My primary research interests span the areas of social development, behavior genetics, and media. Specifically, I am interested in exploring both the internal (cognitive, genetic, neuropsychological), and external (social, environmental/contextual) mechanisms contributing to individual differences in observational learning and processing of social stimuli, and the interaction of these mechanisms across development.
Some specific areas of interest include:
Examining associations between various modes of early observational learning (spontaneous and elicited imitation/emulation) and how variability in these behaviors relates to broader sociocognitive development.
Identifying aspects of children's environments that may contribute to how efficiently they learn, process, and retain new behaviors and skills, for example contextual influences such as social referencing, social interactions, and methods of framing and presenting new information.
Investigating the relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to individual differences in learning and social cognition, and how these influences change or remain stable across development.
Exploring the varied impacts of screen media on early cognitive and social development and behaviors, design of media products marketed to children, and ways in which media may be employed as an effective tool to facilitate learning.
