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Department of Psychology

John Colombo



John Colombo JOHN COLOMBO
Professor
Graduate Director, Department of Psychology
Member, Cognitive Program
Co-Director, Developmental Program
Associate Director for Cognitive Neuroscience,
Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies
Director, Participant Recruitment Core, Center for the
Behavioral Neuroscience in Communicative Disorders
Faculty Chair, Human Subjects Committee - Lawrence
Ph.D., 1981, State University of New York at Buffalo
colombo@ku.edu

VITA

Related Links
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.