Childhood Cognition Lab

Publications

We are in the news! Read about our research here:

Journal Articles

  • Richert, R. A., & Smith, E. I. (in press). Preschoolers’ quarantining of fantasy stories. Child Development.
  • Richert, R. A., Robb, M., & Smith, E. (2011). Media as social partners: The social nature of young children’s learning from screen media. Child Development, Special Issue: Raising Healthy Children: Translating Child Development Research into Practice. (PDF)
  • Fender, J. G., Richert, R. A., Robb, M. B., & Wartella, E. (2010). Parent teaching focus and toddlers’ learning from an infant DVD. Infant and Child Development, 19 (6), 613 – 627. (PDF)
  • Wartella, E., Richert, R. A., & Robb, M. B. (2010). Babies, television and videos: How did we get here? Developmental Review, 30, 116-127. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A., & Smith, E. I. (2010). The role of religious concepts in the evolution of human cognition. In U. Frey (Ed), The nature of God: Evolution and religion (pp. 93-110). Antwerp, Belgium: Tectum. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A., Robb, M., Fender, J., & Wartella, E. (2010). Word learning from baby videos. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 164(5), 432-437. doi: 10.1001/archpediatrics.2010.24
  • Richert, R. A., Shawber, A., Hoffman, R., & Taylor, M. (2009). Learning from fantasy and real characters in preschool and kindergarten. Journal of Cognition and Development, 10(1-2), 1-26. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A. (2009). Invited review of the book Theory of mind: How children understand others’ thoughts and feelings. American Journal of Play.
  • Richert, R. A., & Smith, E. (2009). Cognitive foundations in the development of a religious mind. In E. Voland & W. Schievenhövel (Eds.), Biological evolution of religious mind and behavior (pp. 181-193). New York: Springer. (PDF)
  • Robb, M., Richert, R., & Wartella, E. (2009). Just a talking book? Word learning from watching baby videos. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 27(1), 27-45. (PDF)
  • Wartella, E., & Richert, R. A. (2009). Special audience, special concerns: Children and the media. In A. G. Bus & S. B. Neuman (Eds.), Multimedia and literacy development: Improving achievement for young learners (pp. 15-27). New York: Taylor & Francis.
  • Harris, P. L., & Richert, R. A. (2008). William James, ‘the world of sense’ and trust in testimony. Mind & Language, 23(5), 536-551. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A., & Harris, P. L. (2008). Dualism revisited: Body vs. mind vs. soul. Journal of Cognition & Culture, 8, 99-115. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A. (2006). The ability to distinguish ritual actions in children. Method & Theory in the Study of Religion, 18, 144-165. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A. (2006). Modes of research: Combining cognitive psychology and anthropology through Whitehouse’s modes of religiosity. In D. J. Slone (Ed.), Religion and cognition: A reader (pp. 337-351). London, UK: Equinox Press.
  • Richert, R. A., & Harris, P. L. (2006). The ghost in my body: Children’s developing concept of the soul. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 6, 409-427. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A., & Barrett, J. L. (2005). Do you see what I see? Young children’s assumptions about God’s perceptual abilities. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 15, 283 - 295. (PDF)
  • Richert, R., & Barrett, J. L. (2005). The child’s god and cognitive development. In E. M. Dowling, & W. G. Scarlett (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Spiritual Development in Childhood and Adolescence (pp. 70 – 72). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • Richert, R. A., Whitehouse, H., & Stewart, E. (2005). Memory and analogical thinking in high-arousal rituals. In H. Whitehouse & R. N. McCauley (Eds.), Mind and Religion: Psychological and Cognitive Foundations of Religiosity (pp. 127 – 145). Walnut Creek, CA: Alta Mira Press. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A., & Lillard, A. S. (2004). Observers’ proficiency at identifying pretense based on behavioral cues. Cognitive Development, 19, 223-240. (PDF)
  • Barrett, J. L., & Richert, R. A. (2003). Anthropomorphism or preparedness? Exploring children’s God concepts. Review of Religious Research, 44, 300-312. (PDF)
  • Barrett, J. L., Newman, R., & Richert, R. A. (2003). When seeing is not believing: Children’s understanding of humans’ and non-humans’ use of background knowledge in interpreting visual displays. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 3, 91-108. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A., & Lillard, A. S. (2002). Children’s understanding of the knowledge prerequisites of drawing and pretending. Developmental Psychology, 38, 1004-1015. (PDF)
  • Richert, R. A. (2001). Review of the book Imagining the impossible: Magical, scientific, and religious thinking in children. Journal of Cognition & Culture, 1(1), 101-103.
  • Barrett, J. L., Richert, R. A., & Dreisenga, A. (2001). God’s beliefs vs. mom’s: The development of natural and non-natural agent concepts. Child Development, 71(1), 50-65. (PDF)

Grants

  • National Science Foundation, IRADS Collaborative Research: Influences of Digital Media on Very Young Children, Grant # 0623821 (Co-PIs: R. A. Richert & E. A. Wartella).

Selected Paper Presentations

  • Robb, M. B. (2008, November). The impact of viewing a Baby Einstein DVD on young children’s receptive and expressive vocabulary. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Dallas, TX.
  • Robb, M. B. (2008, May). Infant DVDs and Word Learning. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL.
  • Richert, R. A., & Smith, E. I. (2008, May). Learning and transfer from television. Paper presented at the 20th annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, Chicago, IL.
  • Richert, R. A. (2007, November). Learning from baby videos. Invited presentation for the featured symposium of The Fred Rogers’ Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at the annual meeting of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, Chicago, IL.
  • Richert, R. A. (2007, March). Methodological Issues in Researching the Development of Religious Concepts. Paper presented at the 4th biennial meeting of the SRCD Preconference on Religious and Spiritual Development, Boston, MA.
  • Richert, R. A. (2006, July). Children’s Changing Belief in Supernatural Causality: The Case of Rituals. Paper presented at the 19th biennial meeting of the International Society for the Study of Behavioral Development, Melbourne, Australia.
  • Richert, R. A. (2004, May). What children learn from Disney: Analogical transfer from fantasy to reality. Invited presentation at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy.
  • Richert, R. A. (2003, November). The influence of a fantasy context on preschoolers’ analogical problem solving. Invited presentation at Trinity University, Dublin, Ireland.
  • Richert, R. A., Barrett, J. L., Knight, N., & Sousa, P. (2003, April). Gods, spirits, and humans: Do preschoolers distinguish religious and non-religious agents? Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, FL.
  • Richert, R. A. (2003, February). Children’s understanding of the knowledge prerequisites of drawing and pretending. Invited presentation at the Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany.
  • Richert, R. A. (2002, March). Children’s openness to religious concepts. Paper presented at the Meeting of the Minds and Gods Conference, Ann Arbor, MI.