UBC Early Development Research Group

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UBC Early Development Research Group

The Early Development Research Group (EDRG) is made of seven research centres in UBC’s Department of Psychology studying development in children and infants.

04/14/2026

An important social skill that we use throughout our days is the ability to recognize voices just by hearing them and who those voices might belong to. From a very early age, humans are surprisingly capable at recognizing familiar voices, yet less is known about how well infants and kids can discern unfamiliar voices just through sound alone.

This study from researchers at the EDRG's Infant Studies Centre seeks to understand how infants' vocal recognition might develop as they age! 🗣🤔💡

04/10/2026

Fun Fact Friday!

💬 Did you know that when children are learning to read and write, completing tasks by handwriting may lead to better learning outcomes compared to typing?

📖 Reading skills are crucial for children's linguistic and cognitive development - moreover, high self-esteem may be correlated with children's reading proficiency.

👶 Research suggests that hand copying and tracing words leads to higher accuracy of identifying and learning words compared to typing.

✨ While incorporating digital devices into reading and writing practice is a great tool, don't forget about simple pen and paper!

Text adapted from Science Direct

04/08/2026

🧠 Dr. Janet Werker and Dr. Andrew Baron, along with researchers at the University of British Columbia, explored how infants link language with social cues like ethnicity early in development.

👶 In these studies, 6- and 11-month-old infants were shown faces of different ethnicities while hearing either familiar (English) or unfamiliar languages (like Cantonese and Spanish).

📊 Results showed that by 11 months, infants looked more toward Asian faces when hearing Cantonese, but not when hearing another unfamiliar language like Spanish. This suggests infants are learning specific language-ethnicity associations from their everyday environments, rather than making broad assumptions.

✨ Together, these findings highlight how early experiences shape the way infants begin to understand the social world before they can even speak.

Text adapted from May, Baron, & Werker, Developmental Science.

04/07/2026

Meet Beverley!

She graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Commerce in Finance and Accounting. After working in finance, she returned to UBC to study psychology and will be starting an MA in Counselling Psychology this fall. 🎓📚

She recently joined the EDRG as a research assistant at our main office, where she is excited to explore her interests in how babies learn about and understand the world around them. 👶🧠

In her free time, Beverley enjoys spending time with her cat (Izzy) and trying new cafés. She is currently on the hunt for Vancouver’s best matcha spot! 🐈🍵

04/03/2026

Fun Fact Friday!

💬Did you know that young children's confidence level may not change based on the domain in which they are working?

🗣️Recent studies show that young children's confidence in their decision making capabilities may often not vary when dealing with different types of information.

👶 For example, confidence when making numerical decisions is often similar to confidence discriminating emotion, even if skill levels vary.

✨ Adults tend to have domain-general senses of confidence, interesting to see it begins developing in children as young as 6 years old!

Text adapted from UBC Psychology

04/01/2026

🧠 Dr. Lauren Emberson and researchers at the Baby Learning Lab explored how children decide what a new word means when learning language.

🐡 In these studies, children and adults were shown either typical examples (like a common dog) or atypical ones (like a blowfish) and taught a new word for them.

📊 Findings showed that when a word was paired with an unusual or atypical example, learners were more likely to interpret it narrowly (e.g., “blowfish” instead of “fish”), even if they knew it belonged to a broader category.

✨ Together, these results suggest that word learning isn’t just about frequency or repetition—the type of example matters, and unusual examples push both children and adults toward more specific meanings.

Text adapted from Emberson et al., Journal of Child Language.

03/31/2026

It's incredibly common for people to refer to objects by the name of the brand that makes them, but where does this vocal habit come from, and how do we go about distinguishing a brand name from an object name?

New research from the EDRG's Language Development Centre investigates the conditions around which we learn how to label different objects and items! 🔖💭💡
(Text adapted from the 2026 EDRG Newsletter)

03/30/2026

📚 Research shows that play is essential for healthy child development because it supports children's cognitive, physical, emotional, and social growth while also strengthening parent-child relationships.

Key Insights
🔍 Child-driven, unstructured play helps children build creativity, confidence, problem-solving, and social skills, like sharing, negotiating, and decision-making.

🧸 When adults join play in a supportive rather than controlling way, children benefit more; overly adult-directed play can reduce creativity and leadership development.

💡 Play helps children express emotions, manage stress, and build resilience. It also creates opportunities for parents to better understand their child’s thoughts, feelings, and experiences.

🏠 Free play and unscheduled time are increasingly limited due to busy schedules, academics, and structured activities, yet even small moments of child-led play can support healthy development and stronger family bonds.

Takeaway
✨ Protecting time for child-led play helps children thrive emotionally, socially, and cognitively while creating meaningful opportunities for parent-child connection.

Text adapted from "The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds" by Ginsburg et al. in the American Academy of Pediatrics journal.

Link to the article:
https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/119/1/182/70699/The-Importance-of-Play-in-Promoting-Healthy-Child

03/27/2026

Fun Fact Friday!

💬Did you know that the environment in which a child lives, plays, and learns affects the manner in which their brain develops?

🗣️ Social skill development may be improved when exposed to social environments full of responsive relationships, community support, and socialization.

👶 Research suggests that children's developing biological systems may be responsive to built and natural environmental factors such as safe green spaces, safe temperature, healthy housing, and neighbourhood infrastructure.

✨ Systemic environmental factors such as access to quality childcare and education, structural inequalities, and healthcare system functionality may also affect child development.

Text adapted from Harvard Center for the Developing Child

03/25/2026

🧠 Dr. Darko Odic and researchers at The Centre for Cognitive Development studied how young children connect number words (like “seven”) with their intuitive sense of approximate quantity.

👶 Children ages 2–5 years played games where they either estimated how many items they saw (like quickly flashed dots) or produced a number of taps after hearing a number word.

📊 Results showed that children could produce approximate quantities after hearing a number word earlier than they could translate a visual quantity into a number word.

✨ These findings suggest that children first learn to connect number words to approximate quantities, and only later learn to map quantities back to specific number words.

Text adapted from Odic et al., Cognition.

03/23/2026

📚 Research shows that babies learn to walk, talk, and use objects from three sources: themselves, other people, and their environment. Caregivers can help facilitate this learning!

Key Insights
🎓 Babies learn about the world and how to interact with it by moving, babbling, and grabbing objects.

🔍 Caregivers can help babies learn words for their actions by discussing what their baby is doing, like naming their actions ("jump") or objects they grab ("car").

📖 Babies tend to play for a longer time and in more complex ways when caregivers join them!

💬 Responding to a baby’s vocalizations helps them refine their babbles to imitate real speech and learn the basics of communication.

🏠 Create a learning environment by providing various safe objects and toys that babies can figure out how to use, exploring new spaces like playgrounds that babies can adapt their movements to, and using daily tasks as language learning opportunities.

Takeaway
✨ Caregivers can help facilitate their baby’s learning process by engaging in their learning and giving them the right opportunities.

Text adapted from the Child and Family Blog

Link to the article:
https://childandfamilyblog.com/busy-bodies-busy-minds/

03/20/2026

💬 Did you know that preschoolers may already understand what it feels like to be left out when others don’t share?

🧠 Research suggests that 3-year-olds can anticipate how another child might feel when excluded and may adjust their own behavior in response.

👶 Children who have a greater awareness about how it feels to be left out tend to be more generous when given the chance to share with others.

💔 Findings also suggest that avoiding another child’s disappointment may motivate sharing more strongly than wanting to make someone happy, highlighting the importance of empathy in early development.

✨ Even at three years old, children may begin to share because they understand how others feel when left out.

Text adapted from Science Daily

Address

2136 West Mall
Vancouver, BC
V6T1Z4

Telephone

+16048229540

Website

https://edrg.psych.ubc.ca/typical-visit/sign-up-online/

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