Elizabeth S. Spelke

Elizabeth S. Spelke is the Marshall L. Berkman Professor of Psychology at Harvard University and an investigator at the NSF-MIT Center for Brains, Minds and Machines. Her laboratory, the Laboratory for Developmental Studies, investigates the origins of uniquely human cognitive capacities in infants and children, focusing on object perception, social cognition, numerical reasoning, spatial understanding, and biological knowledge. She employs behavioral methods and collaborates with experts in anthropology, neuroscience, computer science, and economics to extend research into real-world applications and educational interventions.

Education:

• Radcliffe College, 1967-1971: B.A. in Social Relations (1971)
• Yale University, 1972-1973
• Cornell University, 1973-1977: Ph.D. in Psychology (1978)

Research Interests: Spelke's work explores how infants and children develop foundational knowledge systems. Key areas include: object recognition and categorization; social agency and mental state reasoning; numerical and geometric cognition; spatial navigation; and biological understanding. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates developmental psychology with computational modeling, cross-cultural studies, and neuroimaging to uncover universal cognitive architectures and their plasticity.

Publications: Her recent articles (2022-2025) emphasize social learning, mathematical cognition, and cross-cultural developmental patterns. Predominant themes include the evaluation of prosocial agents, transfer of academic skills, early math interventions, and the neural underpinnings of geometric reasoning. These studies consistently bridge laboratory findings with educational and economic applications.

Scientific Awards: Spelke has received over 30 major honors, including:

• National Academy of Sciences (1999)
• William James Award (2000)
• C.L. de Carvalho-Heineken Prize (2016)
• Mentor Awards from APS and APA (2021)
• Multiple honorary doctorates (Umeå, Paris-Descartes, Utrecht)

Grants and Advising: As principal investigator, Spelke secures funding from NSF, NIH, and private foundations. She directs the Laboratory for Developmental Studies, mentoring graduate students and postdoctoral researchers. Her collaborations include randomized controlled trials in global education (e.g., Ghana) and partnerships with the World Bank to translate cognitive science into policy.

Laboratory: The Laboratory for Developmental Studies at Harvard conducts behavioral experiments with infants and children. It fosters interdisciplinary teams exploring cognitive development through comparative (cross-species), cross-cultural, and computational lenses, with recent expansions into AI-inspired learning models.