Janette B. Benson, Ph.D.
(303) 871-3771
Jbenson@du.eduDr. Benson's research concerns cognitive development in infancy and early childhood, with a specific focus on spatial cognitive development and the development of temporal knowledge, such as future orientation. Several research projects are in progress. One project, currently funded by the National Science Foundation, attempts to combine an adult model of spatial coding with Piaget's sensorimotor theory of spatial development to provide the best explanation of spatial coding in infancy and toddlerhood. This project assesses how well 1- to 3-year-olds can estimate the location of hidden objects under various experimental conditions that manipulate the presence and absence of spatial cues and movement of the self through space.
Another project examines young children's time concepts and their ability to form temporal representations for common, daily events in past, present, and future time. Because an understanding of time is so dependent upon language skills (e.g., use of past tense or modal auxiliaries), young children often don't mean what they say or say what they mean. A time-line methodology was developed so that young children can demonstrate their representations of the temporal sequence and duration of common, daily activities by placing pictorial representations of these activities along an 8-ft time-line. This methodology can assess children's temporal representations without depending heavily upon their linguistic skills.
A third project focuses on how the development of future-oriented processes during the first four years of life is influenced by parental speech. Using longitudinal data of parental speech to young children available through the Child Language Data Exchange System (CHILDES), we can analyze whether the content of parental speech is primarily future-, present-, or past-oriented and whether it changes as a function of advances in the child's cognitive development during this time period. Ultimately, we hope to show that the early development of future-oriented processes is structured by advances in cognitive development, along with the influence of parental speech and family routines and rituals that help children to form expectations about future events and to mark and understand the passage of time.
Recent Publications:1. Benson, J.B. (1994). The origins of future orientation in the everyday lives of infants and toddlers. In M.M. Haith, J.B. Benson, R.R. Roberts, B.F. Pennington (Eds.), The development of future-oriented processes. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.2. Benson, J. B. (1997). The development of planning: It’s About Time. In S. Friedman and E. Skolnick (Eds.), The developmental psychology of planning. Erlbaum.
3. Haith, M. M., & Benson, J. B. (1998). Infant Cognition. In R. Siegler & D. Kuhn (Vol. Eds). Cognition, Perception, & Language in W. Damon (Series Ed.), Handbook of Child Psychology (fifth edition). NY: Wiley.
4. Wentworth, N., Benson, J.B., & Haith, M.M. (2000). The development of infants' reaches for stationary and moving targets. Child Development, 71, 576-601
5. Benson, J.B., & Kelly, L., M. (in press). “Activity level.” In Neil J. Salkind (Editor in Chief), Child Development: Volume One of the Macmillan Psychology Reference Series. New York: Macmillian Reference USA.
6. Nummedal, S.G., Benson, J.B., & Chew, S.L. (2001). “Disciplinary styles in the scholarship of teaching and learning: A view from psychology. In M.T. Huber & S. Morreale (Eds.) Disciplinary styles in the scholarship of teaching and learning: A conversation. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM IN DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOBIOLOGYDepartment of Psychiatry
University of Colorado Denver
Denver, CO 80262For additional Information E-mail:
Martin.Reite@UCHSC.edu
If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to E-mail:
Linda.Greco-Sanders@UCHSC.edu
