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Margaret Friend, Ph.DAssociate Professor |
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Department of Psychology
College of Sciences
San Diego State University
6363 Alvarado Court, Ste. 103
San Diego, CA 92120-4913
Mail Code: 1863
Office: ALV 6363/103
Phone: (619) 594-0273
FAX: (619) 594-6780
E-Mail: mfriend@mail.sdsu.edu
Research Interests: We are engaged in three related lines of research involving basic processes of language learning and literacy development. First, the children in greatest need of language intervention are subject to a host of difficulties including academic and psychiatric problems. We have developed a promising approach to predicting risk early using language comprehension assessment. Second, recent research suggests that language is embodied within human perceptual experience. We are conducting ground-breaking research on the relation between perceptual and cognitive processes and their neuro-physiological mechanisms. We are integrating traditional approaches to verb learning with studies of action processing to establish perceptual and physiological processes involved in word-to-world mappings. Finally, the current crisis in educational attainment has led to an increased emphasis on early literacy experiences and literacy across the lifespan. We are evaluating changes with age in the composition of the home literacy environment and the relation of specific subcomponents (such as shared reading and parent-child conversations) to language acquisition.
Lab: The Infant and Child Development Lab
Research Keywords: spatial learning, conceptual development, language acquisition, language comprehension, crosslinguistic, cognitive development, emergent literacy, literacy, school-readiness, executive function
