Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20090104004408/http://www.wjh.harvard.edu:80/~lds/spelke.html
Elizabeth S. Spelke
Department of Psychology
Harvard University
33 Kirkland St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone: 617-495-3876
Fax: 617-384-7944 spelke@wjh.harvard.edu
Radcliffe College, 1967-1971. B.A. in Social Relations, 1971.
Yale University, 1972-1973.
Cornell University, 1973-1977. Ph.D. in Psychology, 1978.
HONORS:
Phi Beta Kappa, 1971; Sigma Xi, 1978; Fulbright-Hays Senior Research Fellowship, 1983;
Boyd McCandless Young Scientist Research Award, 1984; John Simon Guggenheim
Memorial Fellowship, 1989; James McKeen Cattell Fellowship, 1992; Society of Experimental
Psychologists, 1993; D. Phil. honoris causa, Umeå University, Sweden, 1993; NIH MERIT
award, 1993; American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1997; National Academy of Sciences,
1999; D. Phil. honoris causa, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris, France, 1999; William James
Award, Americal Psychological Society, 2000; Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, American
Psychological Association, 2000; Ipsen Prize in Neuronal Plasticity, 2001; America's Best in Science and
Medicine, Time Magazine, 2001; Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2002; Alumni
Award, New Canaan Country School, 2007; D.Phil. honoris causa, University of
Paris-Descartes, 2007; Jean Nicod Prize, 2008.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
Shutts, K., Kinzler, K.D., McKee, C.B., & Spelke, E.S. (in press).
Social information guides infants' selection of foods.
Journal of Cognition and Development.
Kinzler, K. D., Shutts, K., De Jesus, J., & Spelke, E. S. (in press).
Accent trumps race in guiding children's social preferences. Social
Cognition.
Hyde, D.C. & Spelke, E.S. (in press). All numbers are not equal: An
electrophysiological investigation of small and large number
representations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.
Shutts, K., Markson, L., & Spelke, E.S. (in press). The developmental
origins of animal and artifact concepts. In B. Hood & L. Santos (Eds.),
The Origins of Object Knowledge. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Spelke, E. S. & Kinzler, K. D. (in press). Innateness, learning and
rationality. Cognitive Development Perspectives.
Lee, S. A., & Spelke, E. S. (in press). Children's use of geometry for
reorientation. Developmental Science.
Spelke, E.S., Ellison, K. (in press) Gender, math and science. Women &
Science. Washington, DC: AEI Publications.
Barth, H., Beckmann, L. & Spelke, E. S. (in press). Nonsymbolic
approximate arithmetic in children: Abstract
addition prior to instruction. Developmental Psychology.
Dehaene, S., Izard, V., Spelke, E.S., Pica, P. (2008). Log or linear?
Distinct intuitions of the number scale in Western and Amazonian
cultures. Science. 320, 5880, 1217-1220.
Condry, K. F., & Spelke, E. S. (2008). The development of language and abstract concepts: The case of natural
number. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 137(1), 22-38.
Spelke, E. S., & Grace, A. D. (2006).
Abilities, motives, and personal styles: Reply to Ackerman, Dai & Gridley. American
Psychologist, 17, 725-726.
Spelke, E. S., & Grace, A. D. (2006). Sex, math, and science. In S. Ceci & W. Williams (Eds.),
Why aren't more women in science? Top gender researchers debate the evidence,
Washington, DC: APA Publications.
Shusterman, A., & Spelke, E. S. (2005). Language and the development of spatial
reasoning. In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence, & S. Stich (Eds.), The innate mind:
Structure and contents, New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 89-106.
Spelke, E. S. (2005).
Sex differences in intrinsic aptitude for mathematics and science:
A critical review. American Psychologist, 60, 950-958.
Wood, J. N., & Spelke, E. S.
(2005). Infants' enumeration of actions: Numerical discrimination and its
signature limits. Developmental Science, 8(2), 173-181.
Feigenson, L., Dehaene, S., & Spelke, E. S. (2004). Origins and endpoints of the
core systems of number: Reply to Fias and Verguts. Trends in Cognitive
Sciences, 8, 448-449.
Hauser, M. D., & Spelke, E. S. (2004).
Evolutionary and developmental foundations of human knowledge:
A case study of mathematics. In M. Gazzaniga (Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences,
Vol. 3. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Hauser, M. D., Tsao, F., Garcia, P., & Spelke, E. S. (2003). Evolutionary foundations of
number: spontaneous representation of numerical magnitudes by cotton-top
tamarins. Proceedings of the Royal Society, London, B 270: 1441-1446.
Spelke, E. S. (2003). Developing knowledge of space: Core systems and new
combinations. In S. M. Kosslyn & A. Galaburda (Eds.), Languages of the
Brain. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ.
Press.
Spelke, E. S. (2003). Gibson's work 'an extended reply to Helmholtz.' American
Psychological Society observer, 16(4).
Spelke, E. S. (2003). What makes us smart? Core
knowledge and natural language. In D. Gentner and S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.),
Language in Mind: Advances in the Investigation of Language and
Thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Spelke, E. S. (2003). Core knowledge. In N. Kanwisher & J. Duncan (Eds.)
Attention and Performance, vol. 20: Functional neuroimaging of visual cognition.
Oxford University Press.
Wang, R. F., & Spelke, E. S. (2003). Comparative approaches to human navigation. In K. Jeffrey
(Ed.), The Neurobiology of Spatial Behavior. Oxford University Press.
Santos, L. R., Hauser, M. D., & Spelke, E. S. (2002). Domain-specific
knowledge in human children and non-human primates: Artifact and food kinds. In
M. Bekoff (Ed.), The Cognitive Animal. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Spelke, E. S. (2002). Developmental
neuroimaging: A developmental psychologist looks ahead. Developmental
Science, 5(3), 392-396.
Spelke, E. S., & Hespos, S. J. (2002). Conceptual development in infancy:
The case of containment. In N. L. Stein, P. J. Bauer, & M. Rabinowitch
(Eds.), Representation, Memory, and Development: Essays in honor of Jean
Mandler. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spelke, E. S., & Hespos, S. J. (2001). Continuity, competence, and the
object concept. In E. Dupoux (Ed.), Language, brain, and
cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jacques Mehler (pp. 325-340). Cambridge,
MA: Bradford/MIT Press.
Spelke, E. S., & Tsivkin, S. (2001).
Initial knowledge and conceptual change: Space and number. In M. Bowerman &
S. Levinson (Eds.), Language acquisition and conceptual development. Cambridge,
UK: Cambridge University Press.
Condry, K. F., Smith, W. C., & Spelke, E. S. (2000). Development of
perceptual organization. In F. Lacerda & M. Heiman (Eds.), Emerging Cognitive
Abilities in Early Infancy.
Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spelke, E. S. (2000). Perceptual development is an intrinsic process. In R. Atkinson et al
(Eds.), Hilgard's Introduction to Psychology, p. 186. Ft. Worth, TX: Harcourt
College Publishers. (Reprinted in Smith, Bem, and Nolen-Hoeksema
(Eds.), Fundamentals of Psychology, p. 150. Ft. Worth, TX: Harcourt College Publishers.)
Kim, I. K., & Spelke, E. S. (1999).
Perception and understanding of effects of gravity and inertia on object
motion. Developmental Science, 2(3), 339-362.
Spelke, E. S. (1999). Infant cognition. In R.A. Wilson and F. Keil (Eds.), The MIT
Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Spelke, E. S. (1999). Innateness, learning, and the development of object
representation. Developmental Science, 2, 145-148.
Spelke, E. S. (1999). Unity and diversity in knowledge. In E. Winograd, R. Fivush & W. Hirst
(Eds.), Ecological approaches to cognition: Essays in honor of Ulric Neisser.
Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spelke, E. S. (1998). Nativism, empiricism,
and the origins of knowledge. Infant Behavior and Development, 21(2), 181-200.
Spelke, E. S. (1998). Nature, nurture, and development. In J. Hochberg and J.
E. Cutting (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition, 2nd ed: Perception
and cognition at century's end. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Spelke, E. S., & Newport, E. (1998). Nativism, empiricism, and the
development of knowledge. In R. Lerner (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology,
5th ed., Vol. 1: Theoretical models of human development. NY: Wiley.
Spelke, E. S., & Hermer, L. (1996). Early cognitive development: Objects and space. In R. Gelman &
T. Au (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition, Vol. 1: Perceptual and cognitive
development. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Hermer, L., & Spelke, E. S. (1995). L'Homme raisonne-t-il mieux que les
animaux? La Recherche, 26, 78-79.
Spelke, E. S., Gutheil, G., & Van de Walle, G. (1995). The development of
object perception. In D. Osherson (Ed.), Invitation to cognitive science,
2nd ed., Vol. 2: Visual cognition. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Spelke, E. S., Kestenbaum, R., Simons, D., & Wein, D. (1995). Spatiotemporal
continuity, smoothness of motion and object identity in infancy. The British
Journal of Developmental Psychology, 13, 113-142.
Spelke, E. S., Phillips, A. T., & Woodward, A. L. (1995). Infants'
knowledge of object motion and human action. In D. Sperber, D. Premack, A.
Premack, & (Eds.), Causal cognition: A multidisciplinary debate. Oxford University Press.
Spelke, E. S., Vishton, P., & von Hofsten, C. (1995). Object perception,
object-directed action, and physical knowledge in infancy. In M. Gazzaniga
(Ed.), The Cognitive Neurosciences.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Carey, S., & Spelke, E. S. (1994). Domain-specific knowledge and conceptual change.
In L. Hirschfeld & S. Gelman (Eds.), Mapping the mind: Domain specificity in cognition
and culture, pp. 169-200. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Hermer, L., & Spelke, E. S. (1994). A geometric process for spatial
reorientation in young children. Nature, 370, 57-59.
Slater, A., Johnson, S. P., Kellman, P. J., & Spelke, E. S. (1994). The role
of three-dimensional depth cues in infants' perception of partly occluded
objects. Early Development and Parenting, 3, 187-191.
Spelke, E. S. (1994). Initial knowledge: Six suggestions. Cognition, 50, 431-445.
(Reprinted in J. Mehler and S. Franck (Eds.) Cognition on Cognition, pp. 433-448.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.)
Spelke, E. S. (1994). Developing knowledge: Diverse perspectives and common themes.
In A. Vyt, H. Bloch and M. H. Bornstein (Eds.), Early child development in the French
tradition: Contributions from current research. Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Spelke, E. S. (1994). Preferential looking and intermodal perception in infancy:
Comment on Lewkowicz (1992). Infant Behavior and
Development, 17, 285-288.
Spelke, E. S., Katz, G., Purcell, S. E., Ehrlich, S. M., & Breinlinger, K.
(1994). Early knowledge of object motion: Continuity and inertia. Cognition,
51, 131-176.
Spelke, E. S., Breinlinger, K., Jacobson, K., & Phillips, A. (1993).
Gestalt relations and object perception: A developmental study. Perception,
22, 1483-1501.
Spelke, E. S., & Van de Walle, G. (1993). Perceiving and reasoning about
objects: Insights from infants. In N. Eilan, R. McCarthy, & W. Brewer
(Eds.), Spatial representation. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Streri, A., Spelke, E. S., & Rameix, E. (1993). Modality-specific and amodal aspects of
object perception in infancy: The case of active touch. Cognition, 47, 251-279.
Van de Walle, G., & Spelke, E. S. (1993). L'intégration spatio-temporelle dans la
perception des objects chez le bébé. Psychologie Française,
38, 75-83.
Woodward, A., Phillips, A., & Spelke, E. S. (1993). Infants' expectations about the motions
of inanimate vs. animate objects. Proceedings of the Cognitive Science Society. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Kim, I. K., & Spelke, E. S. (1992). Infants' sensitivity to effects of
gravity on visible object motion. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human
Perception and Performance, 18,
385-393.
Soja, N. N., Carey, S., & Spelke, E. S. (1992). Perception, ontology, and
word meaning. Cognition, 45, 101-107.
Soja, N., Carey, S., & Spelke, E. S. (1991). Ontological categories guide
young children's inductions of word meaning: Object terms and substance
terms. Cognition,38, 179-211. (Reprinted in A. I. Goldman (Ed.) Readings
in philosophy and cognitive science, pp. 461-480.Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.)
Spelke, E. S. (1991). Physical knowledge in infancy: Reflections on Piaget's theory. In S. Carey & R. Gelman
(Eds.), Epigenesis of mind: Studies in biology and cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Starkey, P., Spelke, E. S., & Gelman, R. (1991). Toward a comparative psychology
of number. Cognition, 39, 171-172.
Spelke, E. S. (1990). Cognitive capacities of human infants: Conceptions
of object motion. In G. Edelman (Ed.), Signal and sense: Local and
global order in the nervous system. NY: Wiley.
Spelke, E. S. (1990). Principles of object perception. Cognitive
Science, 14, 29-56.
Spelke, E. S. (1990). Origins of visual knowledge. In D. Osherson et al.
(Eds.) An invitation to cognitive science, Vol. 2. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press. (Reprinted in A. I. Goldman (Ed.) Readings in philosophy
and cognitive science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.)
Starkey, P., Spelke, E. S., & Gelman, R. (1990). Numerical abstraction by
human infants. Cognition, 36,
97-128.
Spelke, E. S. (1989). Early cognitive functioning. In C. Von Euler
(Ed.), Neurobiology of early infant behaviour. UK: The Macmillan Press.
Spelke, E. S., von Hofsten, C., & Kestenbaum, R. (1989). Object
perception and object-directed reaching in infancy: Interaction
of spatial and kinetic information for object
boundaries. Developmental Psychology, 25, 185-196.
Streri, A., & Spelke, E. S. (1989). Effects of motion and figural goodness
on haptic object perception in infancy. Child Development, 60, 1111-1125.
Landau, B., & Spelke, E. S. (1988). Geometric complexity and object search in
infancy. Developmental Psychology, 24, 512-521.
Spelke, E. S. (1988). The origins of physical knowledge. In L. Weiskrantz
(Ed.), Thought without language. Oxford, UK: Oxford Press.
Spelke, E. S. (1988). Where knowledge begins. Physical conceptions in infancy.
In H. Azuma (Ed.), IXth Biennial Meetings of International Society for the Study
of Behavioural Development. Tokyo, Japan: The Center of Developmental
Education and Research.
Spelke, E. S. (1988). Where perceiving ends and thinking begins: The apprehension
of objects in infancy. In A. Yonas (Ed.), Perceptual development in infancy. Minnesota
Symposium on Child Psychology (Vol. 20). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum, Assoc.
Kestenbaum, R., Termine, N., & Spelke, E. S. (1987). Perception of objects
and object boundaries by three-month-old infants. British Journal of
Developmental Psychology, 5,
367-383.
Spelke, E. S. (1987). The development of intermodal perception. In L. B. Cohen
& P. Salapatek (Eds.), Handbook of infant perception. New York:
Academic Press.
Termine, N., Hrynick, T., Kestenbaum, R., Gleitman, H., & Spelke, E. S. (1987). Perceptual
completion of surfaces in infancy. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 13, 524-532.
Kellman, P. J., Spelke, E. S., & Short, K. (1986). Infant perception of object unity from
translatory motion in depth and vertical translation. Child Development, 57, 72-86.
Spelke, E. S., & von Hofsten, C. (1986). Do infants reach for objects? A reply to
Stiles-Davis. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 115, 98-100.
Spelke, E. S., & Kestenbaum, R. (1986). Les origines du concept
d'objet. Psychologie Française, 31, 67-72.
Baillargeon, R., Spelke, E. S., & Wasserman, S. (1985). Object permanence
in five-month-old infants. Cognition, 20, 191-208.
von Hofsten, C., & Spelke, E. S. (1985). Object perception and
object-directed reaching in infancy. Journal of Experimental Psychology:
General, 114, 198-212.
Jones, R., Spelke, E. S., & Alley, T. (1985). Perceptual development.
In W. H. Warren, Jr., & R. E. Shaw (Eds.), Persistence and
change. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Landau, B., & Spelke, E. S. (1985). Spatial knowledge and its manifestations.
In H. Wellman (Ed.), Children's searching: The development of search skills and
spatial representation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spelke, E. S. (1985). Perception of unity, persistence, and identity:
Thoughts on infants' conceptions of objects. In J. Mehler & R. Fox
(Eds.), Neonate cognition. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spelke, E. S. (1985). Preferential looking methods as tools for the study
of cognition in infancy. In G. Gottlieb & N. Krasnegor (Eds.), Measurement
of audition and vision in the first year of postnatal life (pp. 323-363). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Starkey, P., Gelman, R., & Spelke, E. S. (1985). Technical comment: Detection of
number or numerousness by human infants. Science, 228, 1222.
Landau, B., Spelke, E. S., & Gleitman, H. (1984). Spatial knowledge in a
young blind child. Cognition, 16,
225-260.
Gelman, R., Spelke, E. S., & Meck, E. (1983). What preschoolers know about animate and
inanimate objects. In D. Rogers & J. A. Sloboda (Eds.), The acquisition of symbolic
skills. New York: Plenum.
Gibson, E. J., & Spelke, E. S. (1983). The development of perception. In P.
Mussen (series Ed.) & J. H. Flavell & E. Markman (Eds.), Handbook of
Child Psychology, Vol 3. New York:
Wiley.
Kellman, P. J., & Spelke, E. S. (1983). Perception of partly occluded
objects in infancy. Cognitive Psychology, 15, 483-524.
Spelke, E. S. (1983). Cognition in infancy. MIT Occasional Papers in Cognitive Science. No. 23.
Spelke, E. S. (1983). Constraints on intermodal perception. In L. S. Liben
(Ed.), Piaget and the foundations of knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spelke, E. S., Born, W. S., & Chu, F. (1983). Perception of moving, sounding objects
by four-month-old infants. Perception, 12, 719-732.
Spelke, E. S. (1982). Perceptual knowledge of objects in infancy. In J. Mehler, M. Garrett & E. Walker
(Eds.), Perspectives on mental representation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Gelman, R., & Spelke, E. S. (1981). The development of thoughts about
animate and inanimate objects: Implications for research in social cognition.
In J. H. Flavell & L. Ross (Eds.), The development of social cognition
in children. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
Neisser, U., Hirst, W. C., & Spelke, E. S. (1981). Limited capacity theories and the
notion of automaticity: Reply to Lucas and Bub. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General, 110, 499-500.
Spelke, E. S. (1981). The infant's acquisition of knowledge of bimodally specified
events. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 31, 279-299.
Spelke, E. S., & Cortelyou, A. (1981). Perceptual aspects of social knowing: Looking
and listening in infancy. In M. E. Lamb & L. R. Sherrod (Eds.), Infant social
cognition: Empirical and theoretical considerations. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hirst, W. C., Spelke, E. S., Reaves, C. C., Caharach, G., & Neisser, U. (1980). Dividing
attention without alternation or automaticity. Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General, 109, 98-117.
Spelke, E. S. (1980). A sampling of infant cognition: A review of John Oates (Ed.) Early
cognitive development. Contemporary Psychology, 25, 549-550.
Spelke, E. S. (1979). Exploring audible and visible events in infancy. In A. D. Pick
(Ed.), Perception and its development: A tribute to Eleanor J.
Gibson. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Spelke, E. S. (1979). Perceiving bimodally specified events in infancy. Developmental
Psychology, 15, 626-636.
Spelke, E. S., & Owsley, C. J. (1979). Intermodal exploration and knowledge in
infancy. Infant Behavior and Development, 2, 13-27.
Hirst, W. C., Neisser, U., & Spelke, E. S. (1978). Divided
attention. Human Nature, 1, 54-61.
Spelke, E. S. (1976). Infants' intermodal perception of events. Cognitive
Psychology, 8, 553-560.
Spelke, E. S., Hirst, W., & Neisser, U. (1976). Skills of divided
attention. Cognition, 4, 215-230.
Kotelchuck, M., Zelazo, P., Kagan, J., & Spelke, E. S. (1975). Infant reaction to parental
separations when left with familiar and unfamiliar adults. Journal of Genetic
Psychology, 126, 225-262.
Lester, B., Kotelchuck, M., Spelke, E. S., Sellers, M. J., & Klein, R. (1974). Separation protest
in Guatemalan infants: Cross-cultural and cognitive findings. Developmental
Psychology, 10, 79-85.
Spelke, E. S., Zelazo, P., Kagan, J., & Kotelchuck, M. (1973). Father interaction
and separation protest. Developmental Psychology, 9, 83-90.
