feed01.fireside.fm Fri, 24 Apr 2026 12:29:24 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) The It's Innate! Podcast https://itsinnate.fireside.fm Fri, 24 Apr 2026 13:27:58 -0400 Two opinionated developmental cognitive scientists wax theoretical about how infants and children acquire knowledge! en-us Ā© 2026 The It's Innate! Podcast episodic A podcast by two developmental cognitive scientists Deon Benton & Jenny Wang Two opinionated developmental cognitive scientists wax theoretical about how infants and children acquire knowledge! false Deon Benton & Jenny Wang theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com Episode 36: The goldilocks of predicability (with Viridiana Benitez) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/36 3d678e91-6c20-4fd5-92be-bba28ee71464 Fri, 24 Apr 2026 08:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:39:44 false This week we had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Viridiana Benitez, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. In the first part of the episode we talked with Dr. Benitez about her academic journey along with how she approaches mentorship. In part two, we turned to her recent paper in Current Biology entitled "Predictable Events Enhance Word Learning in Toddlers." This paper explores how environmental predictability can scaffold novel word learning in toddlers. Towards the end, we discuss the relationship between Dr. Benitez's work in predictability and her work in bilingualism.

Special Guest: Viridiana Benitez.

]]> This week we had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Viridiana Benitez, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. In the first part of the episode we talked with Dr. Benitez about her academic journey along with how she approaches mentorship. In part two, we turned to her recent paper in Current Biology entitled "Predictable Events Enhance Word Learning in Toddlers." This paper explores how environmental predictability can scaffold novel word learning in toddlers. Towards the end, we discuss the relationship between Dr. Benitez's work in predictability and her work in bilingualism.

Special Guest: Viridiana Benitez.

]]> This week we had the pleasure of chatting with Dr. Viridiana Benitez, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University. In the first part of the episode we talked with Dr. Benitez about her academic journey along with how she approaches mentorship. In part two, we turned to her recent paper in Current Biology entitled "Predictable Events Enhance Word Learning in Toddlers." This paper explores how environmental predictability can scaffold novel word learning in toddlers. Towards the end, we discuss the relationship between Dr. Benitez's work in predictability and her work in bilingualism.

Special Guest: Viridiana Benitez.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+BVUsLara ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Viridiana Benitez Episode 35: A š—°š—暝—¶š˜š—¶š—°š—®š—¹ take on the cognitive sciences (with Richard Prather) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/35 5941e50b-e141-4959-8177-3a3c2c0ec746 Thu, 19 Mar 2026 13:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:45:27 false In this episode, we were joined by Dr. Richard Prather, an associate professor in the human development department at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the first segment, we talk about Richard's academic journey, his approach to applying to college and then to graduate school, and how he landed on one of his major research topics -- numerical development. We also talk a bit about computational modeling at the end of this segment.

In the second segment, we talk about how the cognitive sciences would benefit from adopting a more critical approach, what even is meant by "critical", how he'd respond to various potential critiques of the approach, whether this framework is feasible for junior scientists, and how he's applied it in his own work.

Links
Prather, R. W. (2023). A new path: Why we need critical approaches to cognitive and psychological sciences. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 12(2), 195ā€“198. Link

Special Guest: Richard Prather.

]]> critical psychology, cognitive sciences, number development, number cognition, critical approaches In this episode, we were joined by Dr. Richard Prather, an associate professor in the human development department at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the first segment, we talk about Richard's academic journey, his approach to applying to college and then to graduate school, and how he landed on one of his major research topics -- numerical development. We also talk a bit about computational modeling at the end of this segment.

In the second segment, we talk about how the cognitive sciences would benefit from adopting a more critical approach, what even is meant by "critical", how he'd respond to various potential critiques of the approach, whether this framework is feasible for junior scientists, and how he's applied it in his own work.

Links
Prather, R. W. (2023). A new path: Why we need critical approaches to cognitive and psychological sciences. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 12(2), 195ā€“198. Link

Special Guest: Richard Prather.

]]> In this episode, we were joined by Dr. Richard Prather, an associate professor in the human development department at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the first segment, we talk about Richard's academic journey, his approach to applying to college and then to graduate school, and how he landed on one of his major research topics -- numerical development. We also talk a bit about computational modeling at the end of this segment.

In the second segment, we talk about how the cognitive sciences would benefit from adopting a more critical approach, what even is meant by "critical", how he'd respond to various potential critiques of the approach, whether this framework is feasible for junior scientists, and how he's applied it in his own work.

Links
Prather, R. W. (2023). A new path: Why we need critical approaches to cognitive and psychological sciences. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 12(2), 195ā€“198. Link

Special Guest: Richard Prather.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+TGds2tOu ]]> Jenna DiStefano Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Richard Prather Episode 34: "There are only so many experiments one can do!" https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/34 f6019dea-212c-4427-9add-58d8c917f4ca Thu, 12 Mar 2026 21:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:42:37 false This was a special episode because, unlike most other episodes in which Jenny and Deon talk with other people about their work and scientific journeys, Jenny and Deon talked about their own work. In the first half, they discuss Jennyā€™s recent Developmental Science paper showing that childrenā€™s estimates of the number of dots in an array can be influenced by the gender of the person providing the estimate. They talk about the study, the surprising findings, and what they might mean for how social stereotypes shape childrenā€™s learning. In the second half, they talk about a paper that Deon published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology that examined whether children can use a process called second-order correlation learning to make causal inferences in a task with multiple objects.

Link to Jenny's paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/desc.70124

Link to Deon's paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096526000469

]]> numerical cognition, causal inference, development This was a special episode because, unlike most other episodes in which Jenny and Deon talk with other people about their work and scientific journeys, Jenny and Deon talked about their own work. In the first half, they discuss Jennyā€™s recent Developmental Science paper showing that childrenā€™s estimates of the number of dots in an array can be influenced by the gender of the person providing the estimate. They talk about the study, the surprising findings, and what they might mean for how social stereotypes shape childrenā€™s learning. In the second half, they talk about a paper that Deon published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology that examined whether children can use a process called second-order correlation learning to make causal inferences in a task with multiple objects.

Link to Jenny's paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/desc.70124

Link to Deon's paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096526000469

]]> This was a special episode because, unlike most other episodes in which Jenny and Deon talk with other people about their work and scientific journeys, Jenny and Deon talked about their own work. In the first half, they discuss Jennyā€™s recent Developmental Science paper showing that childrenā€™s estimates of the number of dots in an array can be influenced by the gender of the person providing the estimate. They talk about the study, the surprising findings, and what they might mean for how social stereotypes shape childrenā€™s learning. In the second half, they talk about a paper that Deon published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology that examined whether children can use a process called second-order correlation learning to make causal inferences in a task with multiple objects.

Link to Jenny's paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/desc.70124

Link to Deon's paper: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096526000469

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+YBxFpcRi ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 33: Finding common ground (with Jenna DiStefano) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/33 ee4081b2-d0ab-4531-9738-d6b316302a05 Thu, 12 Feb 2026 14:15:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:30:55 false This episode we introduce our new podcast editor Jenna DiStefano, a developmental psychology PhD student at UC Davis. During the first segement, we chat with Jenna about her research path, decision to apply to graduate school, and where her work is heading.

In the second segement, we discuss Jenna's paper exploring contextual differences in infant-directed speech (IDS). Her paper analyzes how parents may talk differently to their infants depending on the context at-hand. We speculate about what makes IDS "special" and its role in language development -- is it the lack of "common ground" between a parent and infant? Is it emotion? Something else?

Links
DiStefano, J., Cohn, M., Zellou, G., & Estes, K. G. (2025). Prosodic variation between contexts in infant-directed speech. Journal of Child Language, 1-23. Link

Apfelbaum, K. S., & McMurray, B. (2011). Using variability to guide dimensional weighting: Associative mechanisms in early word learning. Cognitive Science, 35(6), 1105-1138. Link

]]> infant-directed speech, language development, parent-child interactions This episode we introduce our new podcast editor Jenna DiStefano, a developmental psychology PhD student at UC Davis. During the first segement, we chat with Jenna about her research path, decision to apply to graduate school, and where her work is heading.

In the second segement, we discuss Jenna's paper exploring contextual differences in infant-directed speech (IDS). Her paper analyzes how parents may talk differently to their infants depending on the context at-hand. We speculate about what makes IDS "special" and its role in language development -- is it the lack of "common ground" between a parent and infant? Is it emotion? Something else?

Links
DiStefano, J., Cohn, M., Zellou, G., & Estes, K. G. (2025). Prosodic variation between contexts in infant-directed speech. Journal of Child Language, 1-23. Link

Apfelbaum, K. S., & McMurray, B. (2011). Using variability to guide dimensional weighting: Associative mechanisms in early word learning. Cognitive Science, 35(6), 1105-1138. Link

]]> This episode we introduce our new podcast editor Jenna DiStefano, a developmental psychology PhD student at UC Davis. During the first segement, we chat with Jenna about her research path, decision to apply to graduate school, and where her work is heading.

In the second segement, we discuss Jenna's paper exploring contextual differences in infant-directed speech (IDS). Her paper analyzes how parents may talk differently to their infants depending on the context at-hand. We speculate about what makes IDS "special" and its role in language development -- is it the lack of "common ground" between a parent and infant? Is it emotion? Something else?

Links
DiStefano, J., Cohn, M., Zellou, G., & Estes, K. G. (2025). Prosodic variation between contexts in infant-directed speech. Journal of Child Language, 1-23. Link

Apfelbaum, K. S., & McMurray, B. (2011). Using variability to guide dimensional weighting: Associative mechanisms in early word learning. Cognitive Science, 35(6), 1105-1138. Link

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+WU9zbElt ]]> Jenna DiStefano Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 32: Moral kombat (with Kiley Hamlin) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/32 b42e2353-1d70-4b21-a770-e31f7b999010 Sat, 17 Jan 2026 09:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:49:47 false We were so lucky to be joined in this episode by the inestimable Professor Kiley Hamlin. In the first segment, we chatted about how Kiley got interested in developmental science as well as about what it was like to be trained by Amanda Woodward (undergrad), Karen Wynn (grad), Paul Bloom (grad), and Laurie Santos (grad).

In the second segment, we chat about her recent paper in Nature Communications ā€” this paper tested whether sociomoral evaluation is innate in 5 day olds. We also chat about how to reconcile the main finding of this paper ā€” that 5-day-olds prefer helping events over hindering events ā€” with the recent ManyBabies failure (you'll definitely want to hear her thoughts), as well as about her recent struggles to replicate classic findings in the lab but not online. We pondered about whether this is unique to Professor Hamlin or in fact is indicative of a much larger issue in the field. You're in for a treat with this one.

Links

Geraci, A., Surian, L., Tina, L. G., & Hamlin, J. K. (2025). Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions. Nature Communications, 16(1), 6304. Link

]]> We were so lucky to be joined in this episode by the inestimable Professor Kiley Hamlin. In the first segment, we chatted about how Kiley got interested in developmental science as well as about what it was like to be trained by Amanda Woodward (undergrad), Karen Wynn (grad), Paul Bloom (grad), and Laurie Santos (grad).

In the second segment, we chat about her recent paper in Nature Communications ā€” this paper tested whether sociomoral evaluation is innate in 5 day olds. We also chat about how to reconcile the main finding of this paper ā€” that 5-day-olds prefer helping events over hindering events ā€” with the recent ManyBabies failure (you'll definitely want to hear her thoughts), as well as about her recent struggles to replicate classic findings in the lab but not online. We pondered about whether this is unique to Professor Hamlin or in fact is indicative of a much larger issue in the field. You're in for a treat with this one.

Links

Geraci, A., Surian, L., Tina, L. G., & Hamlin, J. K. (2025). Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions. Nature Communications, 16(1), 6304. Link

]]> We were so lucky to be joined in this episode by the inestimable Professor Kiley Hamlin. In the first segment, we chatted about how Kiley got interested in developmental science as well as about what it was like to be trained by Amanda Woodward (undergrad), Karen Wynn (grad), Paul Bloom (grad), and Laurie Santos (grad).

In the second segment, we chat about her recent paper in Nature Communications ā€” this paper tested whether sociomoral evaluation is innate in 5 day olds. We also chat about how to reconcile the main finding of this paper ā€” that 5-day-olds prefer helping events over hindering events ā€” with the recent ManyBabies failure (you'll definitely want to hear her thoughts), as well as about her recent struggles to replicate classic findings in the lab but not online. We pondered about whether this is unique to Professor Hamlin or in fact is indicative of a much larger issue in the field. You're in for a treat with this one.

Links

Geraci, A., Surian, L., Tina, L. G., & Hamlin, J. K. (2025). Human newborns spontaneously attend to prosocial interactions. Nature Communications, 16(1), 6304. Link

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+t7hIiaJp ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 30: A conversation with a luminary #5: Rebecca Saxe https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/30 daa0ea1b-47b0-4e6b-9ec2-6f773386fad4 Sat, 19 Jul 2025 18:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 2:08:34 false In this "A conversation with a luminary" episode, we chat with the inimitable and rewnowned Dr. Rebecca Saxe about her academic career, how she handles the constant stream of rejections, how she got interested in the developmental cognitive sciences, how she was as a student, how she came to work with Dr. Nancy Kanwisher as well as her views on Dr. Kanwisher as a mentor, and her transformative work on the Theory of Mind, among many other things.

Special Guest: Rebecca Saxe.

]]> cognitive development, theory of mind In this "A conversation with a luminary" episode, we chat with the inimitable and rewnowned Dr. Rebecca Saxe about her academic career, how she handles the constant stream of rejections, how she got interested in the developmental cognitive sciences, how she was as a student, how she came to work with Dr. Nancy Kanwisher as well as her views on Dr. Kanwisher as a mentor, and her transformative work on the Theory of Mind, among many other things.

Special Guest: Rebecca Saxe.

]]> In this "A conversation with a luminary" episode, we chat with the inimitable and rewnowned Dr. Rebecca Saxe about her academic career, how she handles the constant stream of rejections, how she got interested in the developmental cognitive sciences, how she was as a student, how she came to work with Dr. Nancy Kanwisher as well as her views on Dr. Kanwisher as a mentor, and her transformative work on the Theory of Mind, among many other things.

Special Guest: Rebecca Saxe.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+bejgKBmq ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Rebecca Saxe Episode 29: A happy little dance between attention and working memory (with Zsuzsa Kaldy) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/29 3c12b086-69d5-4273-954c-f400c7e16e26 Mon, 07 Jul 2025 09:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 2:09:20 false In this episode, we chat with Zsuza Kaldy about her journey in science and her recent theory paper with Erik Blaser in which they argue that attention and working memory work in concert to pursue goals. We also chat her life in grad school, what it was like to be surrounded by luminaries such as Jerry Fodor and Rochel Gelman, to name a few. This was a fun episode!

Links

Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2025). How attention and working memory work together in the pursuit of goals: The development of the sampling-remembering trade-off. Developmental Review, 75, 101187.
Link

Special Guest: Zsuza Kaldy.

]]> working memory, cognitive control, cognitive development In this episode, we chat with Zsuza Kaldy about her journey in science and her recent theory paper with Erik Blaser in which they argue that attention and working memory work in concert to pursue goals. We also chat her life in grad school, what it was like to be surrounded by luminaries such as Jerry Fodor and Rochel Gelman, to name a few. This was a fun episode!

Links

Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2025). How attention and working memory work together in the pursuit of goals: The development of the sampling-remembering trade-off. Developmental Review, 75, 101187.
Link

Special Guest: Zsuza Kaldy.

]]> In this episode, we chat with Zsuza Kaldy about her journey in science and her recent theory paper with Erik Blaser in which they argue that attention and working memory work in concert to pursue goals. We also chat her life in grad school, what it was like to be surrounded by luminaries such as Jerry Fodor and Rochel Gelman, to name a few. This was a fun episode!

Links

Blaser, E., & Kaldy, Z. (2025). How attention and working memory work together in the pursuit of goals: The development of the sampling-remembering trade-off. Developmental Review, 75, 101187.
Link

Special Guest: Zsuza Kaldy.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+5hXG4CWn ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Zsuza Kaldy Episode 28: Seeing (can help you infer what someone else) is believing (with Sholei Croom) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/28 2da03cb9-578a-4ad0-94d0-7007ee6d4794 Thu, 26 Jun 2025 09:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:26:56 false We were delighted to be joined by Sholei Croom, a PhD student at Johns Hopkins working with Chaz Firestone. We open this episode, as always, by chatting about Sholei's journey in science. We then turn to their PNAS paper, "Seeing and Understanding Epistemic Actions" by Croom, Zhou, and Firestone (2023). This paper explores whether third-party observers can infer what other people are trying to learn simply by observing their actions. As we talk about in the episode, this project highlights an underexplored aspect of social perception: human learners can intuit what others are trying to learn simply from their actions.

Special Guest: Sholei Croom.

]]> action perception, social cognition, social psychology We were delighted to be joined by Sholei Croom, a PhD student at Johns Hopkins working with Chaz Firestone. We open this episode, as always, by chatting about Sholei's journey in science. We then turn to their PNAS paper, "Seeing and Understanding Epistemic Actions" by Croom, Zhou, and Firestone (2023). This paper explores whether third-party observers can infer what other people are trying to learn simply by observing their actions. As we talk about in the episode, this project highlights an underexplored aspect of social perception: human learners can intuit what others are trying to learn simply from their actions.

Special Guest: Sholei Croom.

]]> We were delighted to be joined by Sholei Croom, a PhD student at Johns Hopkins working with Chaz Firestone. We open this episode, as always, by chatting about Sholei's journey in science. We then turn to their PNAS paper, "Seeing and Understanding Epistemic Actions" by Croom, Zhou, and Firestone (2023). This paper explores whether third-party observers can infer what other people are trying to learn simply by observing their actions. As we talk about in the episode, this project highlights an underexplored aspect of social perception: human learners can intuit what others are trying to learn simply from their actions.

Special Guest: Sholei Croom.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+u0EvE549 ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Sholei Croom Episode 27: A conversation with a luminary #4: Nora Newcombe https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/27 1e86442d-2456-432d-8551-c157a1fdf9e1 Mon, 23 Jun 2025 09:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:39:57 false In this "A conversation with a luminary" episode, we chat with the inimitable and rewnowned Dr. Nora Newcombe. Specifically, we talk about her journey in science, her views on Jerome "Jerry" Kagan as a mentor and what it was like working with him, her work and thoughts on cognitive maps, her work on the "geometric module", as well as her thoughts on the nativism empricism debate, among other things. We enjoyed recording this episode, and we hope you enjoy listening to it!

Links

Newcombe, N. S. (2024). Learning to live in the spatial world: Experience-expectant and experience-dependent input. Developmental Review, 74, 101166.
Link

Special Guest: Nora Newcombe.

]]> cogntiive development, spatial learning, spatial cognition, nativism, empiricism In this "A conversation with a luminary" episode, we chat with the inimitable and rewnowned Dr. Nora Newcombe. Specifically, we talk about her journey in science, her views on Jerome "Jerry" Kagan as a mentor and what it was like working with him, her work and thoughts on cognitive maps, her work on the "geometric module", as well as her thoughts on the nativism empricism debate, among other things. We enjoyed recording this episode, and we hope you enjoy listening to it!

Links

Newcombe, N. S. (2024). Learning to live in the spatial world: Experience-expectant and experience-dependent input. Developmental Review, 74, 101166.
Link

Special Guest: Nora Newcombe.

]]> In this "A conversation with a luminary" episode, we chat with the inimitable and rewnowned Dr. Nora Newcombe. Specifically, we talk about her journey in science, her views on Jerome "Jerry" Kagan as a mentor and what it was like working with him, her work and thoughts on cognitive maps, her work on the "geometric module", as well as her thoughts on the nativism empricism debate, among other things. We enjoyed recording this episode, and we hope you enjoy listening to it!

Links

Newcombe, N. S. (2024). Learning to live in the spatial world: Experience-expectant and experience-dependent input. Developmental Review, 74, 101166.
Link

Special Guest: Nora Newcombe.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+yO166LF0 ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Nora Newcombe Episode 26: A conversation with a luminary #3: Susan Carey https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/26 a1b00fd6-6ac4-4662-9279-e1d16c0e3ac7 Mon, 28 Apr 2025 08:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 2:14:06 false In this episode, Susan Carey, a developmental cognitive scientist and luminary in the field, shared her extensive career and personal experiences, emphasizing her passion for understanding the human mind and her love for mentoring students. She discussed the evolution of developmental cognitive science, the nature of core cognition and perception, and the distinction between iconic and discursive representations. The conversation also touched on the origins of iconic representations, animal navigation, and the role of domain-general and domain-specific learning mechanisms in human cognition, as well as the importance of perseverance in the face of failure and rejection in one's career.

Links

Carey, S. E. (2022). Becoming a cognitive scientist. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4(1), 1-19. Link

Special Guest: Susan Carey.

]]> core knowledge, core concepts, innate knowledge, concept aquisition, origins of knowledge In this episode, Susan Carey, a developmental cognitive scientist and luminary in the field, shared her extensive career and personal experiences, emphasizing her passion for understanding the human mind and her love for mentoring students. She discussed the evolution of developmental cognitive science, the nature of core cognition and perception, and the distinction between iconic and discursive representations. The conversation also touched on the origins of iconic representations, animal navigation, and the role of domain-general and domain-specific learning mechanisms in human cognition, as well as the importance of perseverance in the face of failure and rejection in one's career.

Links

Carey, S. E. (2022). Becoming a cognitive scientist. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4(1), 1-19. Link

Special Guest: Susan Carey.

]]> In this episode, Susan Carey, a developmental cognitive scientist and luminary in the field, shared her extensive career and personal experiences, emphasizing her passion for understanding the human mind and her love for mentoring students. She discussed the evolution of developmental cognitive science, the nature of core cognition and perception, and the distinction between iconic and discursive representations. The conversation also touched on the origins of iconic representations, animal navigation, and the role of domain-general and domain-specific learning mechanisms in human cognition, as well as the importance of perseverance in the face of failure and rejection in one's career.

Links

Carey, S. E. (2022). Becoming a cognitive scientist. Annual Review of Developmental Psychology, 4(1), 1-19. Link

Special Guest: Susan Carey.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+BqsCOZDZ ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Susan Carey Episode 25: Something to pique your curiosity (with Gert Westermann) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/25 5bf4c99d-a44f-4999-93fd-0709e2f7a1e3 Sun, 16 Mar 2025 08:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:49:34 false In the first half of this episode, Jenny and I chat with Dr. Gert Westermann about his rather circuitous journey in cognitive science as well as about the role of modeling in the cognitive sciences and an early encounter with nativism in a language class. In the second half, we talk about how curiosity might develop. We center the discussion on a somewhat recent paper, which was led by his then postdoc Dr. Katie Twomey, in which they propose a theory of how curiosity works mechanstically. He talks about how when this proposal was implemented in a computational model, it was able to account for existing infant categorization data. This episode was such a joy to record.

Links

Twomey, K. E., & Westermann, G. (2018). Curiosityā€based learning in infants: A neurocomputational approach. Developmental science, 21(4), e12629. Link

Special Guest: Gert Westermann.

]]> curiosity, developmental mechanism, development science, cognitive science In the first half of this episode, Jenny and I chat with Dr. Gert Westermann about his rather circuitous journey in cognitive science as well as about the role of modeling in the cognitive sciences and an early encounter with nativism in a language class. In the second half, we talk about how curiosity might develop. We center the discussion on a somewhat recent paper, which was led by his then postdoc Dr. Katie Twomey, in which they propose a theory of how curiosity works mechanstically. He talks about how when this proposal was implemented in a computational model, it was able to account for existing infant categorization data. This episode was such a joy to record.

Links

Twomey, K. E., & Westermann, G. (2018). Curiosityā€based learning in infants: A neurocomputational approach. Developmental science, 21(4), e12629. Link

Special Guest: Gert Westermann.

]]> In the first half of this episode, Jenny and I chat with Dr. Gert Westermann about his rather circuitous journey in cognitive science as well as about the role of modeling in the cognitive sciences and an early encounter with nativism in a language class. In the second half, we talk about how curiosity might develop. We center the discussion on a somewhat recent paper, which was led by his then postdoc Dr. Katie Twomey, in which they propose a theory of how curiosity works mechanstically. He talks about how when this proposal was implemented in a computational model, it was able to account for existing infant categorization data. This episode was such a joy to record.

Links

Twomey, K. E., & Westermann, G. (2018). Curiosityā€based learning in infants: A neurocomputational approach. Developmental science, 21(4), e12629. Link

Special Guest: Gert Westermann.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+7muA4KyX ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Gert Westermann Episode 24: People and objects are different, and infants innately know this. Or do they? https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/24 6bc53802-e125-4d4e-8b4d-14f53ccdbb85 Sun, 19 Jan 2025 08:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:41:01 false Deon and Jenny open this episode, which is a return their classic one-on-one format, by discussing the academic job market, imposter syndrome, and careful science. Following this brief discussion, Jenny and Deon discuss Deon's recent paper titled, "An associative-learning account of how infants learn about causal action in animates and inanimates: A critical reexamination of four classic studies." Deon talks about the motivation for writing this proposal as well as what his account is of how infants might begin to learn about how animates and inanimates differ from one another in terms of their causal abilities. It will come as no surprise that Deon thinks that this knowledge is acquired, and that Jenny is a bit skeptical (although, as you'lll hear, there are signs that she may see the merit in Deon's argument). At a broad level, this episode has it all ā€” we cover philosophy, computational modeling, mechanisms, and developmental science!

Links

Benton, D. T. (2024). An associative-learning account of how infants learn about causal action in animates and inanimates: A critical reexamination of four classic studies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Link

]]> associative learning, empiricism, nativism, mechanism, computational modeling Deon and Jenny open this episode, which is a return their classic one-on-one format, by discussing the academic job market, imposter syndrome, and careful science. Following this brief discussion, Jenny and Deon discuss Deon's recent paper titled, "An associative-learning account of how infants learn about causal action in animates and inanimates: A critical reexamination of four classic studies." Deon talks about the motivation for writing this proposal as well as what his account is of how infants might begin to learn about how animates and inanimates differ from one another in terms of their causal abilities. It will come as no surprise that Deon thinks that this knowledge is acquired, and that Jenny is a bit skeptical (although, as you'lll hear, there are signs that she may see the merit in Deon's argument). At a broad level, this episode has it all ā€” we cover philosophy, computational modeling, mechanisms, and developmental science!

Links

Benton, D. T. (2024). An associative-learning account of how infants learn about causal action in animates and inanimates: A critical reexamination of four classic studies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Link

]]> Deon and Jenny open this episode, which is a return their classic one-on-one format, by discussing the academic job market, imposter syndrome, and careful science. Following this brief discussion, Jenny and Deon discuss Deon's recent paper titled, "An associative-learning account of how infants learn about causal action in animates and inanimates: A critical reexamination of four classic studies." Deon talks about the motivation for writing this proposal as well as what his account is of how infants might begin to learn about how animates and inanimates differ from one another in terms of their causal abilities. It will come as no surprise that Deon thinks that this knowledge is acquired, and that Jenny is a bit skeptical (although, as you'lll hear, there are signs that she may see the merit in Deon's argument). At a broad level, this episode has it all ā€” we cover philosophy, computational modeling, mechanisms, and developmental science!

Links

Benton, D. T. (2024). An associative-learning account of how infants learn about causal action in animates and inanimates: A critical reexamination of four classic studies. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Link

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+bhsY7s-a ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 23: "Who's my happy baby? Yes, you are!" The scoop on infant directed speech! (with Martin Zettersten) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/23 002cf3c8-7992-4da5-9e41-0859783d8dea Thu, 19 Dec 2024 10:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:54:45 false In this episode, we chat with Dr. Martin Zettersten about a ManyBabies project that he was a part of, which assessed the reliability of infant directed speech as well as the conditions that affect whether infants show a preference for it over adult directed speech. We also talk about Martin's journey in cognitive science, life as a new assistant professor, and how he met Deon loooong ago! We hope you enjoy this episode.

Links

The ManyBabies Consortium (2020). Quantifying sources of variability in infancy research using the infant-directed speech preference. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3(1), 24ā€“52. Link

Schreiner, M., Zettersten, M., Bergmann, C., Frank, Michael C., Fritzsche, T., Gonzalez-Gomez, N., Hamlin, K., Kartushina, N., Kellier, D.J., Mani, N., Mayor, J., Saffran, J., Shukla, M., Silverstein, P., Soderstrom, M., & Lippold, M. (2024). Limited evidence of test-retest reliability in infant-directed speech preference in a large pre-registered infant sample. Developmental Science. 27(6), e13551. Link

Zettersten, M., Cox, C.M.M., Bergmann, C.*, Tsui, A.S.M., Soderstrom, M., Mayor, J., Lundwall, R.A., Lewis, M., Kosie, J.E., Kartushina, N., Fusaroli, R., Frank, M.C., Byers-Heinlein, K., Black, A.K., & Mathur, M.B. (2024). Evidence for infant-directed speech preference is consistent across large-scale, multi-site replication and meta-analysis. Open Mind, 8, 439-461. https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00134 *equal authorship Link

Special Guest: Martin Zettersten.

]]> infant directed speech, manybabies, perceptual development In this episode, we chat with Dr. Martin Zettersten about a ManyBabies project that he was a part of, which assessed the reliability of infant directed speech as well as the conditions that affect whether infants show a preference for it over adult directed speech. We also talk about Martin's journey in cognitive science, life as a new assistant professor, and how he met Deon loooong ago! We hope you enjoy this episode.

Links

The ManyBabies Consortium (2020). Quantifying sources of variability in infancy research using the infant-directed speech preference. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3(1), 24ā€“52. Link

Schreiner, M., Zettersten, M., Bergmann, C., Frank, Michael C., Fritzsche, T., Gonzalez-Gomez, N., Hamlin, K., Kartushina, N., Kellier, D.J., Mani, N., Mayor, J., Saffran, J., Shukla, M., Silverstein, P., Soderstrom, M., & Lippold, M. (2024). Limited evidence of test-retest reliability in infant-directed speech preference in a large pre-registered infant sample. Developmental Science. 27(6), e13551. Link

Zettersten, M., Cox, C.M.M., Bergmann, C.*, Tsui, A.S.M., Soderstrom, M., Mayor, J., Lundwall, R.A., Lewis, M., Kosie, J.E., Kartushina, N., Fusaroli, R., Frank, M.C., Byers-Heinlein, K., Black, A.K., & Mathur, M.B. (2024). Evidence for infant-directed speech preference is consistent across large-scale, multi-site replication and meta-analysis. Open Mind, 8, 439-461. https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00134 *equal authorship Link

Special Guest: Martin Zettersten.

]]> In this episode, we chat with Dr. Martin Zettersten about a ManyBabies project that he was a part of, which assessed the reliability of infant directed speech as well as the conditions that affect whether infants show a preference for it over adult directed speech. We also talk about Martin's journey in cognitive science, life as a new assistant professor, and how he met Deon loooong ago! We hope you enjoy this episode.

Links

The ManyBabies Consortium (2020). Quantifying sources of variability in infancy research using the infant-directed speech preference. Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 3(1), 24ā€“52. Link

Schreiner, M., Zettersten, M., Bergmann, C., Frank, Michael C., Fritzsche, T., Gonzalez-Gomez, N., Hamlin, K., Kartushina, N., Kellier, D.J., Mani, N., Mayor, J., Saffran, J., Shukla, M., Silverstein, P., Soderstrom, M., & Lippold, M. (2024). Limited evidence of test-retest reliability in infant-directed speech preference in a large pre-registered infant sample. Developmental Science. 27(6), e13551. Link

Zettersten, M., Cox, C.M.M., Bergmann, C.*, Tsui, A.S.M., Soderstrom, M., Mayor, J., Lundwall, R.A., Lewis, M., Kosie, J.E., Kartushina, N., Fusaroli, R., Frank, M.C., Byers-Heinlein, K., Black, A.K., & Mathur, M.B. (2024). Evidence for infant-directed speech preference is consistent across large-scale, multi-site replication and meta-analysis. Open Mind, 8, 439-461. https://doi.org/10.1162/opmi_a_00134 *equal authorship Link

Special Guest: Martin Zettersten.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+Ulaxh99Y ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Martin Zettersten Episode 22: A conversation with a luminary #2: Fei Xu https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/22 02fb3aba-0d46-4302-88f9-f7ad513b928d Wed, 18 Dec 2024 18:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:49:43 false We're continuing our "A conversation with a luminary" series with Professor Fei Xu! This was such a great episode to record ā€” we chat with Fei about her journey in cognitive science, her experiences as a graduate student at MIT where she was surrounded by the likes of Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor, Thomas Kuhn, Susan Carey, among others, and her work on number cognition and probabilistic reasoning in preverbal infants. In the second segment, we chat about "rational constructivism", which is an attempt to take the best parts of nativism and constructivism to explain change and to unify her empirical work under one theoretical umbrella.

Sit back and enjoy this fun episode!

Special Guest: Fei Xu.

]]> rational constructivism, luminary series, fei xu We're continuing our "A conversation with a luminary" series with Professor Fei Xu! This was such a great episode to record ā€” we chat with Fei about her journey in cognitive science, her experiences as a graduate student at MIT where she was surrounded by the likes of Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor, Thomas Kuhn, Susan Carey, among others, and her work on number cognition and probabilistic reasoning in preverbal infants. In the second segment, we chat about "rational constructivism", which is an attempt to take the best parts of nativism and constructivism to explain change and to unify her empirical work under one theoretical umbrella.

Sit back and enjoy this fun episode!

Special Guest: Fei Xu.

]]> We're continuing our "A conversation with a luminary" series with Professor Fei Xu! This was such a great episode to record ā€” we chat with Fei about her journey in cognitive science, her experiences as a graduate student at MIT where she was surrounded by the likes of Noam Chomsky, Jerry Fodor, Thomas Kuhn, Susan Carey, among others, and her work on number cognition and probabilistic reasoning in preverbal infants. In the second segment, we chat about "rational constructivism", which is an attempt to take the best parts of nativism and constructivism to explain change and to unify her empirical work under one theoretical umbrella.

Sit back and enjoy this fun episode!

Special Guest: Fei Xu.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+ngDY4hxN ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Fei Xu Episode 21: A conversation with a luminary #1: Jenny Saffran https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/21 9eaf3d89-ba17-4b8c-a661-fd2cbc6b68bb Mon, 18 Nov 2024 16:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:18:50 false We've begun a brand new series called "A conversation with a luminary." In the series, we will chat with a trailblazing figure in developmental cognitive science about their journey in science, how they stumbled on the topic they're most known for, and advice they would give to young academics and junior faculty.

We are kicking off this series with a conversation with the Letters & Science Mary Herman Rubinstein Professor Jenny Saffran! Professor Saffran is renowned for her groundbreaking research on infant statistical learning, which demonstrates how infants use patterns in sound to segment and learn language. Her work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how cognitive mechanisms support early language acquisition.

If there is a developmental cognitive scientist you'd like to hear from, be sure to email us at theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com

Special Guest: Jenny Saffran.

]]> statistical learning, luminary series, jenny saffran, infant We've begun a brand new series called "A conversation with a luminary." In the series, we will chat with a trailblazing figure in developmental cognitive science about their journey in science, how they stumbled on the topic they're most known for, and advice they would give to young academics and junior faculty.

We are kicking off this series with a conversation with the Letters & Science Mary Herman Rubinstein Professor Jenny Saffran! Professor Saffran is renowned for her groundbreaking research on infant statistical learning, which demonstrates how infants use patterns in sound to segment and learn language. Her work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how cognitive mechanisms support early language acquisition.

If there is a developmental cognitive scientist you'd like to hear from, be sure to email us at theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com

Special Guest: Jenny Saffran.

]]> We've begun a brand new series called "A conversation with a luminary." In the series, we will chat with a trailblazing figure in developmental cognitive science about their journey in science, how they stumbled on the topic they're most known for, and advice they would give to young academics and junior faculty.

We are kicking off this series with a conversation with the Letters & Science Mary Herman Rubinstein Professor Jenny Saffran! Professor Saffran is renowned for her groundbreaking research on infant statistical learning, which demonstrates how infants use patterns in sound to segment and learn language. Her work has fundamentally shaped our understanding of how cognitive mechanisms support early language acquisition.

If there is a developmental cognitive scientist you'd like to hear from, be sure to email us at theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com

Special Guest: Jenny Saffran.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+1-0MQz3i ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Jenny Saffran Episode 20: 3-month-olds are rational?! And can represent others' goals?! (with Brandon Woo) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/20 1e5bcaa7-4b0f-40c2-9d7b-509c6f063cab Sat, 02 Nov 2024 15:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:40:43 false In this jam-packed episode, we chat with Dr. Brandon Woo about a recent study of his published in Developmental Science that was designed to examine whether 3-month-olds, who are not yet able to reach for and grab things on their own, can nonetheless infer the goal of another person's actions! We also get to chat with Dr. Woo about his journey in cognitive scientist and get to hear about what he'd be doing if he weren't a developmental cognitive scientist! Deon and Jenny also go back and forth a bit about how best to interpret these data! A great episode all around!

Links

Woo, B. M., Liu, S., & Spelke, E. S. (2024). Infants rationally infer the goals of other people's reaches in the absence of firstā€person experience with reaching actions. Developmental Science, 27(3), e13453. Link

Special Guest: Brandon Woo.

]]> prereaching infants, goal-directed action, nature vs. nurture, mechanisms of change In this jam-packed episode, we chat with Dr. Brandon Woo about a recent study of his published in Developmental Science that was designed to examine whether 3-month-olds, who are not yet able to reach for and grab things on their own, can nonetheless infer the goal of another person's actions! We also get to chat with Dr. Woo about his journey in cognitive scientist and get to hear about what he'd be doing if he weren't a developmental cognitive scientist! Deon and Jenny also go back and forth a bit about how best to interpret these data! A great episode all around!

Links

Woo, B. M., Liu, S., & Spelke, E. S. (2024). Infants rationally infer the goals of other people's reaches in the absence of firstā€person experience with reaching actions. Developmental Science, 27(3), e13453. Link

Special Guest: Brandon Woo.

]]> In this jam-packed episode, we chat with Dr. Brandon Woo about a recent study of his published in Developmental Science that was designed to examine whether 3-month-olds, who are not yet able to reach for and grab things on their own, can nonetheless infer the goal of another person's actions! We also get to chat with Dr. Woo about his journey in cognitive scientist and get to hear about what he'd be doing if he weren't a developmental cognitive scientist! Deon and Jenny also go back and forth a bit about how best to interpret these data! A great episode all around!

Links

Woo, B. M., Liu, S., & Spelke, E. S. (2024). Infants rationally infer the goals of other people's reaches in the absence of firstā€person experience with reaching actions. Developmental Science, 27(3), e13453. Link

Special Guest: Brandon Woo.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+xtStJjTC ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Brandon Woo Episode 19: Is Word Learning Innate or Learned? Recent Evidence Suggests It Might be the Latter (with Wai Keen Vong) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/19 f32f7098-c664-4781-814e-d66eafbd9d92 Fri, 11 Oct 2024 10:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:28:32 false Unless you live under a rock, you've no doubt heard about that recent Science paper showing that an artificial neural network trained on visual and linguistic data from a child's egocentric recordings was able to map words with their referents. What makes this paper particularly significant is that it demonstrates that there is sufficient structure in the environment to support children's ability to learn words, without the need for strong inductive and innate biases or domain-specific knowledge.

Well, guess what? In this episode, we were joined by the lead author of that paper, Dr. Wai Keen Vong! We cover lots of ground in this episode ā€” we talk about the paper, its motivations, Wei Keen's journey in science, how one might go about learning more about computational modeling, among other things.

Links

Vong, W. K., Wang, W., Orhan, A. E., & Lake, B. M (2024). Grounded language acquisition through the eyes and ears of a single child. Science. Link

Special Guest: Wai Keen Vong.

]]> Unless you live under a rock, you've no doubt heard about that recent Science paper showing that an artificial neural network trained on visual and linguistic data from a child's egocentric recordings was able to map words with their referents. What makes this paper particularly significant is that it demonstrates that there is sufficient structure in the environment to support children's ability to learn words, without the need for strong inductive and innate biases or domain-specific knowledge.

Well, guess what? In this episode, we were joined by the lead author of that paper, Dr. Wai Keen Vong! We cover lots of ground in this episode ā€” we talk about the paper, its motivations, Wei Keen's journey in science, how one might go about learning more about computational modeling, among other things.

Links

Vong, W. K., Wang, W., Orhan, A. E., & Lake, B. M (2024). Grounded language acquisition through the eyes and ears of a single child. Science. Link

Special Guest: Wai Keen Vong.

]]> Unless you live under a rock, you've no doubt heard about that recent Science paper showing that an artificial neural network trained on visual and linguistic data from a child's egocentric recordings was able to map words with their referents. What makes this paper particularly significant is that it demonstrates that there is sufficient structure in the environment to support children's ability to learn words, without the need for strong inductive and innate biases or domain-specific knowledge.

Well, guess what? In this episode, we were joined by the lead author of that paper, Dr. Wai Keen Vong! We cover lots of ground in this episode ā€” we talk about the paper, its motivations, Wei Keen's journey in science, how one might go about learning more about computational modeling, among other things.

Links

Vong, W. K., Wang, W., Orhan, A. E., & Lake, B. M (2024). Grounded language acquisition through the eyes and ears of a single child. Science. Link

Special Guest: Wai Keen Vong.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+qLLSzFZC ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Wai Keen Vong Episode 18: All about math (with Dana Miller-Cotto) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/18 5d7d4741-8504-498f-b68e-ac4ab1bd886a Mon, 17 Jul 2023 07:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:34:43 false In this jam-packed episode with chat with Dr. Dana Miller-Cotto about all manner of things, from her path to higher education, to her thoughts on what it means to raise a kid as a faculty member, to her early relationship with mathematics, to her impressive body of research examining the relation between working memory and mathematics performance.

You don't want to miss this episode!

Links

Millerā€Cotto, D., Smith, L. V., Wang, A. H., & Ribner, A. D. (2022). Changing the conversation: A culturally responsive perspective on executive functions, minoritized children and their families. Infant and Child Development, 31(1), e2286. Link

Miller-Cotto, D., & Byrnes, J. P. (2020). Whatā€™s the best way to characterize the relationship between working memory and achievement?: An initial examination of competing theories. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(5), 1074ā€“1084. Link

Special Guest: Dana Miller-Cotto.

]]> mathematics, education, diversity In this jam-packed episode with chat with Dr. Dana Miller-Cotto about all manner of things, from her path to higher education, to her thoughts on what it means to raise a kid as a faculty member, to her early relationship with mathematics, to her impressive body of research examining the relation between working memory and mathematics performance.

You don't want to miss this episode!

Links

Millerā€Cotto, D., Smith, L. V., Wang, A. H., & Ribner, A. D. (2022). Changing the conversation: A culturally responsive perspective on executive functions, minoritized children and their families. Infant and Child Development, 31(1), e2286. Link

Miller-Cotto, D., & Byrnes, J. P. (2020). Whatā€™s the best way to characterize the relationship between working memory and achievement?: An initial examination of competing theories. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(5), 1074ā€“1084. Link

Special Guest: Dana Miller-Cotto.

]]> In this jam-packed episode with chat with Dr. Dana Miller-Cotto about all manner of things, from her path to higher education, to her thoughts on what it means to raise a kid as a faculty member, to her early relationship with mathematics, to her impressive body of research examining the relation between working memory and mathematics performance.

You don't want to miss this episode!

Links

Millerā€Cotto, D., Smith, L. V., Wang, A. H., & Ribner, A. D. (2022). Changing the conversation: A culturally responsive perspective on executive functions, minoritized children and their families. Infant and Child Development, 31(1), e2286. Link

Miller-Cotto, D., & Byrnes, J. P. (2020). Whatā€™s the best way to characterize the relationship between working memory and achievement?: An initial examination of competing theories. Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(5), 1074ā€“1084. Link

Special Guest: Dana Miller-Cotto.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+5DNx2xC- ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Dana Miller-Cotto Episode 17: Is It Language of Thoughts (LoTs) All the Way Down? (with Melissa Kibbe) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/17 ed2305cd-052f-43a7-9d8c-5a6bd5f12043 Sat, 29 Apr 2023 09:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:45:16 false How is the mind structured? Does it come equipped with its own "language"? These are questions that humans have been pondering as early as history goes. Yet cognitive scientists today still have drastically different opinions about the answers to these questions. We chatted with Professor Melissa Kibbe from Boston University about her journey as a cognitive developmental scientist. We then focused on her recent article on what "Language of Thought" is and how we can find empirical evidence for its presence (or absence) in the infant mind.

Links

Kibbe, M.M. (in press). The Language of Thought as a working hypothesis for developmental cognitive science. Commentary on Quilty-Dunn, Porot, & Mandelbaum, in Behavior & Brain Sciences. Link

Quilty-Dunn, J., Porot, N., & Mandelbaum, E. (2022). The best game in town: The re-emergence of the language of thought hypothesis across the cognitive sciences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1-55. Link

Special Guest: Melissa Kibbe.

]]> LoT, representation, infants How is the mind structured? Does it come equipped with its own "language"? These are questions that humans have been pondering as early as history goes. Yet cognitive scientists today still have drastically different opinions about the answers to these questions. We chatted with Professor Melissa Kibbe from Boston University about her journey as a cognitive developmental scientist. We then focused on her recent article on what "Language of Thought" is and how we can find empirical evidence for its presence (or absence) in the infant mind.

Links

Kibbe, M.M. (in press). The Language of Thought as a working hypothesis for developmental cognitive science. Commentary on Quilty-Dunn, Porot, & Mandelbaum, in Behavior & Brain Sciences. Link

Quilty-Dunn, J., Porot, N., & Mandelbaum, E. (2022). The best game in town: The re-emergence of the language of thought hypothesis across the cognitive sciences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1-55. Link

Special Guest: Melissa Kibbe.

]]> How is the mind structured? Does it come equipped with its own "language"? These are questions that humans have been pondering as early as history goes. Yet cognitive scientists today still have drastically different opinions about the answers to these questions. We chatted with Professor Melissa Kibbe from Boston University about her journey as a cognitive developmental scientist. We then focused on her recent article on what "Language of Thought" is and how we can find empirical evidence for its presence (or absence) in the infant mind.

Links

Kibbe, M.M. (in press). The Language of Thought as a working hypothesis for developmental cognitive science. Commentary on Quilty-Dunn, Porot, & Mandelbaum, in Behavior & Brain Sciences. Link

Quilty-Dunn, J., Porot, N., & Mandelbaum, E. (2022). The best game in town: The re-emergence of the language of thought hypothesis across the cognitive sciences. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1-55. Link

Special Guest: Melissa Kibbe.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+cPPaKtc- ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Melissa Kibbe Episode 16: Does alcohol make for worse mommies? (with Debrielle Jacques) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/16 b843f9b7-d385-452a-93ac-bd370a59a724 Thu, 06 Apr 2023 21:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:41:06 false Debrielle Jacques join us in this episode to talk about her wonderful research on the relation between maternal alcohol dependence and harsh parental practices, including one possible mechanism by which the former leads to the latter. Plus, we talk about the critical role of and need for representation and diversity in science.

Links

Jacques, D. T., Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., & Cicchetti, D. (2020). Maternal alcohol dependence and harsh caregiving across parenting contexts: The moderating role of child negative emotionality. Development and psychopathology, 32(4), 1509-1523. Link

Special Guest: Debrielle Jacques.

]]> Debrielle Jacques join us in this episode to talk about her wonderful research on the relation between maternal alcohol dependence and harsh parental practices, including one possible mechanism by which the former leads to the latter. Plus, we talk about the critical role of and need for representation and diversity in science.

Links

Jacques, D. T., Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., & Cicchetti, D. (2020). Maternal alcohol dependence and harsh caregiving across parenting contexts: The moderating role of child negative emotionality. Development and psychopathology, 32(4), 1509-1523. Link

Special Guest: Debrielle Jacques.

]]> Debrielle Jacques join us in this episode to talk about her wonderful research on the relation between maternal alcohol dependence and harsh parental practices, including one possible mechanism by which the former leads to the latter. Plus, we talk about the critical role of and need for representation and diversity in science.

Links

Jacques, D. T., Sturge-Apple, M. L., Davies, P. T., & Cicchetti, D. (2020). Maternal alcohol dependence and harsh caregiving across parenting contexts: The moderating role of child negative emotionality. Development and psychopathology, 32(4), 1509-1523. Link

Special Guest: Debrielle Jacques.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+yjzcyGJO ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Debrielle Jacques Episode 15: Foreshadowing forgiveness? (with Meltem Yucel) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/15 b303d504-c549-4ec3-b882-e4c7c5e353b0 Wed, 05 Apr 2023 21:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:35:16 false We didn't mean to keep you waiting but, in this episode, Candy and Deon interview Dr. Meltem Yucel. We open the episode by discussing Meltem's outstanding project, the Psych Research List, which is geared towards making psychology more transparent and accessible to all.

We then discuss one of Dr. Yucel's papers, which concern the role of disclaimers in eliciting forgiveness! This was a fascinating discussion to have, and we hope you enjoy!

Special Guest: Meltem Yucel.

]]> We didn't mean to keep you waiting but, in this episode, Candy and Deon interview Dr. Meltem Yucel. We open the episode by discussing Meltem's outstanding project, the Psych Research List, which is geared towards making psychology more transparent and accessible to all.

We then discuss one of Dr. Yucel's papers, which concern the role of disclaimers in eliciting forgiveness! This was a fascinating discussion to have, and we hope you enjoy!

Special Guest: Meltem Yucel.

]]> We didn't mean to keep you waiting but, in this episode, Candy and Deon interview Dr. Meltem Yucel. We open the episode by discussing Meltem's outstanding project, the Psych Research List, which is geared towards making psychology more transparent and accessible to all.

We then discuss one of Dr. Yucel's papers, which concern the role of disclaimers in eliciting forgiveness! This was a fascinating discussion to have, and we hope you enjoy!

Special Guest: Meltem Yucel.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+5YawQ2gr ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Meltem Yucel Episode 14: The "moral principles" infants live by (with Fransisca Ting) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/14 2a1629de-21c7-46b7-9ea1-b1adfc1443f9 Wed, 05 Apr 2023 20:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:39:28 false In this episode, we talk with Dr. Fransisca Ting about her chapter on infant morality, "Principles and Concepts in Early Moral Cognition". We specifically discuss whether, in fact, infants are born with moral principles, what those principles might, and whether there is evidence for such a position.

Links

Ting, F., Dawkins, M. B., Stavans, M., & Baillargeon, R. (2019). Principles and concepts in early moral cognition. The social brain: A developmental perspective, 41-65. Link

Special Guest: Fransisca Ting.

]]> In this episode, we talk with Dr. Fransisca Ting about her chapter on infant morality, "Principles and Concepts in Early Moral Cognition". We specifically discuss whether, in fact, infants are born with moral principles, what those principles might, and whether there is evidence for such a position.

Links

Ting, F., Dawkins, M. B., Stavans, M., & Baillargeon, R. (2019). Principles and concepts in early moral cognition. The social brain: A developmental perspective, 41-65. Link

Special Guest: Fransisca Ting.

]]> In this episode, we talk with Dr. Fransisca Ting about her chapter on infant morality, "Principles and Concepts in Early Moral Cognition". We specifically discuss whether, in fact, infants are born with moral principles, what those principles might, and whether there is evidence for such a position.

Links

Ting, F., Dawkins, M. B., Stavans, M., & Baillargeon, R. (2019). Principles and concepts in early moral cognition. The social brain: A developmental perspective, 41-65. Link

Special Guest: Fransisca Ting.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+XksRRELd ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Fransisca Ting Episode 13: What is a developmental mechanism? What is developmental change? https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/13 5d9881fb-7a07-4b97-9ca6-2fdb16cf4c40 Fri, 31 Mar 2023 20:00:00 -0400 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:51:57 false Do you need a PhD to get a PhD? An odd question, no doubt, but unless you were born yesterday or under a rock, you've likely noticed that applicants for PhD programs are becoming increasingly more competitive. For example, whereas in the past it would be uncommon to encounter an applicant with one or more publications, these days this seems to be the rule rather than the exception. We open the episode by talking about this phenomenon and why it might be unhealthy for the field. We also talk about what could be done to fix it.

We then transition to the main segment to talk about a recent paper by Deon, published in Developmental Review, about "developmental mechanisms". We talk about what they are, about how to study developmental mechanisms, and about what is meant by "developmental change".

Links

Benton, D. T. (2022). The Elusive ā€œDevelopmental Mechanismā€: What they are and how to study and test them. Developmental Review, 65, 101034. Link to paper

]]> mechanism, developmental mechanism, developmental change, development Do you need a PhD to get a PhD? An odd question, no doubt, but unless you were born yesterday or under a rock, you've likely noticed that applicants for PhD programs are becoming increasingly more competitive. For example, whereas in the past it would be uncommon to encounter an applicant with one or more publications, these days this seems to be the rule rather than the exception. We open the episode by talking about this phenomenon and why it might be unhealthy for the field. We also talk about what could be done to fix it.

We then transition to the main segment to talk about a recent paper by Deon, published in Developmental Review, about "developmental mechanisms". We talk about what they are, about how to study developmental mechanisms, and about what is meant by "developmental change".

Links

Benton, D. T. (2022). The Elusive ā€œDevelopmental Mechanismā€: What they are and how to study and test them. Developmental Review, 65, 101034. Link to paper

]]> Do you need a PhD to get a PhD? An odd question, no doubt, but unless you were born yesterday or under a rock, you've likely noticed that applicants for PhD programs are becoming increasingly more competitive. For example, whereas in the past it would be uncommon to encounter an applicant with one or more publications, these days this seems to be the rule rather than the exception. We open the episode by talking about this phenomenon and why it might be unhealthy for the field. We also talk about what could be done to fix it.

We then transition to the main segment to talk about a recent paper by Deon, published in Developmental Review, about "developmental mechanisms". We talk about what they are, about how to study developmental mechanisms, and about what is meant by "developmental change".

Links

Benton, D. T. (2022). The Elusive ā€œDevelopmental Mechanismā€: What they are and how to study and test them. Developmental Review, 65, 101034. Link to paper

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+VtLdYLZi ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 12: A fresh new look https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/12 914ac109-10d1-4e4f-908d-8c3b7898bffe Wed, 15 Feb 2023 21:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:33:11 false We are excited to be back! In this episode, Deon introduces new co-host, Jenny Wang. Then Jenny and Deon discuss their origin stories; that is, they discuss how they got to where they are!

]]> origin story, cognitive development We are excited to be back! In this episode, Deon introduces new co-host, Jenny Wang. Then Jenny and Deon discuss their origin stories; that is, they discuss how they got to where they are!

]]> We are excited to be back! In this episode, Deon introduces new co-host, Jenny Wang. Then Jenny and Deon discuss their origin stories; that is, they discuss how they got to where they are!

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+Q7m_72qd ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 11: Birds of a Feather... Share Saliva? https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/11 18d18eac-d90e-473a-aa10-80f7081bbb62 Wed, 15 Feb 2023 21:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:51:13 false In this episode, We chat with Ashley Thomas about her recent paper in the journal Science on whether infants use saliva sharing to infer relationship closeness as well as about some of the more recent controversial papers in Developmental Psychology!

Plus, Deon and Ashley discoverā€”perhaps much to Deon's chagrinā€”that their views may be more in common than they are different.

Links

Thomas, A. J., Woo, B., Nettle, D., Spelke, E., & Saxe, R. (2022). Early concepts of intimacy: Young humans use saliva sharing to infer close relationships. Science, 375(6578), 311-315. [Link to paper](Thomas, A. J., Woo, B., Nettle, D., Spelke, E., & Saxe, R. (2022). Early concepts of intimacy: Young humans use saliva sharing to infer close relationships. Science, 375(6578), 311-315.)

Special Guest: Ashley Thomas.

]]> cognitive development In this episode, We chat with Ashley Thomas about her recent paper in the journal Science on whether infants use saliva sharing to infer relationship closeness as well as about some of the more recent controversial papers in Developmental Psychology!

Plus, Deon and Ashley discoverā€”perhaps much to Deon's chagrinā€”that their views may be more in common than they are different.

Links

Thomas, A. J., Woo, B., Nettle, D., Spelke, E., & Saxe, R. (2022). Early concepts of intimacy: Young humans use saliva sharing to infer close relationships. Science, 375(6578), 311-315. [Link to paper](Thomas, A. J., Woo, B., Nettle, D., Spelke, E., & Saxe, R. (2022). Early concepts of intimacy: Young humans use saliva sharing to infer close relationships. Science, 375(6578), 311-315.)

Special Guest: Ashley Thomas.

]]> In this episode, We chat with Ashley Thomas about her recent paper in the journal Science on whether infants use saliva sharing to infer relationship closeness as well as about some of the more recent controversial papers in Developmental Psychology!

Plus, Deon and Ashley discoverā€”perhaps much to Deon's chagrinā€”that their views may be more in common than they are different.

Links

Thomas, A. J., Woo, B., Nettle, D., Spelke, E., & Saxe, R. (2022). Early concepts of intimacy: Young humans use saliva sharing to infer close relationships. Science, 375(6578), 311-315. [Link to paper](Thomas, A. J., Woo, B., Nettle, D., Spelke, E., & Saxe, R. (2022). Early concepts of intimacy: Young humans use saliva sharing to infer close relationships. Science, 375(6578), 311-315.)

Special Guest: Ashley Thomas.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+aEyMmGZk ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Ashley Thomas Episode 5: A positive take on the "positivity bias" (with Janet Boseovski) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/5 b279dee5-7c8a-4d0c-908c-66425618b979 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:29:39 false Candy and Deon open the episode by introducing the guest for this episode, Dr. Janet Boseovski, and then discuss life as first-generation academics. Spoiler. It's difficult, but there may be advantages! In the second half of the episode, Candy and Deon discuss Janet's work on the "positivty bias" in children, including the mechanism (or mechanisms) that may yield such a bias. In particular, Candy, Janet, and Deon discuss what is meant by "positivity bias" as well as why and how it emerges.

Links

Boseovski, J. J. (2010). Evidence for ā€œroseā€colored glassesā€: An examination of the positivity bias in young childrenā€™s personality judgments. Child Development Perspectives, 4(3), 212-218. Link to paper

The music used during intermission was created by David Pizarro of the Very Bad Wizards podcast. The particular sample used is called "Murgatroyd."

Special Guest: Janet Boseovski.

]]> positivity bias, cognitive development Candy and Deon open the episode by introducing the guest for this episode, Dr. Janet Boseovski, and then discuss life as first-generation academics. Spoiler. It's difficult, but there may be advantages! In the second half of the episode, Candy and Deon discuss Janet's work on the "positivty bias" in children, including the mechanism (or mechanisms) that may yield such a bias. In particular, Candy, Janet, and Deon discuss what is meant by "positivity bias" as well as why and how it emerges.

Links

Boseovski, J. J. (2010). Evidence for ā€œroseā€colored glassesā€: An examination of the positivity bias in young childrenā€™s personality judgments. Child Development Perspectives, 4(3), 212-218. Link to paper

The music used during intermission was created by David Pizarro of the Very Bad Wizards podcast. The particular sample used is called "Murgatroyd."

Special Guest: Janet Boseovski.

]]> Candy and Deon open the episode by introducing the guest for this episode, Dr. Janet Boseovski, and then discuss life as first-generation academics. Spoiler. It's difficult, but there may be advantages! In the second half of the episode, Candy and Deon discuss Janet's work on the "positivty bias" in children, including the mechanism (or mechanisms) that may yield such a bias. In particular, Candy, Janet, and Deon discuss what is meant by "positivity bias" as well as why and how it emerges.

Links

Boseovski, J. J. (2010). Evidence for ā€œroseā€colored glassesā€: An examination of the positivity bias in young childrenā€™s personality judgments. Child Development Perspectives, 4(3), 212-218. Link to paper

The music used during intermission was created by David Pizarro of the Very Bad Wizards podcast. The particular sample used is called "Murgatroyd."

Special Guest: Janet Boseovski.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+A9HAhMpI ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Janet Boseovski Episode 6: Do children theorize about academic performance? (with Melis Muradoğlu) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/6 18f375d1-865e-415b-abf5-08a9ebb608b0 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:27:49 false Candy, Deon, and Melis begin this episode by discussing how they've gone about conducting research with children during the pandemic. Then, in the second half of the episode, Melis talks about her work in Child Development that examined children's developing understanding of academic performance. Specifically, she argues that children consider a person's effort and intrinsic skill when evaluating and interpreting their performance, which is at odds with a classic view that maintained that children only considere effort when evaluating performance.

Links

Muradoglu, M., & Cimpian, A. (2020). Childrenā€™s Intuitive Theories of Academic Performance. Child development, 91(4), e902-e918. Link to paper

]]> cognitive development Candy, Deon, and Melis begin this episode by discussing how they've gone about conducting research with children during the pandemic. Then, in the second half of the episode, Melis talks about her work in Child Development that examined children's developing understanding of academic performance. Specifically, she argues that children consider a person's effort and intrinsic skill when evaluating and interpreting their performance, which is at odds with a classic view that maintained that children only considere effort when evaluating performance.

Links

Muradoglu, M., & Cimpian, A. (2020). Childrenā€™s Intuitive Theories of Academic Performance. Child development, 91(4), e902-e918. Link to paper

]]> Candy, Deon, and Melis begin this episode by discussing how they've gone about conducting research with children during the pandemic. Then, in the second half of the episode, Melis talks about her work in Child Development that examined children's developing understanding of academic performance. Specifically, she argues that children consider a person's effort and intrinsic skill when evaluating and interpreting their performance, which is at odds with a classic view that maintained that children only considere effort when evaluating performance.

Links

Muradoglu, M., & Cimpian, A. (2020). Childrenā€™s Intuitive Theories of Academic Performance. Child development, 91(4), e902-e918. Link to paper

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+NnRYKtoC ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 4: What's morals got to do with it? https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/4 c418f779-64a9-4d89-b6df-21e5cfa7c8bd Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:44:50 false Candy and Deon begin the episode by discussing their respective plans for teaching this fall. Specifically, they discuss whether they'll be teaching fully in person, fully remotely, or some combination of both. Note that since recording this episode, Deon has decided that he'll teach fully remotelyā€”in the episode he was leaning toward a hyflex approach. In second segment, Candy and Deon discuss Kiley Hamlin's classic study on infants' developing sociomoral evaluations as well as a recent replication attempt of the original study by Schlingloff, Csibra, and Tatone (2007). Candy and Deon also discuss whether the data reported in either the original study or replication attempt support the claim that infants possess a "innate moral core" (Hamlin, 2013). And in an episode first Candace and Deon actually disagree about something! Does this spell the end for this nascent podcast?

Links

Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007). Social evaluation by preverbal infants. Nature, 450(7169), 557-559. Link to paper
Schlingloff, Csibra, & Tatone, D. (2020). Do 15-month-old infants prefer helpers? A replication of Hamlin et al. (2007). Royal Society Open Science, 7(4), 1-7. Link to paper

]]> sociomoral evaluation, cognitive development Candy and Deon begin the episode by discussing their respective plans for teaching this fall. Specifically, they discuss whether they'll be teaching fully in person, fully remotely, or some combination of both. Note that since recording this episode, Deon has decided that he'll teach fully remotelyā€”in the episode he was leaning toward a hyflex approach. In second segment, Candy and Deon discuss Kiley Hamlin's classic study on infants' developing sociomoral evaluations as well as a recent replication attempt of the original study by Schlingloff, Csibra, and Tatone (2007). Candy and Deon also discuss whether the data reported in either the original study or replication attempt support the claim that infants possess a "innate moral core" (Hamlin, 2013). And in an episode first Candace and Deon actually disagree about something! Does this spell the end for this nascent podcast?

Links

Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007). Social evaluation by preverbal infants. Nature, 450(7169), 557-559. Link to paper
Schlingloff, Csibra, & Tatone, D. (2020). Do 15-month-old infants prefer helpers? A replication of Hamlin et al. (2007). Royal Society Open Science, 7(4), 1-7. Link to paper

]]> Candy and Deon begin the episode by discussing their respective plans for teaching this fall. Specifically, they discuss whether they'll be teaching fully in person, fully remotely, or some combination of both. Note that since recording this episode, Deon has decided that he'll teach fully remotelyā€”in the episode he was leaning toward a hyflex approach. In second segment, Candy and Deon discuss Kiley Hamlin's classic study on infants' developing sociomoral evaluations as well as a recent replication attempt of the original study by Schlingloff, Csibra, and Tatone (2007). Candy and Deon also discuss whether the data reported in either the original study or replication attempt support the claim that infants possess a "innate moral core" (Hamlin, 2013). And in an episode first Candace and Deon actually disagree about something! Does this spell the end for this nascent podcast?

Links

Hamlin, J. K., Wynn, K., & Bloom, P. (2007). Social evaluation by preverbal infants. Nature, 450(7169), 557-559. Link to paper
Schlingloff, Csibra, & Tatone, D. (2020). Do 15-month-old infants prefer helpers? A replication of Hamlin et al. (2007). Royal Society Open Science, 7(4), 1-7. Link to paper

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+RBUu5Q3W ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 10: That's just a bunch of nonsense you jive turkey https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/10 f3c0a02a-1b06-4873-bb67-af692ccad904 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:15:12 false After taking a semester-long hiatus, Candy and Deon are back! In this episode, they talk about classic work that examined how infants segment continous speech. Specifically, they discuss a classic paper published in Science by Jenny Saffran, Richard Aslin, and Elisa Newport (1996) (as well as follow-up papers) that examined infants' ability to segment speech by tracking the internal statistics of that speech. This episode is unique and unlike other episodes in that Candy and Deon pick on their own kind this timeā€”empiricists! Hide your natvisists, hide your empiricistsā€”no one's safe!

Links

Aslin, R. N., Saffran, J. R., & Newport, E. L. (1998). Computation of conditional probability statistics by 8-month-old infants. Psychological science, 9(4), 321-324. Link to paper

Pelucchi, B., Hay, J. F., & Saffran, J. R. (2009). Statistical learning in a natural language by 8ā€monthā€old infants. Child development, 80(3), 674-685. Link to paper
Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274(5294), 1926-1928. Link to paper
Slone, L. K., & Johnson, S. P. (2018). When learning goes beyond statistics: Infants represent visual sequences in terms of chunks. Cognition, 178, 92-102. Link to paper

]]> statistical learning, mechanism, cognitive development After taking a semester-long hiatus, Candy and Deon are back! In this episode, they talk about classic work that examined how infants segment continous speech. Specifically, they discuss a classic paper published in Science by Jenny Saffran, Richard Aslin, and Elisa Newport (1996) (as well as follow-up papers) that examined infants' ability to segment speech by tracking the internal statistics of that speech. This episode is unique and unlike other episodes in that Candy and Deon pick on their own kind this timeā€”empiricists! Hide your natvisists, hide your empiricistsā€”no one's safe!

Links

Aslin, R. N., Saffran, J. R., & Newport, E. L. (1998). Computation of conditional probability statistics by 8-month-old infants. Psychological science, 9(4), 321-324. Link to paper

Pelucchi, B., Hay, J. F., & Saffran, J. R. (2009). Statistical learning in a natural language by 8ā€monthā€old infants. Child development, 80(3), 674-685. Link to paper
Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274(5294), 1926-1928. Link to paper
Slone, L. K., & Johnson, S. P. (2018). When learning goes beyond statistics: Infants represent visual sequences in terms of chunks. Cognition, 178, 92-102. Link to paper

]]> After taking a semester-long hiatus, Candy and Deon are back! In this episode, they talk about classic work that examined how infants segment continous speech. Specifically, they discuss a classic paper published in Science by Jenny Saffran, Richard Aslin, and Elisa Newport (1996) (as well as follow-up papers) that examined infants' ability to segment speech by tracking the internal statistics of that speech. This episode is unique and unlike other episodes in that Candy and Deon pick on their own kind this timeā€”empiricists! Hide your natvisists, hide your empiricistsā€”no one's safe!

Links

Aslin, R. N., Saffran, J. R., & Newport, E. L. (1998). Computation of conditional probability statistics by 8-month-old infants. Psychological science, 9(4), 321-324. Link to paper

Pelucchi, B., Hay, J. F., & Saffran, J. R. (2009). Statistical learning in a natural language by 8ā€monthā€old infants. Child development, 80(3), 674-685. Link to paper
Saffran, J. R., Aslin, R. N., & Newport, E. L. (1996). Statistical learning by 8-month-old infants. Science, 274(5294), 1926-1928. Link to paper
Slone, L. K., & Johnson, S. P. (2018). When learning goes beyond statistics: Infants represent visual sequences in terms of chunks. Cognition, 178, 92-102. Link to paper

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+OSJxIMOd ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 9: Nothin' but some long-hair, baldheaded faces (with Charisse Pickron) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/9 9fbd15d2-187f-45b2-b89c-e6f809448eb5 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:51:36 false This was a fun episode to record with our latest guest, Dr. Charisse Pickron. In the first segment, we talk about politics and, specically, about what a Joe Biden presidency means and what another Donald Trump presidency would mean. Spoiler:We all agree that a second Trump term would be absolutely catastrophic. In the second segment, we talk with Charisse about her work on infant individuation of male and female faces as well as speculate on the processes and mechanisms that support such individuation.

Links

Pickron, C. B., & Cheries, E. W. (2019). Infantsā€™ Individuation of Faces by Gender. Brain sciences, 9(7), 163. Link to paper

]]> face perception, cognitive development This was a fun episode to record with our latest guest, Dr. Charisse Pickron. In the first segment, we talk about politics and, specically, about what a Joe Biden presidency means and what another Donald Trump presidency would mean. Spoiler:We all agree that a second Trump term would be absolutely catastrophic. In the second segment, we talk with Charisse about her work on infant individuation of male and female faces as well as speculate on the processes and mechanisms that support such individuation.

Links

Pickron, C. B., & Cheries, E. W. (2019). Infantsā€™ Individuation of Faces by Gender. Brain sciences, 9(7), 163. Link to paper

]]> This was a fun episode to record with our latest guest, Dr. Charisse Pickron. In the first segment, we talk about politics and, specically, about what a Joe Biden presidency means and what another Donald Trump presidency would mean. Spoiler:We all agree that a second Trump term would be absolutely catastrophic. In the second segment, we talk with Charisse about her work on infant individuation of male and female faces as well as speculate on the processes and mechanisms that support such individuation.

Links

Pickron, C. B., & Cheries, E. W. (2019). Infantsā€™ Individuation of Faces by Gender. Brain sciences, 9(7), 163. Link to paper

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+YJU2bmo4 ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 7: Is poking the cat causal? (with Jonathan Kominsky) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/7 0d97acb4-99bf-4f0e-b536-630e4f9ddbd0 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:55:43 false Candy, Deon, and Jonathan open this episode by talking about #kindscience. For example, should scientist even worry about being kind? What does #kindscience even look like? And is it even possible to be kind to other scientists if your theoretical perspective is at odds with their own? In the second half of the episode, Jonathan talks about his work in Psychological Science on an understudied, but important, aspect of infant causal perceptionā€”namely, their sensitivity to certain physical constraints on causal events. Candy, Deon, and Jonathan then go back and forth about whether infants' sensitivity to these constraints is innate and what the mechanism may be that support such sensitivity.

Links

Kominsky, J. F., Strickland, B., Wertz, A. E., Elsner, C., Wynn, K., & Keil, F. C. (2017). Categories and constraints in causal perception. Psychological Science, 28(11), 1649-1662. Link to paper

Special Guest: Jonathan Kominsky.

]]> Candy, Deon, and Jonathan open this episode by talking about #kindscience. For example, should scientist even worry about being kind? What does #kindscience even look like? And is it even possible to be kind to other scientists if your theoretical perspective is at odds with their own? In the second half of the episode, Jonathan talks about his work in Psychological Science on an understudied, but important, aspect of infant causal perceptionā€”namely, their sensitivity to certain physical constraints on causal events. Candy, Deon, and Jonathan then go back and forth about whether infants' sensitivity to these constraints is innate and what the mechanism may be that support such sensitivity.

Links

Kominsky, J. F., Strickland, B., Wertz, A. E., Elsner, C., Wynn, K., & Keil, F. C. (2017). Categories and constraints in causal perception. Psychological Science, 28(11), 1649-1662. Link to paper

Special Guest: Jonathan Kominsky.

]]> Candy, Deon, and Jonathan open this episode by talking about #kindscience. For example, should scientist even worry about being kind? What does #kindscience even look like? And is it even possible to be kind to other scientists if your theoretical perspective is at odds with their own? In the second half of the episode, Jonathan talks about his work in Psychological Science on an understudied, but important, aspect of infant causal perceptionā€”namely, their sensitivity to certain physical constraints on causal events. Candy, Deon, and Jonathan then go back and forth about whether infants' sensitivity to these constraints is innate and what the mechanism may be that support such sensitivity.

Links

Kominsky, J. F., Strickland, B., Wertz, A. E., Elsner, C., Wynn, K., & Keil, F. C. (2017). Categories and constraints in causal perception. Psychological Science, 28(11), 1649-1662. Link to paper

Special Guest: Jonathan Kominsky.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+zhkqHGUG ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Jonathan Kominsky Episode 3: An Innate Fear of the Term Innate? (with David Rakison) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/3 2e9cd71a-7def-43bd-ba1c-41ececce9900 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:32:09 false In this episode, we talk with the esteemed Dr. David Rakison about his research on categorization in older infants and young children. We then ask David to give us his hot take on the term innate and what evidence he'd need to convince him that something is, in fact, innate. We also discuss what the term mechanism really means as well as how to identify one when you see it. We also spend some time talking about how David teaches students to think about mechanism as well as the larger debate between nativists and empiricists. We conclude this episode by having David talk about his upbringing, what got him into psychology in the first place, and what he'd be doing if he weren't a developmental psychologist. There's even a brief discussion on the psychology of murder! PS. Deon woud like to apologize for the quality of his audio. He hopes to have this issue fixed by the next episode.

Special Guest: David Rakison.

]]> mechanism, cognitive development In this episode, we talk with the esteemed Dr. David Rakison about his research on categorization in older infants and young children. We then ask David to give us his hot take on the term innate and what evidence he'd need to convince him that something is, in fact, innate. We also discuss what the term mechanism really means as well as how to identify one when you see it. We also spend some time talking about how David teaches students to think about mechanism as well as the larger debate between nativists and empiricists. We conclude this episode by having David talk about his upbringing, what got him into psychology in the first place, and what he'd be doing if he weren't a developmental psychologist. There's even a brief discussion on the psychology of murder! PS. Deon woud like to apologize for the quality of his audio. He hopes to have this issue fixed by the next episode.

Special Guest: David Rakison.

]]> In this episode, we talk with the esteemed Dr. David Rakison about his research on categorization in older infants and young children. We then ask David to give us his hot take on the term innate and what evidence he'd need to convince him that something is, in fact, innate. We also discuss what the term mechanism really means as well as how to identify one when you see it. We also spend some time talking about how David teaches students to think about mechanism as well as the larger debate between nativists and empiricists. We conclude this episode by having David talk about his upbringing, what got him into psychology in the first place, and what he'd be doing if he weren't a developmental psychologist. There's even a brief discussion on the psychology of murder! PS. Deon woud like to apologize for the quality of his audio. He hopes to have this issue fixed by the next episode.

Special Guest: David Rakison.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+rJDdwrTw ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton David Rakison Episode 8: Don't judge a wagden by its category label (with Lisa Scott) https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/8 4ed7f969-92fa-41c5-a759-40bff0fbb190 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 23:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:45:19 false In this episode, Candy and Deon talk with Lisa Scott about her work on the role of labels on category learning in young infants, in addition to what the mechanism is that enables labels to exert their influence on category acquisition. Plus, we open the episode by discussing student feedback. Do we disregard all feedback? Do we consider some and ignore others? Do we use feedback to improve future courses? We conclude by asking Lisa about her views on innateness as well as whether her research is relevant to the debate between nativists and empiricists.

Links

Pickron, C. B., Iyer, A., Fava, E., & Scott, L. S. (2018). Learning to individuate: The specificity of labels differentially impacts infant visual attention. Child development, 89(3), 698-710. Link to paper

Special Guest: Lisa Scott.

]]> face perception, cognitive development In this episode, Candy and Deon talk with Lisa Scott about her work on the role of labels on category learning in young infants, in addition to what the mechanism is that enables labels to exert their influence on category acquisition. Plus, we open the episode by discussing student feedback. Do we disregard all feedback? Do we consider some and ignore others? Do we use feedback to improve future courses? We conclude by asking Lisa about her views on innateness as well as whether her research is relevant to the debate between nativists and empiricists.

Links

Pickron, C. B., Iyer, A., Fava, E., & Scott, L. S. (2018). Learning to individuate: The specificity of labels differentially impacts infant visual attention. Child development, 89(3), 698-710. Link to paper

Special Guest: Lisa Scott.

]]> In this episode, Candy and Deon talk with Lisa Scott about her work on the role of labels on category learning in young infants, in addition to what the mechanism is that enables labels to exert their influence on category acquisition. Plus, we open the episode by discussing student feedback. Do we disregard all feedback? Do we consider some and ignore others? Do we use feedback to improve future courses? We conclude by asking Lisa about her views on innateness as well as whether her research is relevant to the debate between nativists and empiricists.

Links

Pickron, C. B., Iyer, A., Fava, E., & Scott, L. S. (2018). Learning to individuate: The specificity of labels differentially impacts infant visual attention. Child development, 89(3), 698-710. Link to paper

Special Guest: Lisa Scott.

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+AturJ1VK ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Lisa Scott Episode 2: When 1+1 equals more, not 2 https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/2 167f36d4-6ae3-4348-bd83-441e0cef159f Mon, 13 Feb 2023 22:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:27:49 false Candy and Deon begin this episode by discussing a recent email exchange between Jonathan Kominsky and Martin Packer about whether studies that use puppets are really testing young children's theory of mind rather than, for example, their "theory of puppets." Spoiler: Candy is less optimistic that they are; Deon is much more optimistic that, at the very least, they are approaching the question in the right way . Candy and Deon then discuss a seminal paper by Wynn (1992) that examined 5-month-olds' capacity to add and subtract small numbers. Specifically, they discuss whether the claim "that infants are able to compute the precise results of simple additions and subtractions" (Wynn, 1992, p. 749) is supported by the data. Candy and Deon discuss why they think that the claim is not supported by the data and then go on to discuss some mixed evidence for this claim from follow-up replication attempts.

Links

Cohen, L.B., & Marks, K.S. (2002). How infants process addition and subtraction events. Developmental Science, 5(2), 186-201. Link to paper
Simon, T.J., Hespos, S.J., & Rochat, P. (1995). Do Infants Understand Simple Arithmetic? A Replication of Wynn (1992). Cognitive Development, 10, 253-269. Link to paper
Wynn, K. (1992). Addition and subtraction by human infants. Nature. 358, 749-750. Link to paper

]]> infant math, cognitive development, methods Candy and Deon begin this episode by discussing a recent email exchange between Jonathan Kominsky and Martin Packer about whether studies that use puppets are really testing young children's theory of mind rather than, for example, their "theory of puppets." Spoiler: Candy is less optimistic that they are; Deon is much more optimistic that, at the very least, they are approaching the question in the right way . Candy and Deon then discuss a seminal paper by Wynn (1992) that examined 5-month-olds' capacity to add and subtract small numbers. Specifically, they discuss whether the claim "that infants are able to compute the precise results of simple additions and subtractions" (Wynn, 1992, p. 749) is supported by the data. Candy and Deon discuss why they think that the claim is not supported by the data and then go on to discuss some mixed evidence for this claim from follow-up replication attempts.

Links

Cohen, L.B., & Marks, K.S. (2002). How infants process addition and subtraction events. Developmental Science, 5(2), 186-201. Link to paper
Simon, T.J., Hespos, S.J., & Rochat, P. (1995). Do Infants Understand Simple Arithmetic? A Replication of Wynn (1992). Cognitive Development, 10, 253-269. Link to paper
Wynn, K. (1992). Addition and subtraction by human infants. Nature. 358, 749-750. Link to paper

]]> Candy and Deon begin this episode by discussing a recent email exchange between Jonathan Kominsky and Martin Packer about whether studies that use puppets are really testing young children's theory of mind rather than, for example, their "theory of puppets." Spoiler: Candy is less optimistic that they are; Deon is much more optimistic that, at the very least, they are approaching the question in the right way . Candy and Deon then discuss a seminal paper by Wynn (1992) that examined 5-month-olds' capacity to add and subtract small numbers. Specifically, they discuss whether the claim "that infants are able to compute the precise results of simple additions and subtractions" (Wynn, 1992, p. 749) is supported by the data. Candy and Deon discuss why they think that the claim is not supported by the data and then go on to discuss some mixed evidence for this claim from follow-up replication attempts.

Links

Cohen, L.B., & Marks, K.S. (2002). How infants process addition and subtraction events. Developmental Science, 5(2), 186-201. Link to paper
Simon, T.J., Hespos, S.J., & Rochat, P. (1995). Do Infants Understand Simple Arithmetic? A Replication of Wynn (1992). Cognitive Development, 10, 253-269. Link to paper
Wynn, K. (1992). Addition and subtraction by human infants. Nature. 358, 749-750. Link to paper

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+drJta_QY ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton Episode 1: Mechanisms all the way down https://itsinnate.fireside.fm/1 9b20ae62-a873-44f3-93a9-b985fe100f18 Mon, 13 Feb 2023 20:00:00 -0500 theitsinnatepodcast@gmail.com (Deon Benton & Jenny Wang) full Deon Benton & Jenny Wang 1:39:55 false During the first half of their very first episode, Candy and Deon introduce themselves, discuss why they chose to start this podcast, and share why they'd even dare to name their show the It's Innate! podcast given the longstanding and often contentious debate in the developmental literature surrounding this term. During the second half of the episode, Candy and Deon discuss Candy's research with young children. This research examined the role of social comparison on children's self-evaluations. Spoiler alert: It turns out that, to everyone's absolute surprise, children very much dislike being outperformed by novices. Following this discussion, Candy and Deon turn their attention to Deon's recent work in which he examined how a novel mechanism, called second-order correlation learning, might support young children's causal inferences. Candy and Deon conclude by discussing how second-order correlation learning can be leveraged to support children's developing theory of mind, on the one hand, and to mitigate possible racial bias in children, on the other hand.
Links

Benton, D. T., Rakison, D. H., & Sobel, D. M. (2021). When correlation equals causation: A behavioral and computational account of second-order correlation learning in children. Link to paper
Lapan, C., & Boseovski, J. J. (2017). When peer performance matters: Effects of expertise and traits on children's selfā€evaluations after social comparison. Child development, 88(6), 1860-1872. Link to paper

]]> During the first half of their very first episode, Candy and Deon introduce themselves, discuss why they chose to start this podcast, and share why they'd even dare to name their show the It's Innate! podcast given the longstanding and often contentious debate in the developmental literature surrounding this term. During the second half of the episode, Candy and Deon discuss Candy's research with young children. This research examined the role of social comparison on children's self-evaluations. Spoiler alert: It turns out that, to everyone's absolute surprise, children very much dislike being outperformed by novices. Following this discussion, Candy and Deon turn their attention to Deon's recent work in which he examined how a novel mechanism, called second-order correlation learning, might support young children's causal inferences. Candy and Deon conclude by discussing how second-order correlation learning can be leveraged to support children's developing theory of mind, on the one hand, and to mitigate possible racial bias in children, on the other hand.
Links

Benton, D. T., Rakison, D. H., & Sobel, D. M. (2021). When correlation equals causation: A behavioral and computational account of second-order correlation learning in children. Link to paper
Lapan, C., & Boseovski, J. J. (2017). When peer performance matters: Effects of expertise and traits on children's selfā€evaluations after social comparison. Child development, 88(6), 1860-1872. Link to paper

]]> During the first half of their very first episode, Candy and Deon introduce themselves, discuss why they chose to start this podcast, and share why they'd even dare to name their show the It's Innate! podcast given the longstanding and often contentious debate in the developmental literature surrounding this term. During the second half of the episode, Candy and Deon discuss Candy's research with young children. This research examined the role of social comparison on children's self-evaluations. Spoiler alert: It turns out that, to everyone's absolute surprise, children very much dislike being outperformed by novices. Following this discussion, Candy and Deon turn their attention to Deon's recent work in which he examined how a novel mechanism, called second-order correlation learning, might support young children's causal inferences. Candy and Deon conclude by discussing how second-order correlation learning can be leveraged to support children's developing theory of mind, on the one hand, and to mitigate possible racial bias in children, on the other hand.
Links

Benton, D. T., Rakison, D. H., & Sobel, D. M. (2021). When correlation equals causation: A behavioral and computational account of second-order correlation learning in children. Link to paper
Lapan, C., & Boseovski, J. J. (2017). When peer performance matters: Effects of expertise and traits on children's selfā€evaluations after social comparison. Child development, 88(6), 1860-1872. Link to paper

]]> https://fireside.fm/player/v2/R8yhKeXn+yEzHOCsD ]]> Jenny Wang Deon T. Benton