Jenny Saffran
Professor
Research Themes: The Communicating Mind and Body
Research Interest: How do children acquire their native language? Our research focuses on the kinds of learning abilities required to master the complexities of language. Three broad issues characterize the research conducted in the Infant Learning Lab. One line of research asks what kinds of learning emerge in infancy. A second line of research probes the biases that shape human learning abilities, and the relationship between these biases and the structure of human languages. A third issue concerns the extent to which the learning abilities underlying this process are specifically tailored for language acquisition. Related research concerns infant music perception, and the relationship between music and language learning. Finally, we investigate the manner in which language learning and language processing unfold in infants and children at risk for language disorders.
Research Interests: Cognitive and Cognitive Neuroscience; Developmental.
