Carolyn B. Cates

Carolyn B. Cates is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Purchase College, State University of New York. Her research focuses on early language and play experiences’ roles in child language, literacy, and social cognition development, with an emphasis on addressing developmental disparities through interventions in preschool and pediatric primary care settings.

• PhD, Lehigh University
• Postdoctoral Fellowship, NYU School of Medicine

Dr. Cates co-developed the Video Interaction Project (https://www.videointeractionproject.org/), a parenting intervention from birth to age 5, and co-authored the StimQ2, a cognitive stimulation assessment tool. Her work integrates developmental science into primary care to enhance parent-child interactions for linguistically and socio-economically diverse families.

Recent publications highlight her focus on early childhood interventions, parental literacy practices, home cognitive stimulation, and healthcare-based programs. These studies often employ randomized controlled trial (RCT) designs and emphasize mitigating the impacts of poverty on child development.