the gender and emotion of a face. Ahn Phan and Professor Ciaramitaro presented their poster: Hearing an emotion alters how we see emotion in a face and the corresponding physiological stress response.
2015
December 21, 2015
The Baby Lab has been awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health
Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy, Dr. Erik Blaser and Dr. Mo Shukla have been awarded a major research grant by the National Institutes of Health (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). The goal of this grant is to characterize the role of focused attention in visual working memory in infants and toddlers using pupillometry.
The Baby Lab has been awarded a grant by the National Institutes of Health
Dr. Zsuzsa Kaldy, Dr. Erik Blaser and Dr. Mo Shukla have been awarded a major research grant by the National Institutes of Health (Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development). The goal of this grant is to characterize the role of focused attention in visual working memory in infants and toddlers using pupillometry.
November 1, 2015
New Lab Manager
Sangya Dhungana began her position as the new Lab Manager in November, 2015. Sangya received her BA in Psychology from UMass Boston in the Spring of 2015. Prior to taking on her new position, Sangya served as research assistant in the lab for nearly three years. Sangya's interest in developmental psychology and commitment to understand it through research motivated her to join the Baby Lab in 2013. She is interested in learning about cognitive capabilities and processes which help infants acquire language. Using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques, she plans to investigate language learning in infants as well as in adults.
New Lab Manager
Sangya Dhungana began her position as the new Lab Manager in November, 2015. Sangya received her BA in Psychology from UMass Boston in the Spring of 2015. Prior to taking on her new position, Sangya served as research assistant in the lab for nearly three years. Sangya's interest in developmental psychology and commitment to understand it through research motivated her to join the Baby Lab in 2013. She is interested in learning about cognitive capabilities and processes which help infants acquire language. Using behavioral and neuroimaging techniques, she plans to investigate language learning in infants as well as in adults.
October 9-10, 2015
The Baby Lab Attends the New England Psychological Association Conference
Daniel Harris, Shan Luo & Professor Vivian M. Ciaramitaro present their poster "Why so angry? Investigating gender bias in the identification of emotion" at the New England Psychological Association Conference (NEPA) at Fitchburg State University. Sandy Eid, Hiu Mei Chow, Daniel Harris, Victoria Sanchez & Professor Vivian M. Ciaramitaro present their poster "Does a baba sound feel spikey or round to you? Crossmodal correspondence across the audio-somatosensory modalities". Daniel Harris and Professor Vivian M. Ciaramitaro gave a talk "What’s in a face? Investigating mechanisms for processing gender and emotion in a face".
The Baby Lab Attends the New England Psychological Association Conference
Daniel Harris, Shan Luo & Professor Vivian M. Ciaramitaro present their poster "Why so angry? Investigating gender bias in the identification of emotion" at the New England Psychological Association Conference (NEPA) at Fitchburg State University. Sandy Eid, Hiu Mei Chow, Daniel Harris, Victoria Sanchez & Professor Vivian M. Ciaramitaro present their poster "Does a baba sound feel spikey or round to you? Crossmodal correspondence across the audio-somatosensory modalities". Daniel Harris and Professor Vivian M. Ciaramitaro gave a talk "What’s in a face? Investigating mechanisms for processing gender and emotion in a face".
October 9-10, 2015
Research Assistant, Dan Harris, won the prestigious Honorary Undergraduate Scholars Award
The Honorary Undergraduate Scholars Award (HUS) is awarded at the New England Psychological Association (NEPA) conference. The awards program recognizes recognize students with high achievement in undergraduate records in psychology and aims to encourage students to pursue careers in the discipline.
Research Assistant, Dan Harris, won the prestigious Honorary Undergraduate Scholars Award
The Honorary Undergraduate Scholars Award (HUS) is awarded at the New England Psychological Association (NEPA) conference. The awards program recognizes recognize students with high achievement in undergraduate records in psychology and aims to encourage students to pursue careers in the discipline.
July 23, 2015
The Baby Lab Attends The Cognitive Science Society Meeting
Allison Fitch attended the Cognitive Science Society Conference in Pasadena California. She presented her research on toddlers and verbal testimony.
The Baby Lab Attends The Cognitive Science Society Meeting
Allison Fitch attended the Cognitive Science Society Conference in Pasadena California. She presented her research on toddlers and verbal testimony.
June 13, 2015
The Baby Lab Attends IMRF
Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Doris Chow attend the in 16th International Multisensory Research Forum. They present their reserach on cross-modal interactions.
The Baby Lab Attends IMRF
Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Doris Chow attend the in 16th International Multisensory Research Forum. They present their reserach on cross-modal interactions.
June 9, 2015
The Baby Lab Welcomes Two New Graduate Students to the DBS Program
Sarah Izen and Mihye Choi will be starting the DBS PhD program in the Fall. Sarah Izen earned her BA in neuroscience and psychology at Smith College and then received her Master's at Boston University. Mihye Choi completed her BA at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, Korea and then earned her Master's degree at Ang University in Seoul, Korea. Sarah will be working with Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Mihye with Dr. Mohinish Shukla.
The Baby Lab Welcomes Two New Graduate Students to the DBS Program
Sarah Izen and Mihye Choi will be starting the DBS PhD program in the Fall. Sarah Izen earned her BA in neuroscience and psychology at Smith College and then received her Master's at Boston University. Mihye Choi completed her BA at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, Korea and then earned her Master's degree at Ang University in Seoul, Korea. Sarah will be working with Dr. Vivian Ciaramitaro and Mihye with Dr. Mohinish Shukla.
May 26, 2015
2nd Year Graduate Student Present Mentored Research Projects
Graduate students Hayley Smith, Allison Fitch, and Doris Chow presented their mentored research projects. Doris Chow began the symposium with her presentation titled "How much spikier is 'kiki'? Quantifying individual differences in the strength of sound-shape correspondence". This was followed by Allison Fitch and her work on "The role of labels in infants' visual working memory". Hayley Smith concluded the talks with her presentation on the "Susceptibility to distraction in toddlers with and without ASD".
2nd Year Graduate Student Present Mentored Research Projects
Graduate students Hayley Smith, Allison Fitch, and Doris Chow presented their mentored research projects. Doris Chow began the symposium with her presentation titled "How much spikier is 'kiki'? Quantifying individual differences in the strength of sound-shape correspondence". This was followed by Allison Fitch and her work on "The role of labels in infants' visual working memory". Hayley Smith concluded the talks with her presentation on the "Susceptibility to distraction in toddlers with and without ASD".
April 24, 2015
Daniel Harris and Sandy Eid attend the Twenty-first Annual Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst
Honors students Daniel Harris and Sandy Eid present
Daniel Harris and Sandy Eid attend the Twenty-first Annual Statewide Undergraduate Research Conference at UMass Amherst
Honors students Daniel Harris and Sandy Eid present
April 10, 2015
Dan Harris presents at ADAA(Anxiety and Depression Association of America) Conference
Honors student Dan Harris presents poster "Face Adaptation: A window into mechanisms of social anxiety" at 2015 ADAA Conference in Miami, FL.
Dan Harris presents at ADAA(Anxiety and Depression Association of America) Conference
Honors student Dan Harris presents poster "Face Adaptation: A window into mechanisms of social anxiety" at 2015 ADAA Conference in Miami, FL.
April 8, 2015
Poster Presented at UMass Boston 4th Annual Community-Engaged Partnerships Syposium: Teaching, Research and Service
Graduate Student Doris Chow and Professor Vivian Ciaramitaro present poster "Research and Education in Parallel: Scientific Outreach through In-site Experiments at the Museum of Science Boston Living Laboratory" at UMass Boston 4th Annual Community-Engaged Partnerships Symposium: Teaching, Research, and Service.
Poster Presented at UMass Boston 4th Annual Community-Engaged Partnerships Syposium: Teaching, Research and Service
Graduate Student Doris Chow and Professor Vivian Ciaramitaro present poster "Research and Education in Parallel: Scientific Outreach through In-site Experiments at the Museum of Science Boston Living Laboratory" at UMass Boston 4th Annual Community-Engaged Partnerships Symposium: Teaching, Research, and Service.
January 31, 2015
Paper Published in Consciousness and Cognition
Graduate student Doris (Hiu Mei) Chow publishes her research in Consciousness and Cognition. Her research was conducted as a Master's student at the the University of Hong Kong. Congratulations, Doris!
Paper Published in Consciousness and Cognition
Graduate student Doris (Hiu Mei) Chow publishes her research in Consciousness and Cognition. Her research was conducted as a Master's student at the the University of Hong Kong. Congratulations, Doris!
January 8, 2015
Paper Published in the Journal of Austism and Developmental Disorders
Graduate student Allison Fitch publishes her research in the Journal of Austism and Developmental Disorders. Her research was conducted as an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut. Congratulations, Allison!
Paper Published in the Journal of Austism and Developmental Disorders
Graduate student Allison Fitch publishes her research in the Journal of Austism and Developmental Disorders. Her research was conducted as an undergraduate at the University of Connecticut. Congratulations, Allison!
