Psychological and Brain Sciences Spiker Memorial Lecture

Seth Pollak, Vaughan Bascom Distinguished Professor and Developmental Area Group Chair, Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison

What Is It About Early Emotional Experiences that Configures Children's Learning? (What Matters Most Might Not Be Obvious)

Abstract: Discovering the processes through which early life experiences affect children’s development is critically important for developing prevention and interventions for youth exposed to adversity, and also for understanding the basic science of human development and learning. Nearly all research on early experience, socio-emotional development, and neurobiology has been anchored on documenting specific (presumably stressful) events that have occurred in a child’s life. Yet, there is increasing evidence that children’s perceptions of their own experiences and the meaning they construe from what has happened to them might be critical for understanding behavioral, biological, and learning outcomes. How can we better embrace this real- albeit messy- complexity of human development? This presentation aims to serve as a catalyst for thinking about these kinds of new future research directions by focusing on the role of social factors in the emergence of children's decision-making abilities.