Elizabeth Simpson - Profile on Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Research Papers by Elizabeth Simpson

Developmental Psychobiology, 2025

Given the foundational nature of infant visual attention and potential cascading effects on later... more Given the foundational nature of infant visual attention and potential cascading effects on later development, studies of individual variability in developmental trajectories in a normative sample are needed. We longitudinally tested newborns (N = 77) at 1-2 and 3-4 weeks, then again at 2, 4, 6, 8 and 14 months of age, assessing individual differences in their attention. Newborns viewed live stimuli (facial gesturing, rotating disk), one at a time, for 3 min each. Older infants viewed a 10-s side-by-side social-nonsocial video (people talking, rotating disk). We found short-term developmental stability of interindividual differences in infants' overall, social, and nonsocial attention, within the newborn period (1-4 weeks), and within the later infancy period (2-14 months). Additionally, we found that overall attention, but not social and nonsocial attention, was developmentally stable long term (newborn through 14 months). This novel finding that newborn overall attention predicts later overall attention through the first year suggests a robust individual difference. This study is a first step toward developing individual difference measures of social and nonsocial attention. Future studies need to understand why newborns vary in their attention and to identify the potential impact of this variability on later social and cognitive development.

Developmental Psychobiology, 2022

In childhood, higher levels of temperamental fear-an early-emerging proclivity to distress in the... more In childhood, higher levels of temperamental fear-an early-emerging proclivity to distress in the face of novelty-are associated with lower social responsivity and greater social anxiety. While the early emergence of temperamental fear in infancy is poorly understood, it is theorized to be driven by individual differences in reactivity and self-regulation to novel stimuli. The current study used eye tracking to capture infants' (N = 124) reactions to a video of a smiling stranger-a common social encounter-including infant gaze aversions from the stranger's face (indexing arousal regulation) and pupil dilation (indexing physiological reactivity), longitudinally at 2, 4, 6, and 8 months of age. Multilevel mixed-effects models indicated that more fearful infants took more time to look away from a smiling stranger's face than less fearful infants, suggesting that high-fear infants may have slower arousal regulation. At 2 and 4 months, more fearful infants also exhibited greater and faster pupil dilation before gaze aversions, consistent with greater physiological reactivity. Together, these findings suggest that individual differences in infants' gaze aversions and pupil dilation can index the development of fearful temperament in early infancy, facilitating the identification of, and interventions for, risk factors to social disruptions.

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2023

We integrated data from a newborn hearing screening database and a preschool disability database ... more We integrated data from a newborn hearing screening database and a preschool disability database to examine the relationship between newborn click evoked auditory brainstem responses (ABRs) and developmental disabilities. This sample included children with developmental delay (n = 2992), speech impairment (SI, n = 905), language impairment (n = 566), autism spectrum disorder (ASD, n = 370), and comparison children (n = 128,181). We compared the phase of the ABR waveform, a measure of sound processing latency, across groups. Children with SI and children with ASD had greater newborn ABR phase values than both the comparison group and the developmental delay group. Newborns later diagnosed with SI or ASD have slower neurological responses to auditory stimuli, suggesting sensory differences at birth.

PNAS Nexus, 2023

Neurodevelopmental disorders are on the rise worldwide, with diagnoses that detect derailment fro... more Neurodevelopmental disorders are on the rise worldwide, with diagnoses that detect derailment from typical milestones by 3 to 4.5 years of age. By then, the circuitry in the brain has already reached some level of maturation that inevitably takes neurodevelopment through a different course. There is a critical need then to develop analytical methods that detect problems much earlier and identify targets for treatment. We integrate data from multiple sources, including neonatal auditory brainstem responses (ABR), clinical criteria detecting autism years later in those neonates, and similar ABR information for young infants and children who also received a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders, to produce the earliest known digital screening biomarker to flag neurodevelopmental derailment in neonates. This work also defines concrete targets for treatment and offers a new statistical approach to aid in guiding a personalized course of maturation in line with the highly nonlinear, accelerated neurodevelopmental rates of change in early infancy.

The Journal of Special Education, 2023

Developmental disability rates may vary by the season or month in which children are born. Howeve... more Developmental disability rates may vary by the season or month in which children are born. However, the seasonal mechanisms, such as climate, underlying these variations are unclear. Previous studies focused on high-latitude regions, leaving this climate hypothesis only partially tested. We analyzed rates of developmental disabilities in 3-to 5-year-old children from a tropical climate-South Florida-from 2004 to 2015 (N = 79,047) using a time-series analysis to identify peaks in diagnoses based on birth months. Children with speech impairments were more likely to be born in March, April, and September, a novel finding. Children with developmental delays were more likely to be born in September and October, consistent with studies in colder regions. In contrast to prior studies, there were no effects of birth month for language impairment or autism spectrum disorder. We highlight potential prenatal mechanisms that may contribute to the seasonal variations in some developmental disabilities. Keywords prenatal exposure, season of birth, birth month, month of conception, early childhood development, cognitive development

Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 2023

Face pareidolia occurs when random or ambiguous inanimate objects are perceived as faces. While r... more Face pareidolia occurs when random or ambiguous inanimate objects are perceived as faces. While real faces automatically receive prioritized attention compared with nonface objects, it is unclear whether pareidolic faces similarly receive special attention. We hypothesized that, given the evolutionary importance of broadly detecting animacy, pareidolic faces may have enough faceness to activate a broad face template, triggering prioritized attention. To test this hypothesis, and to explore where along the faceness continuum pareidolic faces fall, we conducted a series of dot-probe experiments in which we paired pareidolic faces with other images directly competing for attention: objects, animal faces, and human faces. We found that pareidolic faces elicited more prioritized attention than objects, a process that was disrupted by inversion, suggesting this prioritized attention was unlikely to be driven by low-level features. However, unexpectedly, pareidolic faces received more privileged attention compared with animal faces and showed similar prioritized attention to human faces. This attentional efficiency may be due to pareidolic faces being perceived as not only face-like, but also as human-like, and having larger facial features-eyes and mouths-compared with real faces. Together, our findings suggest that pareidolic faces appear automatically attentionally privileged, similar to human faces. Our findings are consistent with the proposal of a highly sensitive broad face detection system that is activated by pareidolic faces, triggering false alarms (i.e., illusory faces), which, evolutionarily, are less detrimental relative to missing potentially relevant signals (e.g., conspecific or heterospecific threats). In sum, pareidolic faces appear "special" in attracting attention.

Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2023

The capacity to rapidly detect and avoid sick people may be adaptive. Given that faces are reliab... more The capacity to rapidly detect and avoid sick people may be adaptive. Given that faces are reliably available, as well as rapidly detected and processed, they may provide health information that influences social interaction. Prior studies used faces that were manipulated to appear sick (e.g., editing photos, inducing inflammatory response); however, responses to naturally sick faces remain largely unexplored. We tested whether adults detected subtle cues of genuine, acute, potentially contagious illness in face photos compared to the same individuals when healthy. We tracked illness symptoms and severity with the Sickness Questionnaire and Common Cold Questionnaire. We also checked that sick and healthy photos were matched on low-level features. We found that participants (N = 109) rated sick faces, compared to healthy faces, as sicker, more dangerous, and eliciting more unpleasant feelings. Participants (N = 90) rated sick faces as more likely to be avoided, more tired, and more negative in expression than healthy faces. In a passive-viewing eye-tracking task, participants (N = 50) looked longer at healthy than sick faces, especially the eye region, suggesting people may be more drawn to healthy conspecifics. When making approach-avoidance decisions, participants (N = 112) had greater pupil dilation to sick than healthy faces, and more pupil dilation was associated with greater avoidance, suggesting elevated arousal to threat. Across all experiments, participants' behaviors correlated with the degree of sickness, as reported by the face donors, suggesting a nuanced, fine-tuned sensitivity. Together, these findings suggest that humans may detect subtle threats of contagion from sick faces, which may facilitate illness avoidance. By better understanding how humans naturally avoid illness in conspecifics, we may identify what information is used and ultimately improve public health.

Infancy, 2023

Infants vary in their ability to follow others' gazes, but it is unclear how these individual dif... more Infants vary in their ability to follow others' gazes, but it is unclear how these individual differences emerge. We tested whether social motivation levels in early infancy predict later gaze following skills. We longitudinally tracked infants' (N = 82) gazes and pupil dilation while they observed videos of a woman looking into the camera simulating eye contact (i.e., mutual gaze) and then gazing toward one of two objects, at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 14 months of age. To improve measurement validity, we used confirmatory factor analysis to combine multiple observed measures to index the underlying constructs of social motivation and gaze following. Infants' social motivation-indexed by their speed of social orienting, duration of mutual gaze, and degree of pupil dilation during mutual gaze-was developmentally stable and positively predicted the development of gaze following-indexed by their proportion of time looking to the target object, first object look difference scores, and first face-to-object saccade difference scores-from 6 to 14 months of age. These findings suggest that infants' social motivation likely plays a role in the development of gaze following and highlight the use of a multi-measure

Birth Defects Research, 2023

Background This study examined risk for developmental disabilities in preschool-aged children wit... more Background
This study examined risk for developmental disabilities in preschool-aged children with a congenital heart defect (CHD) at the population level.

Methods
Statewide birth, birth defects, and preschool developmental disability records were integrated. The final sample included 1,966,585 children (51.0% male). Children were grouped by type(s) of CHD: critical CHD, noncritical CHD, atrial septal defect, or no major birth defects (groups were mutually exclusive).

Results
Children with a CHD (any type) were at increased risk for developmental disability (any type) (RR 2.08, 95% CI 2.03–2.14, P < .001). Children in the critical CHD, noncritical CHD, and atrial septal defect groups were at increased risk for developmental delay, intellectual disability, language impairment, other health impairment, and any disability. Children in the atrial septal defect group were at increased risk for autism spectrum disorder and speech impairment. For all CHD groups, risk was greatest for other health impairment and intellectual disability.

Conclusions
Increased risk for developmental disabilities was identified for children with less severe CHDs as well as for children with more severe (critical) CHDs. All children with CHDs should be closely monitored so that appropriate interventions can be initiated as early as possible to maximize learning outcomes.

Parenting, 2023

Objective. Maternal stress is a psychological response to the demands of motherhood. A high level... more Objective. Maternal stress is a psychological response to the demands of motherhood. A high level of maternal stress is a risk factor for maternal mental health problems, including depression and anxiety, as well as adverse infant socioemotional and cognitive outcomes. Yet, levels of maternal stress (i.e., levels of stress related to parenting) among low-risk samples are rarely studied longitudinally, particularly in the first year after birth. Design. We measured maternal stress in an ethnically diverse sample of low-risk, healthy U.S. mothers of healthy infants (N = 143) living in South Florida across six time points between 2 weeks and 14 months postpartum using the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form, capturing stress related to the mother, mother-infant interactions, and the infant. Results. Maternal distress increased as infants aged for mothers with more than one child, but not for first-time mothers whose distress levels remained low and stable across this period. Stress related to mother-infant dysfunctional interactions lessened over the first 8 months. Mothers’ stress about their infants’ difficulties decreased from 2 weeks to 6 months, and subsequently increased from 6 to 14 months. Conclusions. Our findings suggest that maternal stress is dynamic across the first year after birth. The current study adds to our understanding of typical developmental patterns in early motherhood and identifies potential domains and time points as targets for future interventions.

Child Development, 2024

This study examined the development of children's avoidance and recognition of sickness using fac... more This study examined the development of children's avoidance and recognition of sickness using face photos from people with natural, acute, contagious illness. In a U.S. sample of fifty-seven 4-to 5-year-olds (46% male, 70% White), fifty-two 8-to 9-year-olds (26% male, 62% White), and 51 adults (59% male, 61% White), children and adults avoided and recognized sick faces (ds ranged from 0.38 to 2.26). Both avoidance and recognition improved with age. Interestingly, 4-to 5-year-olds' avoidance of sick faces positively correlated with their recognition, suggesting stable individual differences in these emerging skills. Together, these findings are consistent with a hypothesized immature but functioning and flexible behavioral immune system emerging early in development. Characterizing children's sickness perception may help design interventions to improve health.

Infancy, 2024

Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive method... more Measuring eye movements remotely via the participant's webcam promises to be an attractive methodological addition to in-person eye-tracking in the lab. However, there is a lack of systematic research comparing remote web-based eye-tracking with in-lab eye-tracking in young children. We report a multi-lab study that compared these two measures in an anticipatory looking task with toddlers using WebGazer.js and jsPsych. Results of our remotely tested sample of 18-27-month-old toddlers (N = 125) revealed that web-based eye-tracking successfully captured

Infant and Child Development, 2024

In the still-face episode of the Face-to-Face/Still-Face (FFSF), parents are asked to become unre... more In the still-face episode of the Face-to-Face/Still-Face (FFSF), parents are asked to become unresponsive. However, infant–parent interaction may be irrepressible, and there is some evidence that interaction during the still-face is associated with attachment outcome. To explore these questions, we independently coded the continuous affective valence (negative to positive) of seventy-three 6-month-old infants (45 males; 36 Hispanic/Latinx; 38 White, 3 Black/African-American, 2 Asian, 30 multiracial) and their parents (Mage = 36 years; 5 males; 30 Hispanic/Latinx; 65 White, 3 Black/African-American, 2 Asian, 2 unknown) during the FFSF and assessed attachment at 15 months with the Strange Situation Procedure (n = 66). There was a mean positive correlation between moment-to-moment parent and infant affective valence, indicating synchronous affective interaction during the still-face (d = 0.63). Higher levels of affect interaction during the still-face episode were detected in infants later classified as disorganised compared to securely attached (d = 0.97). Findings underscore the importance of testing for still-face interaction and suggest that this interaction may be an unappreciated predictor of infant attachment outcomes.

Journal of Neuroscience Research, 2024

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)-the sudden and unexplained death of a seemingly healthy infan... more Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS)-the sudden and unexplained death of a seemingly healthy infant, <1 year old-may be associated with abnormalities in the brain regions that underlie breathing and arousal during sleep. While post-mortem studies suggest abnormalities in SIDS infants' brainstems, there are no studies of these infants' brainstem function before death. One way to assess the function of the brainstem is with auditory brainstem response (ABR), a routine hearing-screening method that noninvasively measures the brainstem's response to sound. We hypothesize that

Hormones and Behavior, 2024

Oxytocin is a neuropeptide positively associated with prosociality in adults. Here, we studied wh... more Oxytocin is a neuropeptide positively associated with prosociality in adults. Here, we studied whether infants' salivary oxytocin can be reliably measured, is developmentally stable, and is linked to social behavior. We longitudinally collected saliva from 62 U.S. infants (44 % female, 56 % Hispanic/Latino, 24 % Black, 18 % non-Hispanic White, 11 % multiracial) at 4, 8, and 14 months of age and offline-video-coded the valence of their facial affect in response to a video of a smiling woman. We also captured infants' affective reactions in terms of excitement/joyfulness during a live, structured interaction with a singing woman in the Early Social Communication Scales at 14 months. We detected stable individual differences in infants' oxytocin levels over time (over minutes and months) and in infants' positive affect over months and across contexts (video-based and in live interactions). We detected no statistically significant changes in oxytocin levels between 4 and 8 months but found an increase from 8 to 14 months. Infants with higher oxytocin levels showed more positive facial affect to a smiling person video at 4 months; however, this association disappeared at 8 months, and reversed at 14 months (i.e., higher oxytocin was associated with less positive facial affect). Infant salivary oxytocin may be a reliable physiological measure of individual differences related to socio-emotional development.

Frontiers for Young Minds, 2024

Staying away from germs helps humans stay healthy and avoid dangerous sicknesses. People avoid ot... more Staying away from germs helps humans stay healthy and avoid dangerous sicknesses. People avoid other people who look or act like they might be feeling sick. For example, adults know when someone is sick just by looking at their face, and they can avoid going near sick people. We wanted to know whether children recognize sick faces. In our study, we asked 4–5-year-olds, 8–9-year-olds, and adults to look at photos of people and decide who was feeling sick and who they wanted to sit next to. Just by looking at the faces, 8–9-year-olds and adults could tell who was feeling sick and said they wanted to sit next to healthy people more than sick people. This study helps us understand that children can recognize and avoid sick faces just like grown-ups can, and that they get better at these skills as they get older.

Developmental Psychobiology, 2024

Infants' nonverbal expressions-a broad smile or a sharp cry-are powerful at eliciting reactions. ... more Infants' nonverbal expressions-a broad smile or a sharp cry-are powerful at eliciting reactions. Although parents' reactions to their own infants' expressions are relatively well understood, here we studied whether adults more generally exhibit behavioral and physiological reactions to unfamiliar infants producing various expressions. We recruited U.S. emerging adults (N = 84) prior to parenthood, 18-25 years old, 68% women, ethnically (20% Hispanic/Latino) and racially (7% Asian, 13% Black, 1% Middle Eastern, 70% White, 8% multiracial) diverse. They observed four 80-s audio-video clips of unfamiliar 2-to 6-month-olds crying, smiling, yawning, and sitting calmly (emotionally neutral control). Each compilation video depicted 9 different infants (36 clips total). We found adults mirrored behaviorally and physiologically: more positive facial expressions to infants smiling, and more negative facial expressions and pupil dilation-indicating increases in arousal-to infants crying. Adults also yawned more and had more pupil dilation when observing infants yawning. Together, these findings suggest that even nonparent emerging adults are highly sensitive to unfamiliar infants' expressions, which they naturally "catch" (i.e., behaviorally and physiologically mirror), even without instructions. Such sensitivity may have-over the course of humans' evolutionary history-been selected for, to facilitate adults' processing of preverbal infants' expressions to meet their needs. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2025

Pareidolic faces-illusory faces in objects-offer a unique context for studying biases in the deve... more Pareidolic faces-illusory faces in objects-offer a unique context for studying biases in the development of facial processing because they are visually diverse (e.g., color, shape) while lacking key elements of real faces (e.g., race, species). In an online study, 7-and 8-year-old children (n = 32) and adults (n = 32) categorized happy and angry expressions in human and pareidolic face images. We found that children have a robust, adult-like happy face advantage for human and pareidolic faces, reflected in speed and accuracy. These results suggest that the happy face advantage is not unique to human faces, supporting the hypothesis that humans employ comparable face templates for processing pareidolic and human faces. Our findings add to a growing list of other processing similarities between human and pareidolic faces and suggest that children may likewise show these similarities.

Vision, 2025

Humans evolved a behavioral immune system to avoid infectious disease, including the ability to d... more Humans evolved a behavioral immune system to avoid infectious disease, including the ability to detect sickness in faces. However, it is unclear whether the ability to recognize and avoid facial cues of disease is malleable, flexibly calibrated by experience. Thus, we experimentally tested whether we can improve adults' (N = 133) lassitude (sick) face perception, measuring their recognition, avoidance, and visual attention to naturally sick and healthy faces. Participants randomly assigned to a training about disease, but not a control group, were better at avoiding sick people. The disease-trained group also looked more equally between sick and healthy faces when identifying who was sick compared to the control group who looked longer at the sick faces than the healthy faces. Though we detected no group differences in time looking at the eyes and at the mouths, the diseasetrained group used these features more to decide who was sick, reflecting key features of the lassitude expression. Our findings suggest that facial sickness perception may be flexible, influenced by experience, and underscore the need for future studies to test how to further strengthen this skill. Ultimately, developing interventions that use this sick face plasticity may reduce disease transmission.

Behavior Research Methods, 2023

Remote eye tracking with automated corneal reflection provides insights into the emergence and de... more Remote eye tracking with automated corneal reflection provides insights into the emergence and development of cognitive, social, and emotional functions in human infants and non-human primates. However, because most eye-tracking systems were designed for use in human adults, the accuracy of eye-tracking data collected in other populations is unclear, as are potential approaches to minimize measurement error. For instance, data quality may differ across species or ages, which are necessary considerations for comparative and developmental studies. Here we examined how the calibration method and adjustments to areas of interest (AOIs) of the Tobii TX300 changed the mapping of fixations to AOIs in a cross-species longitudinal study. We tested humans (N = 119) at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 14 months of age and macaques (Macaca mulatta; N = 21) at 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and 6 months of age. In all groups, we found improvement in the proportion of AOI hits detected as the number of successful calibration points increased, suggesting calibration approaches with more points may be advantageous. Spatially enlarging and temporally prolonging AOIs increased the number of fixation-AOI mappings, suggesting improvements in capturing infants' gaze behaviors; however, these benefits varied across age groups and species, suggesting different parameters may be ideal, depending on the population studied. In sum, to maximize usable sessions and minimize measurement error, eye-tracking data collection and extraction approaches may need adjustments for the age groups and species studied. Doing so may make it easier to standardize and replicate eye-tracking research findings.

Developmental Psychobiology, 2025

Developmental Psychobiology, 2022

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2023

PNAS Nexus, 2023

The Journal of Special Education, 2023

Attention, Perception, and Psychophysics, 2023

Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 2023

Infancy, 2023

Birth Defects Research, 2023

Parenting, 2023

Child Development, 2024

Infancy, 2024

Infant and Child Development, 2024

Journal of Neuroscience Research, 2024

Hormones and Behavior, 2024

Frontiers for Young Minds, 2024

Developmental Psychobiology, 2024

Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2025

Vision, 2025

Behavior Research Methods, 2023

Research mentors strive to ensure that undergraduates gain research skills and develop profession... more Research mentors strive to ensure that undergraduates gain research skills and develop professionally during mentored research experiences in the sciences. We created the SURE (Specialized Undergraduate Research Experience) Workbook, a freely-available, interactive guide to scaffold student learning during this process. The Workbook: (1) identifies mentees' relevant strengths and areas for improvement, (2) encourages effective long-term goal setting, (3) ensures clear communication to facilitate a positive mentor-mentee working relationship, (4) exposes mentees to all phases of the research process, (5) develops mentees' autonomy for research and related professional experiences, and (6) offers mentors a concrete assessment tool to evaluate student participation and development over the course of the research experience. Hands-on research experiences can be invaluable and transformative in undergraduates' professional development, and we predict that the additional structure and standardization provided by the SURE Workbook will help maximize student learning and performance during such experiences. Thinking ahead, mentees who cultivate positive attitudes about research by using the SURE Workbook may be more inclined to pursue research professions and effectively mentor others when they graduate.

Gaining Teaching Experience in Graduate School

Student Notebook, APS Observer, 2011

As graduate students, we are indoctrinated to value those three little words: research, teaching,... more As graduate students, we are indoctrinated to value those three little words: research, teaching, and service. Not the words you had in mind? Welcome to graduate school. Though most of us get a plethora of research experience and numerous opportunities for service, teaching experiences may not be as easily accessible. Given that most jobs in academia require undergraduate teaching, developing the knowledge, resources, and skills to carry out this job are particularly important for graduate students. Teaching experience can give you insight into whether you really want a teaching-focused career. Gaining experiences in teaching throughout your graduate career will aid in the transition to becoming a faculty member. Perhaps most importantly, being able to demonstrate your teaching abilities will make you a more marketable candidate for a job in academia. We offer some tips and resources to get you started.

International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 2012

Google Docs, an online word processing application, is a promising tool for collaborative learnin... more Google Docs, an online word processing application, is a promising tool for collaborative learning. However, many college instructors and students lack knowledge to effectively use Google Docs to enhance teaching and learning. Goals of this study include (1) assessing the effectiveness of using Google Docs in an out-of-class collaborative writing activity through measuring the assignment's influence on students' learning experiences, (2) teaching students to work collaboratively, and (3) teaching students to successfully communicate their understanding and application of concepts through writing. Undergraduate students (N = 35) were randomly assigned to small groups to complete two out-of-class assignments. We compared students' collaborative performance and learning across two assignments, one with Google Docs and one without. We found (1) most students were unfamiliar with Google Docs prior to the study, (2) Google Docs changed the means of communication used in collaborative writing, (3) 93% of students considered Google Docs a useful tool for group work, (4) using Google Docs had no effect on students' paper grades, and (5) half of the students reported they would like to use Google Docs in the future. Our results suggest that Google Docs was a useful tool for collaborative writing and influenced student learning.

Mirror neurons are a type of cell in the nervous system that fires during the production of a goa... more Mirror neurons are a type of cell in the nervous system that fires during the production of a goal directed action or expression and during the observation of that same action or expression.

In this chapter, we highlight the benefits of a comparative developmental approach, not only for ... more In this chapter, we highlight the benefits of a comparative developmental approach, not only for revealing which social cognitive capacities are unique or shared across species, but also for uncovering environmental influences and physiological underpinnings of social understanding in infancy. We discuss human and nonhuman primate infants’ (a) recognition of, and selective attention toward, social agents, (b) affiliation toward conspecifics and similar others, and (c) basic action understanding, as three examples of important social cognitive skills. These skills appear foundational, emerging early in development, and are shared across species, suggesting they may be (some of) the precursors upon which later, higher-order social cognitive abilities are built. Throughout, we emphasize how comparative studies can reveal nuances not readily observable in humans alone, including their developmental stability or plastic, early environmental contributions that may support or hinder such skills, and their underlying neural and physiological mechanisms.

New Frontiers in Mirror Neuron Research (Book), 2015

A developmental approach is critical to understanding mirror neurons and debates surrounding thei... more A developmental approach is critical to understanding mirror neurons and debates surrounding their properties, plasticity, function, and evolution. The presence of inter--individual differences in early social competencies, such as neonatal imitation, are indicative of the complex nature of interactions among genetic, epigenetic, and non--genetic (environmental) factors in shaping action--perception brain networks. In the present review, we propose that three aspects of early social development may explain variability in neonatal imitation, specifically (1) individual differences in sensory--motor matching skills, underpinned by mirror neurons, functioning from birth and refined through postnatal experiences, (2) individual differences in social engagements, with some infants demonstrating stronger preferences for social interactions than others, and (3) more general temperamental differences, such as differences in extroversion or reactivity. We present findings and propose future directions aimed at testing these possibilities by examining individual differences related to imitative skill. Neonatal imitation is a useful tool for assessing infants' sensory--motor matching maturity, social motivation, and temperament, particularly when used with a mindfulness of infants' changing social motivations and expectations. The presence of an action--perception mechanism at birth can be better understood by considering the complex interactions among infants' social competences, sensory--motor skills, environmental influences, and individual differences in social interest and temperament.

Mentoring plays a crucial role in the academic, professional, and personal development of graduat... more Mentoring plays a crucial role in the academic, professional, and personal development of
graduate students, both in the context of scholarly research and teaching. In this chapter, we
discuss the role of mentoring in supporting the teaching-related training of graduate students. Particular attention is given to the unique benefits and challenges that accompany peer mentoring, which involves graduate students working together to improve each other’s teaching skills. In the sections that follow, we describe several examples of peer mentoring and discuss research on peer mentoring’s effects on teacher training. We then identify potential challenges and barriers that can affect the success of peer-mentoring programs. Finally, we highlight some practical considerations related to implementing peer mentoring programs to complement existing teaching assistant (TA) training activities.

The expression of emotions plays a key role in human communication. Besides language, humans use ... more The expression of emotions plays a key role in human communication. Besides language, humans use nonverbal cues such as facial and vocal expressions to convey emotions. The voice is especially important as an emotional medium because it is a carrier for spoken language production. Additionally, listeners can perceive vocal expressions across long distances and in situations where facial or gestural information is not available (e.g., telephone). It is commonly believed that women are better than men in recognizing emotional tone of voice and this belief has been confirmed in behavioral studies. Unfortunately, it is not until recently that sex has been considered as a modulating factor of the brain mechanisms underlying vocal emotion comprehension. Here we present work that sheds some light on the neuroanatomical and temporal underpinnings of these mechanisms as they occur in men and women. Respective findings not only enhance our understanding of vocal emotional comprehension, they also make it clear that research on sex differences in emotion recognition provides useful insight into sex specific interaction patterns that may help explain some of the difficulties that arise when men and women communicate.

Empirical studies are incompatible with the proposal that neonatal imitation is arousal-driven or... more Empirical studies are incompatible with the proposal that neonatal imitation is arousal-driven or declining with age. Nonhuman primate (NHP) studies reveal a functioning brain mirror system from birth, developmental continuity in imitation and later sociability, and the malleability of neonatal imitation, shaped by the early environment. A narrow focus on arousal effects and reflexes may grossly underestimate neonatal capacities.

Neonatal imitation and an epigenetic account of mirror neuron development

Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Neonatal imitation should not exclusively be considered at the population-level; instead, we prop... more Neonatal imitation should not exclusively be considered at the population-level; instead, we propose that inconsistent findings regarding its occurrence result from important individual differences in imitative responses. We also highlight what we consider to be a false dichotomy of genetic versus learning accounts of the development of mirror neurons (MNs) and, instead, suggest a more parsimonious epigenetic perspective.

Mirror neurons are central for a second-person neuroscience: Insights from developmental studies

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2013

Based on mirror neurons' properties, viewers are emotionally engaged when observing others – even... more Based on mirror neurons' properties, viewers are emotionally engaged when observing others – even when not actively interacting; therefore, characterizing non-participatory action-viewing as isolated may be misleading. Instead, we propose a continuum of socio-emotional engagement. We also highlight recent developmental work that uses a second-person perspective, investigating behavioral, physiological, and neural activity during caregiver–infant interactions.

Can we really leave gender out of it? Individual differences and the Simulation of Smiles Model

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2010

Gender differences in face-based emotion recognition, notably differential use of mimicry, may co... more Gender differences in face-based emotion recognition, notably differential use of mimicry, may compromise the extent to which the Simulation of Smiles model can be generalized to populations besides the adult females on which it has been tested. Much work indicates sex differences in face-based emotion recognition, including smile recognition.

Super-expressive voices: Music to my ears?

Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 2008

We present evidence from neuroimaging and brain lesion studies that emotional contagion may not ... more We present evidence from neuroimaging and brain lesion studies
that emotional contagion may not be a mechanism underlying musical emotions. Our brains distinguish voice from non-voice sounds early in processing, and dedicate more resources to such processing. We argue that super-expressive voice theory currently cannot account for evidence of the dissociation in processing musical emotion and voice prosody.