Amy E. Booth
Professor of Psychology and Human Development
My research focuses on cognitive development and learning in young children. In much of my work, I have specifically explored interactions between categorization, conceptual knowledge and word learning in infants and preschoolers. With the support of a grant from the National Science Foundation, I am currently investigating the relationship between children’s early word-learning skills and their subsequent vocabulary knowledge and early literacy. In another line of work, also supported by the National Science Foundation, I am investigating the origins of children’s scientific literacy by examining early interests in, and ability to reason about, causal information. The long-term goals of both projects are to develop early interventions to close persistent achievement gaps and to optimize academic success for all children in both language and science.
Representative Publications
- Bauer, J., McGroarty-Torres, K. & Booth, A. E. (2016). Causally-rich group play: A powerful context for building preschoolers’ vocabulary. Frontiers in Psychology: Developmental Psychology, 7: 997. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00997. PMC4925663.
- Alvarez, A. & Booth, A. (2016). Exploring individual differences in preschoolers’ causal stance. Developmental Psychology, 52(3), 411-422. DOI: 10.1037/dev0000085
- Alvarez, A. & Booth, A. (2015). Preschoolers prefer to learn causal information. Frontiers in Psychology: Developmental Psychology, 6(60). DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00060. PMC4327508.
- Booth, A. (2015). Effects of causal information on early word learning: Efficiency and Longevity. Journal of Cognitive Development, 33, 99-107. DOI: 10:1016/j.cogdev.2014.05.001.
- Booth, A. & Alvarez, A. (2015). Developmental changes in causal supports for early word learning. Language Learning and Development, 11,(1), 80-92. DOI: 10.1080/15475441.2014.888900
- Booth, A. (2014). Conceptually coherent categories support name-based inductive inference in preschoolers. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 123, 1-14. DOI:10.1016/j.jecp10.1016/j.jecp.2014.01.007
- Alvarez, A.L.* & Booth, A.E. (2014). Motivated by meaning: Testing the effect of knowledge-infused rewards on preschoolers’ persistence. Child Development, 85(2), 783-791. DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12151