April 28: Jane Hu, "Learning from others using social and statistical cues"

Learning from others using social and statistical cues

How do children come to possess the knowledge necessary to progress into adulthood? With relatively few life experiences, children must look to other people for information about the world. In this talk, I'll discuss several studies that demonstrate children's rich ability to learn from and about others by observing their actions and paying attention to contextual cues surrounding new information. Specifically, I'll show that children can infer others' preferences from watching their choices, and consider consensus opinions and informants’ knowledge when learning new information from others.

This talk will be held in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm.

April 14: Audun Dahl, "Early Moral Development in Social Interactions"

Early Moral Development in Social Interactions

Morality is about how we treat other people, and it develops, to a large extent, through social interactions. In its fully developed form, morality involves a concern for the well-being of others and an ability to coordinate moral and non-moral concerns. Although infants appear sensitive to some moral norms by their first birthday, they do not reliably act out of concern for the well-being of others. For instance, they harm others without provocation and they help others at substantially lower rates than older children, if at all. Over the course of the second year of life, this changes dramatically. In this talk, Audun will discuss evidence for how distinct forms of social interactions in the second year contribute to two fundamental aspects of moral development: the aversion to interpersonal harm and the tendency to help others. His research combines naturalistic and experimental methods to show that (1) caregivers are generally more insistent and more angry when intervening on infants' moral (harmful) transgressions than on other transgressions, (2) caregivers facilitate infants' helping behavior at ages earlier than often assumed, and (3) infants make use of these social signals in deciding what to do (help) and not to do (harm).

This talk will be held in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm

April 7: Douglas Jutte, "Exploring the Intersection of Community Development and Healthy (Child) Development"

Exploring the Intersection of Community Development and Healthy (Child) Development

There is growing interest in the social determinants of healthy child development, and more specifically, in understanding the ways that low-income social environments can have a negative impact on child development. This presentation by Douglas Jutte will describe an exciting research initiative to examine efforts to improve low-income neighborhoods and their effects on the health and well being of children and families. Douglas Jutte is a developmental pediatrician who has recently received a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to add health and development measures to a large community development project. He will describe the history and function of the national non-profit community development sector and discuss how the $150 Billion (yes, Billion) invested annually into low-income neighborhoods has the potential to have a positive impact on understanding--and improving--important social determinants of child and family health and well-being. Achieving these goals will require partnering between the national non-profit community and researchers with expertise in child development and public health to more effectively understand how improvements in low-income neighborhoods can have a positive effect on the social determinants of healthy development.

Douglas Jutte, MD, MPH is a professor and population health researcher at UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. He teaches in the UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program and serves as associate director of the master’s degree in Health & Medical Sciences. He has been a leader in the Federal Reserve & Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Healthy Communities Initiative that aims to increase the positive impact of community development and public health by better integrating the work of these two sectors, and he will soon be Executive Director of the newly formed National Partnership for Community Development & Health. His research focuses on the impact of social determinants of health on children’s wellbeing over the life course as well as the policy levers and financial tools that can intervene to protect children and families. He has published in Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Epidemiology, Academic Pediatrics, the American Journal of Public Health and Health Affairs. Dr. Jutte graduated from Cornell University and received his MD from Harvard Medical School and a master’s degree in public health from UC Berkeley. His post-doctoral research training in population health was through the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Health & Society Scholars program based at UCSF. He completed his pediatric training at Stanford University and continues to care for at-risk newborns as a neonatal hospitalist.

This talk will be held in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm.

March 31: Nathan Fox, "Are There Sensitive Periods for the Effects of Early Experience on Cognitive and Social Competence? Lessons from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project"

Are There Sensitive Periods for the Effects of Early Experience on Cognitive and Social Competence? Lessons from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project

Dr. Nathan Fox, University of Maryland
Director of the Child Development Lab in the Dept. of Human Development

Distinguished University Professor

Interim Chair, Dept. of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology

Abstract

Developmental psychologists and educators assume that early experiences shape the brain and neural circuitry for emerging cognitive and social behaviors over the first years of life. Most of the evidence for these assumptions is based on rodent and non human primate animal research. Far less has been published on the effects of early experience that is not correlational in nature. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP) is the first randomized trial of a family intervention for children who experienced significant psychosocial neglect early in their lives. A group of infants living in institutions in Romania were recruited and randomized to be taken out of the institution and placed into family/foster care homes or to remain in the institution. Follow up of these children occurred at 42 and 54 months of age and at 8 years of age. Multiple domains, including cognitive, socio-emotional, psychiatric, and brain imaging were assessed at each age. Three questions are posed in this study and this talk: first, are there lasting effects of early psychosocial deprivation as children develop over the school years. Second, is intervention successful in ameliorating deficits as a result of institutionalization. And third, are there sensitive periods in delivering the intervention that explain both success and failure to improve cognitive and socio-emotional behavior.

This talk will be held in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm.

March 17: Sally Ozonoff, "Advances in Early Detection Science: Finding Infant Markers of Autism"

Advances in Early Detection Science: Finding Infant Markers of Autism

Sally Oznoff
Endowed Professor and Vice Chair for Research
Department of Psychiatry and Behavior Sciences
M.I.N.D. Institute
Davis Medical Center

Abstract:
This talk will focus on early detection of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in infants and young toddlers, summarizing existing research and describing new results from an ongoing prospective study. Developmental challenges beyond ASD that may occur in siblings will also be discussed. The talk will conclude with recurrence risk of ASD in families who already have an affected child and implications for screening and working with families.

Monday, March 17 in 3105 Tolman Hall, 12:00-1:30pm.

March 10: Kris Madsen, "Curbing Childhood Obesity: A Systems Approach"

Kristine A. Madsen, MD, MPH is faculty member in the School of Public Health, in the Division of Community Health and Child Development, who is an expert in the development and treatment of pediatric obesity. She is a pediatrician and research scientist with expertise in the design and evaluation of interventions related to childhood obesity and health disparities in youth. She has collaborated with multiple Departments of Public Health, school districts, healthcare organizations, and other community agencies to design interventions to prevent and treat childhood obesity. Her current work includes: an NIH-funded randomized trial looking at school-based body-mass index screening and reporting; a longitudinal study of the impact of Kaiser's new Thriving Schools initiative; a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation-funded project examining the impact of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation's Healthy Schools Program; and a partnership with Contra Costa Health Services to disseminate their evidence-based Familias Activas y Saludables program.

Curbing Childhood Obesity: A Systems Approach

Abstract: Childhood obesity remains the number one pediatric public health problem in the US, and disparities by race/ethnicity and income are increasing. Emerging evidence suggests that cross-system integration and collaboration will be critical to address the problem of obesity. Dr. Madsen will discuss several research projects aimed at changing systems and environments to reduce obesity, including health care, schools, neighbourhoods and media.

This talk will be held in 3105 Tolman on Monday, March 10 from 12:00-1:30pm.

Feb. 24: Sytske Besemer, "Children of criminal and incarcerated parents: do they commit more crime?"

Children of criminal and incarcerated parents: do they commit more crime?

Sytske Besemer, IHD Post-Doctoral Scholar & Rubicon Fellow

In my book ‘Intergenerational transmission of criminal and violent behaviour’ I review evidence for different mechanisms that might explain why children with criminal parents have a higher risk of committing crime. This work raises some compelling developmental questions: What exactly happens when children grow up in a criminogenic environment – how exactly does this impact their development? Is there some kind of ‘criminal’ social learning taking place? Does a disadvantaged environment impact their development in specific ways? What is the impact of criminal justice sanctions on these children’s development?
During my talk I will discuss some of these questions and the possible mechanisms and will focus on one issue that has emerged as particularly salient: parental incarceration. Specifically, I will discuss our research on whether it matters in which country you grow up and where your parents have been incarcerated to examine the question: do more punitive countries perhaps enhance the intergenerational transmission of crime? This is a vital issue, especially in the US, where 1% of the population is currently incarcerated.
Here is a link to Sytske's book:Intergenerational transmission of criminal and violent behaviour

This talk will be held in 3105 Tolman on Monday, Feb. 24 from 12:00-1:30pm.