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Dick and Lydia Todd Professor Cognitive Science Department Chair		Barbara Landau
			Research Interests
			Language and Cognition Lab
			Biographical Information
			Selected Publications
			Courses
			Contact Information
			Complete Vita
	landau@cogsci.jhu.edu Phone: 410-516-5255 Office: Krieger 241A

Research Interests

My work focuses on language learning, spatial representation, and the relationships between these foundational systems of human knowledge.

Central questions:

  What are the semantic and syntactic representations that guide language learning?

  What is the nature of our representations of space-- in particular, objects and locations?

  How are these spatial representations recruited during the process of language learning?

  Are linguistic representations "special," separate from non-linguistic representations?

Specific areas of research:

The representation and acquisition of object names ( for everyday objects as well as"natural kinds")

  The representation and acquisition of verbs' semantic and syntactic structure

The representation and acquisition of spatial terms

The relationships between spatial language and spatial cognition

Groups we study include:

  Normally developing children and adults learning English

  Normally developing children and adults learning languages other than English

  Neurologically impaired individuals, who show disruption of normal space-language relationships -- specifically, children and adults with Williams Syndrome
 

 Methods we use include:

  Formal linguistic analyses

 Traditional experimental and developmental methods

  Eye-tracking (in collaboration with Professor James Hoffman)

  Event-related potentials (in collaboration with Professor James Hoffman)

We currentlyhave two eye trackers. One is a head-mounted eye-tracker which can be used to examine visual fixations of young children and adults as they carry out spatial tasks (such as constructing spatial patterns, above) and linguistic tasks (such as following directions to place objects in specific locations.) The second eye tracker does not require any head mount, so allows the viewer to freely move his or her head as he/she explores the world.

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Language and Cognition Lab

Please see our lab web page

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Biographical Information

Education

 Ph.D. Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, 1982

 Ed.M  Educational Psychology, Rutgers University, 1977

 B.A.  Sociology, University of Pennsylvania, 1970
 

Positions Held

2006-present Chair, Department of Cognitive Science

2003 Acting chair, Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University

2001- present   Dick and Lydia Todd Professor, Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University

1997-    Professor, Psychology and Linguistics
             Director, Cognitive Science Program, University of Delaware

 1995- 1997   Associate - Full Professor, Psychology and Linguistics, University of Delaware

 1990- 1996    Associate- Full Professor of Psychology, University of California, Irvine

 1992- 1993   Visiting Scientist, University of Pennsylvania
                     Institute for Research in Cognitive Science

 1983- 1991   Assistant- Associate Professor of Psychology, Columbia University

 1983    Visiting Instructor of Psychology, Princeton University

 1982- 1983   Sloan Post-Doctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania
 

Special Committies

2006-2009 Board of Scientific Advisors, American Psychological Association

2000 External Review Committee, Cognitive Science Program, University of Virginia
          National Science Foundation Site Visit Team, Science and Technology Center, Carnegie-Mellon and University of Pittsburgh

1999 National Science Foundation Committee of Visitors: Cogntive, Linguistic, and Psychological Cluster

Awards, Honors

 20006 Fellow, Cognitive Science Society

2005 Master Lecture Series, University of Arizona
          Keynote, Conference on Spatial Information Theory (COSIT -5), Buffalo, NY.
          Horizons of Knowledge Lecture, Indiana University

2004 Lecture, Inauguration for Centre for Human Communication, University College, London

2001 Fellow, American Psychological Society

 1999 Fellow, American Psychological Association

1997 European Society of Philosophy and Psychology, Plenary Session, Milan, Italy.

 1992 Keynote Address, Stanford Child Language Forum.  Stanford University.

 1990 Boyd McCandless Young Scientist Award, American Psychological Association

1987 Plenary Session Address, 17th Annual Symposium of the Jean Piaget Society, Philadelphia.
 

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Selected Publications
 

A. On Williams Syndrome (clickable link)

B. On Language Learning and Cognition:

Landau, B., Hoffman, J.E., Reiss, J.E., Dilks, D., Lakusta, L., and Chunyo, G. (2005). Specialization, breakdown, and sparing in spatial cognition: Lessons from Williams syndrome. In C. Morris, H. Lenhoff, & P. Wang (Eds.), Williams-Beuren syndrome: Research and Clinical Perspectives. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.

Lakusta, L. and Landau, B. (2005) Starting at the end: The importance of goals in spatial language. Cognition. 96 (1) 1-33.

Landau, B. and Hoffman, J.E. (2005) Parallels between spatial cognition and spatial language: Evidence from Williams syndrome. Journal of Memory and Language. 53 (2) 163-185.

Munnich, E. & Landau, B. (2003) The effect of spatial language on spatial representations: Setting some boundaries. In D. Gentner. & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.) Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B. (2002) Early experience and cognitive organization. In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. Nature Publishing Group, England: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Munnich, E., Landau, B., & Dosher, B. (2001) Spatial language and spatial representation: A cross-llinguistic comparison. Cognition, 81, 171-207.

Landau, B.  (2000)  Language and space.  In B. Landau, J. Sabini, J. Jonides, and E.   Newport (Eds.), Perception, cognition, and language:  Essays in honor of Henry and Lila Gleitman.  Cambridge, Mass:  MIT Press.

Wright, C. E., & Landau, B. (1998). Language and Action: Current challenges to cognitive theory. In  J. Hochberg & J. E. Cutting (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition. Perception and cognition at century's end: History, philosophy, theory. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

Landau, B.  (1998) Nativist perspectives on the acquisition of knowledge.  In   W. Bechtel & G. Graham (Eds.), A companion to cognitive science.  Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Gleitman, L. R., & Landau, B. (Eds.) (1994). Acquisition of the lexicon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B. (1986) Early map use as an unlearned ability. Cognition, 22, 201-223.

Landau, B., & Gleitman, L. R. (1985). Language and experience: Evidence from the blind child.  Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Landau, B., Spelke, E. & Gleitman, H. (1984) Spatial knowledge in a yong blind child. Cognition, 16, 225-160.

Landau, B., Gleitman, H. & Spelke, E. (1981) Spatial knowledge and geometric represnetation in a child blind from birth. Science, 213, 1275-1278.

C. On the Acquisition and Representation of Nouns and Verbs:

Landau, B. (2003) Perceptual units and their mapping with language: How children can (or can't?) use perception to learn words. In D.G. Hall and S. Waxman (Eds.), Weaving a lexicon. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Nicol, T., Landau, B., and Resnik, P. (2003) The role of object typicality in children's acquisition of the implicit object construction. Poster, Boston University Conference on Language Development, November, Boston, MA.

Smith, L.B., Jones, S.S., Landau, B., Gershkoff-Stowe, L., & Samuelson, L. (2002) Object name learning provides on-the-job training for attention. Psychological Science. 13(1), 13-19.

Landau, B. (2001) Perceptual units and their mapping with language. In T. F. Shipley and P. Kellman (Eds.) From fragments to objects: Segmentation and grouping in vision. Advances in Psychology Series, Elsevier Publishing.

Landau, B. & Shipley, E. (2001) Labelling patterns and object naming. Developmental Science, 4(1), 109-118.

Landau, B. and Leyton, M. (1999) Perception, object kind, and object naming.  Spatial Cognition and Computation.

Landau, B., Smith, L., & Jones, S. (1998)  Object perception and object naming in early   development.  Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(1), 19 24.

Landau, B., Smith, L., & Jones, S. (1997) Object shape, object function, and object name. Journal of Memory and Language, 36(1): 1-27.

Smith, L., Jones, S., & Landau, B. (1996). Naming in young children: A dumb attentional mechanism? Cognition, 60(2), 143-171.

Landau, B. (1994). Object shape, object name, and object kind: Representation and development. In D. L. Medin (Ed.), The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 31. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Landau, B. (1994). Where's what and what's where? The language of objects in space. In L. R. Gleitman & B. Landau (Eds.), Acquisition of the lexicon. Special Issue, Lingua, 92, 259-296. Reprinted by Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B., Jones, S., & Landau, B. (1992). Perception, ontology, and naming in young children: Commentary on Soja, Carey, & Spelke. Cognition, 43, 85-91

Landau, B., Smith, L., & Jones, S. (1992). Syntactic context and the shape bias in children's and adults' lexical learning. Journal of Memory and Language, 31.

Landau, B. & Stecker, D. (1990). Objects and places: Geometric and syntactic representation in early lexical learning. Cognitive Development, 5, 287-312.

Landau, B., Smith, L. B., & Jones, S. (1988). The importance of shape in early lexical learning. Cognitive Development, 3, 299-321.

D. On the Acquisition and Representation of Spatial Terms:

Munnich, E.,, Landau, B., & Dosher, B. (2001) Spatial language and spatial representation: A cross-linguistic comparison. Cognition, 81, 171-207.

Lakusta, L. and Landau, B. (2005) Starting at the end: The importance of goals in spatial language. Cognition. 96 (1), 1-33.

Landau, B. and Hoffman, J.E. (2005) Parallels between spatial cognition and spatial language: Evidence from Williams syndrome. Journal of Memory and Language. 53 (2) 163-185.

Kim, M., Landau, B., & Phillips, C. (1999)  Cross-linguistic differences in children's syntax for locative verbs. In A. Stringfellow (Ed.),  Proceedings of the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Vol. 23.  Brookline, Mass: Cascadilla Press

Landau, B. (1996). Multiple geometric representations of objects in languages and language learners. In P. Bloom, M. Peterson, L. Nadel, & M. Garrett (Eds.), Language and
space. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B., & Jackendoff, R. (1993). "What" and "where" in spatial language and spatial cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16(2), 217-238, 255-265.

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Courses

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Contact Information

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