| Post: | Lecturer in Psychology (Psychology) |
| Location: | Pevensey 1 1c09 |
| Email: | jessica@sussex.ac.uk |
Telephone numbers | |
| Internal: | 3084 or 3918 |
| UK: | (01273) 873084 or (01273) 873918 |
| International: | +44 1273 873084 or +44 1273 873918 |
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Biography
Sussex University: Psychology Home Page
PhD, Psychology: Developmental Science
------University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA
BA, Philosophy and Psychology, summa cum laude with Distinction, Phi Beta Kappa
------Boston University, Boston, MA
Selected Research Awards
American Psychological Association Dissertation Award in Developmental Psychology
Society for Research in Child Development, Outstanding Dissertation Award
Council of Graduate Schools/University Microfilms International Distinguished Dissertation Award in the Social Sciences
American Psychological Foundation Elizabeth Munsterberg Koppitz Travel Stipend, 2006
Honorable Mention, National Science Foundation, Graduate Research Fellowship, 2002
The Matchette Prize for Excellence in Philosophy, Boston University, 2001
Teaching Awards
Sussex Teaching Award, University of Sussex, 2010
Outstanding Teaching Award, University of Iowa Council on Teaching, 2004
Student Teaching Award, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa, 2004
I'm interested in children's knowledge aquisition and how children learn both cross developmental time and on a moment-by-moment time scale. I believe that understanding cognitive development at these levels requires also understanding the interaction between children's previous experiences and the particulars of the task in which children's knowledge is assessed in a experiment. My research focuses on how smart behavior emerges from the interaction of such previous experience and the specifics of the task at hand. Under this framework, I have studied young children's knowledge in two domains: word learning and categorization. In my view, these two domains are intimately coupled. Nouns name categories of things (e.g., fish and penguins) and categories can help one know which objects can be called by the same name. I study infants and toddlers who are just beginning to learn how to name objects. I use both empirical studies and, more recently, neural network modeling techniques, to understand how children learn about categories and acquire language.
Dynamic Approach to Understanding Child Development
Developmental Psychology: Masters Conversion Course
Developmental Psychology: 2nd Year
Research Skills in Psychology (Tutor)
Student Consultation
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 3:00 - 4:00 in term time or by appointment
McMurray, Bob, Horst, Jessica S and Samuelson, Larissa K (2012) Word learning as the interaction of online referent selection and slow associative learning. Psychological Review, 119 (4). pp. 831-877. ISSN 0033-295X
Horst, Jessica S, Parsons, Kelly L and Bryan, Natasha M (2011) Get the story straight: contextual repetition promotes word learning from storybooks. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, 2 (17). pp. 1-11. ISSN 1664-1078
Horst, Jessica S, Samuelson, Larissa K, Kucker, Sarah C and McMurray, Bob (2011) What's new? children prefer novelty in referent selection. Cognition, 118 (2). pp. 234-244. ISSN 0010-0277
Horst, Jessica S, Scott, Emilly J and Pollard, Jessica A (2010) The role of competition in word learning via referent selection. Developmental Science, 13 (5). pp. 706-713. ISSN 1467-7687
Oakes, Lisa M, Kovack-Lesh, Kristine A and Horst, Jessica S (2009) Two are better than one: Comparison influences infants' visual recognition memory. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 104 (1). pp. 124-131. ISSN 0022-0965
McMurray, Bob, Horst, Jessica S, Toscano, Joseph C and Samuelson, Larissa K (2009) Integrating Connectionist Learning and Dynamic Processing: Case Studies in Speech and Lexical Development. In: Toward a Unified Theory of Development: Connectionism and Dynamic Systems Theory Re-Considered. Oxford Series in Developmental Neuroscience . Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 218-249. ISBN 978-0195300598
Samuelson, Larissa K, Schutte, Anne R and Horst, Jessica S (2009) The Dynamic Nature of Knowledge: Insights From a Dynamic Field Model of Children's Novel Noun Generalizations. Cognition, 110 (3). pp. 322-345. ISSN 0010-0277
Horst, Jessica S, Ellis, Ann E, Samuelson, Larissa K, Trejo, Erika, Worzalla, Samantha L, Peltan, Jessica R and Oakes, Lisa M (2009) Toddlers can adaptively change how they categorize: same objects, same session, two different categorical distinctions. Developmental Science, 12 (1). pp. 96-105. ISSN 1467-7687
Oakes, Lisa M, Horst, Jessica S, Kovack-Lesh, Kristine A and Perone, Sammy (2008) How Infants Learn Categories. In: Learning and the Infant Mind. Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 144-171. ISBN 978-0-19-530115-1
Samuelson, Larissa K, Horst, Jessica S, Schutte, Anne R and Dobbertin, Brandi N (2008) Rigid Thinking About Deformables: Do Children Sometimes over generalize the Shape Bias? Journal of Child Language, 35 (3). pp. 559-589. ISSN 0305-0009
Kovack-Lesh, Kristine A, Horst, Jessica S and Oakes, Lisa M (2008) The Cat is Out of the Bag: Previous Experience and Online Comparison Jointly Influence Infant Categorization. Infancy, 13 (4). pp. 285-307. ISSN 1532-7078
Samuelson, Larissa K and Horst, Jessica S (2008) Confronting complexity: Insights from the details of behavior over multiple timescales. Developmental Science, 11 (2). pp. 209-215. ISSN 1467-7687
Horst, Jessica S and Samuelson, Larissa K (2008) Fast mapping but poor retention in 24-month-old infants. Infancy, 13 (2). pp. 128-157. ISSN 1532-7078
Samuelson, Larissa K and Horst, Jessica (2007) Dynamic noun generalization: Moment-to-moment interactions shape children's naming biases. Infancy, 11 (1). pp. 97-110. ISSN 0278-6133
Samuelson, Larissa K, Horst, Jessica, Dobbertin, Brandi N and Schutte, Anne R (2006) Knowledge, Performance, and Task: Décalage and Dynamics in Young Children's Noun Generalizations. Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
Horst, Jessica, McMurray, Bob and Samuelson, Larissa K (2006) Online processing is essential for learning: Understanding fast mapping and word learning in a dynamic connectionist architecture. Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
Horst, Jessica S, Oakes, Lisa M and Madole, Kelly L (2005) What Does It Look Like and What Can It Do? Category Structure Influences How Infants Categorize. Child Development, 76 (3). pp. 614-631. ISSN 0009-3920