Consider the very first moment of your arrival into this world. The room around you is buzzing and booming with human voices—the words of nurses, doctors, and your mother, all commenting on the newcomer. While you cannot decipher a single word, you probably notice that their voices convey sound patterns—much research shows that newborns and even preborn infants in their mother’s uterus track sound patterns. You might recognize that some sounds occur frequently (e.g., p, t), whereas others (e.g., j) are rare, and that sounds follow each other in predictable ways (e.g., blog, but not lbog), just like beads on a necklace. (more…)
The entire Department of Psychology is excited to introduce Derek M. Isaacowitz, Ph.D, our newest faculty member. Derek joins us as an Associate Professor of Psychology in the Social and Personality area, and is director of the Lifespan Emotional Development Lab (LEDlab). 
The Department of Psychology and the College of Science are pleased to co-sponsor “The Human Capacity for Language: Nature, Origins and Use,” an interdisciplinary symposium. Organized by Dr. Iris Berent, the symposium will feature internationally-renowned scholars Simon Fisher, Steven Pinker, and Albert Galaburda. Please join us in the Curry Student Center Ballroom (2nd Floor) on March 30 at 12:30pm. For more information, click 
Dr. David DeSteno spoke at the Coolidge Corner Theatre’s “Science on Screen” program on Monday, February 20th . He discussed the science behind surprising shifts in human morality prior to the screening of Woody Allen’s 1989 comedy-drama Crimes and Misdemeanors. For more information about the his “Science on Screen” talk, click Northeastern Psychology