Spotlight
Summer 2007 Back to Spotlight home page
WOW! The sensation of discovery: faculty research and creativity
By Lauren Shapiro
My training and expertise is in Cognitive Developmental Psychology, specifically children's ability to coordinate various types of knowledge while performing narrative, planning, and memory tasks. One type of research that I do examines how children utilize their knowledge of events (e.g., going to the beach) to integrate linguistic components into coherent make-believe stories (e.g., a princess who lives near the beach) and autobiographical stories (e.g., our family trip to Cape Cod). A second type of research concerns how children translate their knowledge of events into plans for future participation in those activities (e.g., objects to bring and activities to do at the beach).
The third type of research focuses on how knowledge becomes updated with experience (e.g., If we forget our lunch, we can buy it at the boardwalk) and how knowledge supports event memory (i.e., knowing about birthday parties helps you to remember a particular party). I extended this area by establishing the Child Study Team at Emporia State University, which involves both undergraduate and graduate students who examine the role of individual characteristics (e.g., sex, temperament) on
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| A student and child engaging in Shapiro's research |
eyewitness testimony and criminal identification by children and preadolescents (4- to 11-years), adolescents (12- to 15- years), and young adults (ages 18- to 22-years). The research findings have educational applications for aiding teachers' understanding of the development of storytelling and planning abilities, which are crucial for cognitive advancement, as well as judicial applications for understanding memorial limitations of eyewitnesses in describing crimes and criminals. Consequently, they are disseminated in a variety of ways, such as presentations at state and national conferences, publications in journals and books, and workshops for teachers, legal professionals, and psychologists. I have had the opportunity to discuss my research with newspaper, radio, and television reporters. I show videotapes of children participating in research as teaching aids for my cognitive and developmental psychology courses.
The students also act as researchers by collecting information about their own, friend's, and family's earliest memories and recall of their circumstances for 9/11. When we discuss the findings, it helps the students to understand abstract concepts learned in class and how they apply in the real world.
A few of Shapiro's published articles:
- Cohesive Reference Devices in Children's Personal Narratives
- Effects of internal and external supports on preschool children’s event planning
Last Updated April 17, 2008