Connecting you with the University of Missouri’s innovative research and creative activityArticles Tagged with cognition
Begging the Bigger Questions
An interview with Carol Ward, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical SciencesWe see that as humans we are different from other modern primates, although we don't know exactly how that came to be. Unlocking this mystery has been Anthropology professor Carol Ward's life's work. While the fossil record is sketchy at times, it is crucial in estimating the chronology of certain key acquisitions of modern humans, be it walking on two feet, developing big brains, changing their diet, or changing their tool-making behavior. Working with fossils, Ward seeks to answer the bigger question—why did those changes occur?
Through the Eyes of an Infant
An interview with Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological SciencesHow much do infants know about the world in which they live? At what age do humans begin to develop an understanding of object permanence and of the reality that people act in response to different things around them? These are the kinds of questions Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences, seeks to answer. In addition to teaching cognition development courses—from infancy to toddler—she runs the Infant Cognition Lab, which tests psychological and biological knowledge development through a series of lab experiments. Now in its second year of operation, the lab conducts experiments with participants as young as two and one-half months old.
Audio and Video Tagged with cognition
Walking Upright is a Pain in the Back
From an interview with Carol Ward, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical SciencesAnthropology professor Carol Ward’s overall goal of understanding human evolution. Comparing fossils and modern primate anatomy to determine the chronology of human development.
Evolution of Intelligence
From an interview with Carol Ward, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Anatomical SciencesCollaborating with Mark Flinn (psychology and anthropology) and David Geary (psychology) on how and why human brains developed as they did.
Introduction to Research
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyKerns gives an introduction to his research on cognitive processes and the brain.
Introduction to Research (continued)
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyKerns continues to give an overview of his research.
Cognitive Control
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyHow cognitive control processes work. What scholars know about the human brain.
Cognitive Control (continued)
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyHow cognitive control processes work. What scholars know about the human brain.
Analyzing Cognition in the Lab
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyKerns discusses how activity in different parts of brain can be observed in the lab.
Cognitive Control (continued)
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyKerns discusses more on cognitive control.
Brain Regions
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyKerns discusses activity in various brain regions as a result of different cognitive process.
Brain Imaging - Viewing Your Cognitive Activity
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyKerns discusses the technology used in his research to view brain activity.
Stages of Schizophrenia
From an interview with John Kerns, Assistant Professor, PsychologyKerns discusses the characteristics of the different stages of schizophrenia.
Experiments and the Infant Cognition Lab
From an interview with Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological SciencesLuo runs the Infant Cognition Lab at MU, in its second year of existence. Luo describes some of the experiments she began in graduate school concerning transparency and object permanence.
Understanding infants’ psychological reasoning
From an interview with Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological SciencesLuo describes her current research project, which focuses on determining infants’ knowledge of psychological reasoning. Using the looking-time method, she is testing infants as young as three-months old to see if they understand the concept of object preference.
More complex experiments
From an interview with Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological SciencesLuo furthers her research about infant psychological understanding by conducting similar experiments with non-human agents.
Luo’s future goals
From an interview with Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological SciencesAll of the subjects in Luo’s experiments are volunteered by their parents. Luo talks about research she hopes to pursue in her future work.
Courses in cognition development
From an interview with Yuyan Luo, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychological SciencesIn addition to running the Infant Cognition Lab, Luo also teaches cognition development courses at MU, ranging from infancy to toddler psychological and biological knowledge development.
