We hope you’ve been having a great week! We are very excited to have our first student seminar next Monday October 29th from 5:30-6:30 in IKB 185. Our very own president, Mary Zhao, will be presenting on some her research involving babies and puppies- what could be better? Here is a short intro about what to look forward to:

Come join us for a student seminar led by Mary Zhao discussing the effects of early exposure to non-human vocalizations (specifically, dog barks) on language development in infants. Understanding social-communicative intent, by following a point or gaze, is a key early milestone in infants. It underlies later joint attention and is often a predictor of subsequent language development. It is currently unclear what boosts early point and gaze understanding, but preliminary research is showing that early exposure to pet dogs supports both. During the seminar, we will be taking a deeper look into how human coevolution with dogs may have changed the way the human brain processes language.