Psychology Colloquia

Abstract:: Early cross-linguistic differences in young children's acquisition of spatial language have raised interesting questions about the relative contribution of infants' perceptual and cognitive abilities versus linguistic input in the development of the spatial categories expressed by different spatial terms (e.g., 'in' and 'on'). Results from several experimental studies, including a cross-linguistic study of Korean- and English-learning infants, will show that the relative contribution of cognition versus language in infants' spatial categories is not uniform but rather varies with the spatial category in question. The studies begin to pinpoint how cognition and language may interact in the formation of spatial categories and how the nature of this interaction varies with infants' acquisition of spatial language.
About the Speaker:: Dr. Casasola earned her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Spanish Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. During a semester abroad in Mexico, she conducted a field study on bilingual language development in toddlers. The experience strengthened her interest in language development and created an interest in how underlying concepts are recruited for language development. While earning her Master's and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, she studied infant cognitive development and early word learning. During this time, she began to explore the relationship between thought and language during early development. She continues to pursues research in this area by studying infants across the first two years of development and those raised in different linguistic environments. In collaboration with Jui Bhagwat, one of her graduate students, she has begun to explore second language learning in 18-month-old infants.

For More Information About This Speaker:

http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/bio.cfm?netid=mc272
Dr. Casasola's faculty webpage at Cornell University.

University of California, San Diego
Homepage Calendar Directions Past Events Psych Homepage UCSD Homepage	The Department of Psychology is Honored to Present a Talk by Marianella Casasola Cornell University "Exploring the Influence of Spatial Language on Infants' Spatial Categorization" Presented on April 26, 2007 Location: The Crick Conference Room Mandler Hall, room 3545 Abstract: Early cross-linguistic differences in young children's acquisition of spatial language have raised interesting questions about the relative contribution of infants' perceptual and cognitive abilities versus linguistic input in the development of the spatial categories expressed by different spatial terms (e.g., 'in' and 'on'). Results from several experimental studies, including a cross-linguistic study of Korean- and English-learning infants, will show that the relative contribution of cognition versus language in infants' spatial categories is not uniform but rather varies with the spatial category in question. The studies begin to pinpoint how cognition and language may interact in the formation of spatial categories and how the nature of this interaction varies with infants' acquisition of spatial language. About the Speaker: Dr. Casasola earned her undergraduate degrees in Psychology and Spanish Literature from the University of California, Berkeley. During a semester abroad in Mexico, she conducted a field study on bilingual language development in toddlers. The experience strengthened her interest in language development and created an interest in how underlying concepts are recruited for language development. While earning her Master's and Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, she studied infant cognitive development and early word learning. During this time, she began to explore the relationship between thought and language during early development. She continues to pursues research in this area by studying infants across the first two years of development and those raised in different linguistic environments. In collaboration with Jui Bhagwat, one of her graduate students, she has begun to explore second language learning in 18-month-old infants. For More Information About This Speaker: http://www.human.cornell.edu/che/bio.cfm?netid=mc272 Dr. Casasola's faculty webpage at Cornell University.
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