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Cognitive Psychology Program
Developmental Psychology
Program
Personal Website
Life Span Institute
Center for the Behavioral
Neuroscience of Communicative Disorders
Human Subjects Committee, Lawrence
Research Interests
My major research interests are in the development of cognitive
function, particularly lower-order components such as attention
and the interface between visual cognition and higher-order
functions. This interest has generated several different
research programs. One program of work is concerned with the
developmental cognitive neuroscience of attention in
typically-developing infants and toddlers. That work includes
basic research on arousal, spatial orienting, object
recognition, and the emergence of integrated cognition/executive
processes. To do this, we employ behavioral paradigms augmented
with psychophysiological measures, free-play protocols, and
eye-tracking systems. Another line of work seeks to apply
measures of early cognition for the early identification of
infants and children at risk for cognitive/language delays or
psychopathology. A third focus highlights the use of these
measures as short-term outcomes for evaluating the effectiveness
of environmental conditions (e.g., SES, maternal interactive
style) or early interventions (e.g., nutritional supplements).
To conduct these research programs, we maintain laboratory sites
at the University of Kansas Edwards Campus in Overland Park, the
University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, and at the
Wakarusa Research Facility in Lawrence. Our work has been
supported by funds from NIH, NSF, and industry.
Selected Publications
Colombo, J. (2001). The development of visual attention in
infancy. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 337-367.
Colombo, J., Shaddy, D. J., Richman, W. A., Maikranz, J.
M., & Blaga, O. (2004). Developmental course of visual
habituation and preschool cognitive and language outcome.
Infancy, 5, 1-38.
Colombo, J., Kannass, K. N., Shaddy, D. J., Kundurthi,
S., Anderson, C. J., Blaga, O. M., & Carlson, S. E. (2004).
Maternal DHA and the development of attention in infancy and
toddlerhood. Child Development, 75, 1254-1267.
Colombo, J. (2004). Visual attention in infancy: Process
and product in early cognitive development. In M. Posner (Ed.),
Cognitive neuroscience of attention (pp. 329-341). New York:
Guilford Press.
Colombo, J., & Cheatham, C. (2006). The emergence of
endogenous attention in infancy and early childhood. In R. Kail
(Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (pp. 283-322).
New York: Elsevier.
Anderson, C.J., Colombo, J., & Shaddy, D.J. . (2006).
Pupillary responses and visual scanning in children with autism
spectrum disorder. Journal of Clinical and Experimental
Neuropsychology, 28, 1238-1256.
Wainwright, P. & Colombo, J. (2006). Nutrition and the
development of cognitive functions: Interpretation of behavioral
studies in animals and human infants. American Journal of
Clinical Nutrition, 84, 1-10.
Kannass, K.N., & Colombo, J. (2007). The effects of continuous
and intermittent distractors on cognitive performance and
attention in preschoolers. Journal of Cognitive Development, 8,
63-78.
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