Developmental
Cognitive Science Laboratory
John E. Opfer, Ph. D.
Concepts and Learning
At times, young children express bizarre beliefs that can take many years for them to overcome, such as the notion that plants are not alive, that styrofoam doesn't weigh anything at all, or that a cow can be an hour long. Where are children going wrong? Do they need to change their minds about life, weight, and time, or do they need to learn something specific about plants, styrofoam, and cows? This is one of the questions raised by the phenomenon of conceptual change.
Because our concepts play such a large role in shaping how we think, feel and behave, understanding how concepts change is an important issue in cognitive and developmental psychology, and it motivates the work we do at the Developmental Cognitive Science Lab.
About the Laboratory
Current work in the lab investigates change processes across several families of concepts, including concepts in biology and number, and their role in higher cognition (see Projects). Reports of our findings can be viewed under Publications, and you can find out about the great People who do all this work. If you would like to get involved in our research, we'd love to have you Participate, but make sure you get Directions so you can find us.