Charisse Pickron

Charisse Pickron serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota's Institute of Child Development, where her research examines socio-cognitive development in infancy with emphasis on perception of social groups across gender and race dimensions. She employs multimodal methodologies including behavioral observation, electrophysiology, and eye-tracking to investigate how early experiences shape infant face processing.

Her academic credentials include:

• BA in Psychology with minor in Race and Racial Identity Development from Mount Holyoke College (2008)
• MS in Developmental Psychology from University of Massachusetts Amherst (2015)
• PhD in Developmental Psychology from University of Massachusetts Amherst (2018)

Dr. Pickron's research program centers on how infants categorize social groups and the cognitive consequences of such categorization. The Child Brain and Perception Lab investigates perceptual and socio-cognitive development through questions about environmental influences on face processing, with particular focus on neural and behavioral responses to gender and racial stimuli. Her approach integrates community engagement with scientific rigor, valuing input from students and Twin Cities residents in shaping research directions.

Analysis of her 2016-2024 publications reveals consistent methodological evolution from basic face perception studies toward complex socio-cognitive questions. Key trends include increasing emphasis on stimulus validation (e.g., Diverse Face Images database), developmental timing effects across infancy, and intersectional analysis of race/gender in attention mechanisms. Her work demonstrates growing sophistication in linking behavioral observations with neural correlates.

Dr. Pickron maintains an open advising policy for PhD students starting Fall 2026, envisioning a collaborative research environment that integrates undergraduate and graduate students with community partners. Her laboratory structure emphasizes mutual learning between researchers and the communities they serve, reflecting commitment to translational developmental science.

The Child Brain and Perception Lab operates as a community-engaged research hub focused on understanding infant-world interactions. Dr. Pickron's leadership philosophy centers on celebrating infant knowledge acquisition through ecologically valid paradigms, with research directions co-developed through dialogue with Twin Cities stakeholders and student collaborators.