Developmental Psychology
Although there is no developmental psychology program, per se, at CU-Boulder, several of the labs across different departmental areas address issues relating to development. The following is a listing of faculty currently doing developmental work, and a brief overview of their research.
- Marie T. Banich, Professor
- mbanich@psych.colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~mbanich
- 303-492-6655
- Developmental interests: Neural and cognitive bases of the development of executive function in adolescence; Disruptions of executive function in adolescence in populations such as individuals with substance dependence or attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder.
- Angela Bryan, Professor
- angela.bryan@colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~cuchangelab/index.html
- 303-492-8264
- Developmental interests: Risky behavior during adolescence including unsafe sexual behavior, alcohol use, drug use, and the confluence of sexual risk and substance use; neurocognitive and genetic underpinnings of adolescent risky decision-making and risk-taking.
- Eliana Colunga, Associate Professor
- colunga@psych.colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~colunga/
- Developmental interests: I work with children ranging between 12 months and 4 years of age. I combine computational modeling (mostly connectionist networks) and empirical methods with children and adults to study language and cognitive development.
- John C. DeFries, Professor
- John.DeFries@colorado.edu
- http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/~defries/
- Developmental interests: Twin and adoption studies of cognitive development from infancy through early adulthood; the genetics of learning disabilities; and the use of DNA markers to map genes that influence behavior.
- John K. Hewitt, Professor
- John.Hewitt@colorado.edu
- http://ibgwww.colorado.edu/~hewitt/
- Developmental interests: Uses cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of twins and families to study behavioral development, and genetic and environmental influences on behavior, personality, and health. Recent research focuses on the development of: behavior problems in childhood and adolescence; of vulnerability to drug use, abuse, and dependence; and of their relationship to executive cognitive functions.
- Vijay Mittal, Assistant Professor
- vijay.mittal@colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~clinical/mittal/
- http://www.adaptprogram.com/
- 303-492-3303
- Developmental interests: Prenatal and adolescent neural/endocrine developmental models of serious psychopathology
- Yuko Munakata, Professor
- yuko.munakata@colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~munakata
- 303-735-5499
- Developmental interests: Cognitive development from infancy through childhood, particularly in the domains of working memory, inhibition, and other executive functions, investigated through behavioral studies (including pupillometry), neural network models, and a variety of cognitive neuroscience methods.
- Randall O'Reilly, Professor
- oreilly@psych.colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~oreilly
- 303-492-0054
- Developmental interests: Neural network models of learning and development, focusing on the prefrontal cortex/basal ganglia system and hippocampus, and sensory-motor learning in embodied cognitive systems that provides the foundation for more abstract cognitive functions.
- Richard K. Olson, Professor
- rolson@psych.colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~rolson/
- 303-492-8865
- Developmental Interests: Reading and related cognitive skills development from preschool through adulthood. Identical and fraternal twins are used to explore the genetic and environmental etiology of these skills. Computers are used to explore remedial methods for improving reading and related cognitive skills in children who are failing in reading.
- Erik Willcutt, Associate Professor
- willcutt@psych.colorado.edu
- http://psych.colorado.edu/~willcutt/index.html
- 303-492-3304
- Developmental interests: The development of an optimal nosology of mental disorders across the lifespan, with a specific focus on childhood disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), learning disabilities, and other psychopathology that frequently co-occurs with ADHD and LD.
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