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At the University of Florida, the study of developmental processes spans infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and aging. Specific domains of change, as well as the timing and direction of developmental changes, are affected by individual differences, biology, and contextual factors. In keeping with this approach, our faculty explore many interwoven research themes related to cognition and language development and social/emotional development. Each faculty member also has other research interests as noted on their individual web pages.
Click each topic below to see details of our research programs:
Family and Contexts of Development
Emotion, Self-Regulation, and Coping
Theory of Mind.
Research under the heading of theory of mind addresses young children’s understanding of the mental world—what they know or believe about thoughts, beliefs, emotions, and other psychological states. Theory of mind is currently one of the most active topics in the study of cognitive development, and it is a focus of both Dr. Farrar’s and Dr. Miller’s research. Dr. Farrar's research explores the contributions of various aspects of language to theory-of-mind development. The research also examines relations between children’s social experience and their theory-of-mind understanding. Dr. Miller’s research examines the different sorts of beliefs and other mental states that children must come to understand. A further focus is on similarities and differences across cultures in theory-of-mind development.
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Executive Functioning.Executive functioning generally refers to an array of higher level cognitive skills that control other more basic processes. These include planning, strategy development, response inhibition, problem solving, and working memory. These skills appear to be among the latest and longest-developing cognitive processes, and among the earliest to show limitations in adult aging. Executive functioning is thought by many to be closely related to theory of mind. Aspects of executive functioning are examined by Dr. Berg, Dr. Marsiske, and Dr. Eyler. Dr. Berg is assessing both the behavioral and physiological aspects of planning and working memory across a wide age span, from preschool and grade school children to adolescents to adults of various ages. His physiological techniques include electrical and functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. Dr. Marsiske studies problem solving across the adult lifespan. Dr. Eyler has explored the effects of prenatal exposure to cocaine on planning.
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Left to Right - Dr. Berg tests Virginia's planning ability using the Tower of London task |
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Language Processes. Research in language processes explores both the acquisition and use of the different dimensions of language, including phonology, semantics, and grammar. Of particular interest is the relation between language and thought in both children and adults. Dr. Farrar's research examines children's acquisition of language, including semantic and grammatical development. A current focus of his research is the role of language in theory of mind development in both typically and atypically developing children. Dr. Abrams' research explores the relationship between memory and language processes in young and older adults. Her research examines language comprehension, language production, and retrieval of orthographic and phonological knowledge.
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Everyday Cognition. Our faculty have a strong focus on everyday cognition beginning in childhood and continuing through late life. Everyday cognition refers to the application of cognitive abilities, such as intelligence or memory, in real-life situations. To capture these phenomena, our faculty investigate cognitive performance using ecologically valid methods. One substantive focus is the examination of autobiographical memory, that is, memory for the events of one’s own life. Dr. Farrar examines how autobiographical memory develops across early childhood, and Dr. Bluck examines how adults recall and make meaning of autobiographical events into old age. Dr. West examines everyday memory, including ways to improve adults' memory skills through strategy training and control over self-regulatory factors such as goal-setting and self-efficacy. Dr. Marsiske examines measurement, intervention approaches, and developmental change in older adults’ everyday reasoning and problem solving. Dr. Graber’s research includes investigation of social problem solving among young adolescents.
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Family and Contexts of Development. Several faculty examine developmental processes in social contexts, in particular, focusing on family interactions and family context. Dr. Graber uses observational and other methods to examine changes in parent-child relationships during childhood and early adolescence as predictors of child and parent adjustment during the transition to adolescence. Dr. Farrar’s social-cognitive studies also employ observational methods to examine how maternal behaviors influence development of language processes and theory of mind. Dr. Kertes examines the effects of parenting behaviors on biological and behavioral responses to stress. Dr. Eyler specializes in family-focused intervention with developmentally at-risk infants and examines the impact of prenatal drug exposure and family context on cognitive and behavioral development across childhood and adolescence. Many of these projects focus on families and the contexts they live in with attention to vulnerable populations (e.g., families in poverty, parental drug use). Dr. Graber is also examining social-emotional development in peer and school contexts, integrating multiple contextual influences as predictors of risk and adaptive behaviors across adolescence.
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Emotion, Self-Regulation, and Coping. Several faculty incorporate elements of emotion, self-regulation, and coping into their research programs, making connections to memory processes in adulthood and aging (Dr. Bluck, Dr. West), and developmental psychopathology in childhood, adolescence, and adulthood (Dr. Graber, Dr. Kertes). Dr. Bluck studies age differences in the emotional qualities of autobiographical memories, and how such memories are used to serve an emotion regulation function. A second line of her research examines how emotional events are recalled (i.e., fade or change) over time. Dr. West's work examines the impact of changing self-efficacy, control beliefs, and possible selves on aging and memory. She also investigates self-regulatory goal setting in relation to memory across adulthood. Dr. Graber's research examines the impact of hormonal changes at puberty, hormonal response to challenge/stress, and coping on the emotional experience of children and young adolescents. Dr. Kertes studies genetic and gene-environment interaction effects on stress-related emotional and health outcomes from childhood through adulthood, including effects on depression, problem behavior, and substance use.
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