Contact Information
Email
Lab Website
(615) 322-8380
217B Hobbs Building
Research Area
Education
PhD, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1992
Curriculum Vitae
Current Courses
Psy 1500 Cognitive Aspects of Human Development
Psy 2250 Infancy
Psy 360 Developmental Psychology
Advising
Amy Needham
Professor of Psychology and Human Development;
Member, Vanderbilt Kennedy Center
Amy Needham studies questions in perceptual, motor and cognitive development during infancy. Her ongoing projects ask how feedback about the consequences of their actions could entice infants to start reaching, the instrumental use of objects and tools in infancy, and object segregation in infancy. Her overarching goals are to understand the contributions of perceptual-motor learning on cognitive development during the first two years of life.
Previous Position
- Associate Professor, Duke University
Representative Publications
- Libertus, K., Gibson, J.N., Hidayatallah, N.Z., Hirtle, J.A.T., Adcock, R.A., & Needham, A. (in press). Size matters: How age and reaching experiences shape infants' preference for different sized objects. Infant Behavior and Development.
- Libertus, K., & Needham, A. (2011). Reaching experiences increase face preference in 3-month-old infants. Developmental Science, 14, 1255-1486.
- Kaufman, J., & Needham, A. (2011). Spatial expectations of young human infants following passive movement. Developmental Psychobiology, 53, 23-36.
- Greif, M.L., & Needham, A. (2011). The development of human tool use early in life. In T. McCormack (ed.) Tool use and causal cognition (pp. 51-68). Oxford University Press.
- Needham, A., & Libertus, K., (2011). Embodiment in Early Development. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 2, 117-123.
- Libertus, K., Needham, A. (2010). Teach to Reach: The Effects of Active Versus Passive Reaching Experiences on Action and Perception. Vision Research, 50(24), 2750-2757.
- Kaufman, J., & Needham, A. (2010). The role of surface discontinuity and shape in 4-month-old infants’ object segregation. Visual Cognition, 18, 751-766.
- Needham, A. (2009). Learning in infants’ object perception, object-directed action, and tool use. In A. Needham & A. Woodward (Eds.) Learning and the Infant Mind. (pp. 208-226). Oxford University Press.
- Barrett, T., & Needham, A. (2008). Developmental differences in infants’ use of an object’s shape to grasp it securely. Developmental Psychobiology, 50, 97-106.
- Barrett, T. M., Traupman, E., & Needham, A. (2008). Infants’ visual anticipation of object structure in grasp planning. Infant Behavior and Development, 31, 1-9.
- Fitzpatrick, P., Needham, A., Natale, L., & Metta, G. (2008). Shared challenges in object perception for robots and infants. Infant and Child Development, 17, 7-24.
- Barrett, T.M., Davis, E.F., & Needham, A. (2007). Learning about tools in infancy. Developmental Psychology, 43(2), 352-368.
- Needham, A., Cantlon, J.F., & Ormsbee Holley, S.M. (2006). Infants' use of category knowledge and object attributes when segregating objects at 8.5 months of age. Cognitive Psychology, 53, 345-360.
- Sommerville, J.A., Woodward, A.L., & Needham, A. (2005). Action experience alters 3-month-old infants' perception of others' actions. Cognition, 96, B1-B11.
- Needham, A., Dueker, G.L., & Lockhead, G. (2005). Infants' formation and use of categories to segregate objects. Cognition, 94, 215-240.
- Dueker, G.L., & Needham, A. (2005). Infants' object category formation and use: Real-world context effects on cateory use in object processing. Visual Cognition, 12, 1177-1198.
- Needham, A., & Ormsbee, S.M. (2003). The Development of Object Segregation During the First Year of Life." Preceptual Organization in Vision: Behavioral and Neural Perspectives. Ed. R. Kimchi, M. Behrmann, and C. Olson Carngie Symposium on Cognition. Mahwah, New Jersey. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. 205-232.
- Dueker, G., Modi, A., & Needham, A. (2003). 4.5-month-old infants learning, retention, and use of object boundary information. Infant Behavior and Development, 26(4), 588-605.
- Needham, A., Barrett, T., & Peterman, K. (2002). A Pick-Me-Up for Infants' Exploratory Skills: Early Stimulated Experiences Reaching for Objects Using 'Sticky Mittens' Enhances Young Infrants' Object Exploration Skills. Infant Behavior and Development, 25, 279-295.
- Needham, A. (2001). Object Recognition and Object Segregation in 4.5-Month-Old Infants. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 78, 3-24.
- Huettel, S.A., & Needham, A. (2000). Effects of Balance Relations Between Objects on Infants' Object Segregation. Developmental Science, 3, 415-427.
- Needham, A. (2000). Improvements in Object Exploration Skills May Facilitate the Development of Object Segregation in Early Infancy. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1, 131-156.
- Needham, A. (1999). The Role of Shape in 4-Month-Old Infants' Segregation of Adjacent Objects. Infant Behavior and Development, 22, 161-178.
- Needham, A. (1999). How Infants Grasp Two Adjacent Objects: Effects of Perceived Display Composition on Infants' Actions. Developmental Science, 2, 219-233.
- Needham, A. (1998). Infants' use of featural information in the segreation of stationary objects. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 47-76.
- Needham, A., & Baillargeon, R. (1998). Effects of prior experience in 4.5-month-old infants' object segregation. Infant Behavior and Development, 21, 1-24.