Research
Our Research
Overview
Our research focuses on the following questions:
Funded by the National Institute of Health (NIH)
Toddlers learn to recognize and name objects at an astounding rate, and they learn about objects through handling and manipulating them. We are investigating changes in object understanding as children learn about objects through their active manipulations. Through a 5 year-long project funded by the National Institute of Health, Dr. Karin James, Linda Smith and Susan Jones, have shown that:
- Toddlers manipulate objects such that they show themselves only a few views: By two years old, toddlers focus on the same object viewpoints as adults, but 18 month olds do not. Through action, toddlers learn how to manipulate objects so that their visual system receives optimal information.
James, K.H., Jones, S.S., Swain, S.N., Pereira, A., & Smith, L. B. (2013). Some views are better than others: Evidence for a visual bias in object views self generated by toddlers. Developmental Science, 17(3), 338-351. doi.org/10.1111/desc.12124
James, K.H., Jones, S.S., Smith, L.B., & Swain, S.N. (2013). Young Children’s Self-Generated Object Views and Object Recognition. Journal of Cognition and Development, 15(3), 393-401. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2012.749481
Periera, A.F., James, K.H., Jones, S.S. & Smith, L.B. (2010). Early biases and developmental changes in self-generated object views. Journal of Vision, 10(11): 22, 1-13. doi.org/10.1167/10.11.22
James, K.H., Humphrey, G.K., Vilis, T., Baddour, R., Corrie, B. & Goodale, M.A. (2002). “Active” and “passive” learning of three-dimensional object structure within an immersive virtual reality. Behavioral Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 34 (3), 383-390.
James, K.H., Humphrey, G.K. & Goodale, M.A. (2001). Manipulating and Recognizing Virtual Objects: Where the Action Is. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55 (2), 111-120.
Harman, K.L., Humphrey, G.K. & Goodale, M.A. (1999). Active manual control of object views facilitates visual recognition. Current Biology, 9 (22), 1315-1318.
- Toddlers learn to insert objects into openings through their actions. By 2 years of age, they successfully ‘post’ objects through holes, but cannot perform this seemingly simple task at 18 months. However, we see the precursors to this skill early on, as 18 month olds can orient their hands correctly through a slot, just not objects.
Street, S., James, K., Jones, S. & Smith, L. B. (2011). Vision for Action in Toddlers: The Posting Task. Child Development, 82(6), 2083-2094. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01655.x
- By 24 months, toddlers orient objects such that they see the ‘planar’ views, and this tendency is driven by visual factors, not haptics. The visual system at this age seems to drive how the toddler should hold and manipulate objects.
James, K.H., Jones, S.S., Swain, S.N., Pereira, A., & Smith, L. B. (2013). Some views are better than others: Evidence for a visual bias in object views self generated by toddlers. Developmental Science, 17(3), 338-351. doi: 10.1111/desc.12124
- That showing oneself these ‘planar’ views facilitates object recognition in 24 month olds.
James, K.H., Jones, S.S., Smith, L.B., & Swain, S.N. (2013). Young Children’s Self-Generated Object Views and Object Recognition. Journal of Cognition and Development,15(3), 393-401. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2012.749481
- That toddlers do not categorize objects based on color, but rather on shape properties.
Yee, M. N., Smith, L.B., Jones, S. S., & James, K. (2012). How young children’s actions affect object recognition. Poster presented at the International Conference on Infant Studies. Minneapolis, MN
- That 18 month olds categorize objects based on their orientation, while by 2 years of age, toddlers are able to categorize objects by shape – similar to adults.
Doctoral student Julia Li's research poster presented at the International Congress of Infant Studies Conference in Spring 2013
- 18 month olds have a difficult time judging two objects to be the same if they are shown in different orientations, but by 24 months, they can succeed at judging disoriented objects to be the same, except when they are upside-down. This object "inversion effect" is present right up through 5 years of age.
Doctoral student Julia Li's research poster presented at the Cognitive Development Society Conference in Fall 2013
These studies have provided us with valuable information about how object understanding – identification, categorization, and naming, progress rapidly between 18 and 24 months. We have evidence that this progression in understanding may be largely due to active manipulation of objects, and the interactions among visual and motor systems.
We have conducted several studies that document the effects that self-generated writing by hand has on functional brain development. This research began with several studies on adult letter perception, and has led to the following observations:
- Motor systems in the brain are engaged during letter perception.
Vinci-Booher, S., Sehgal, N., Munoz-Rubke, F., & James, K.H. (2016, May). Perceptual and motor effects of letter writing on brain regions associated with letter perception. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Vision Sciences Society, St. Pete Beach, FL.
James, K.H. & Gauthier, I. (2006). Letter processing automatically recruits a sensory-motor brain network. Neuropsychologia, 44(14), 2937-2949.
- Young children show adult-like brain responses to letters only after they learned to print letters, but not after learning letters through typing, visual study, or even tracing.
Vinci-Booher, S., Cheng, H., & James, K.H. (2016, March). Handwriting as a visually guided action: A developmental neuroimaging study. Poster presented at the Latin American School for Education, Cognitive, and Neural Sciences, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Sehgal, N., Vinci-Booher, S., & James, K.H. (2015, February ). The relationship between handedness and activation in the visual cortex of the brain. Poster presented at the Center of Excellence for Women in Technology Conference, Bloomington, IN.
Kersey, A. J. & James, K.H. (2013). Brain activation patterns resulting from learning letter forms through active self-production and passive observation in young children. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, Article 567.doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00567
James, K.H. & Engelhardt, L. (2012). The effects of handwriting experience on functional brain development in per-literate children. Trends in Neuroscience and Education, 1, 32-42. doi:10.1016/j.tine.2012.08.001
James, K.H. (2010). Sensori-motor experience leads to changes in visual processing in the developing brain. Developmental Science. 13 (2), 279-288. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00883.x
- The benefits of learning symbols through handwriting carries over into adulthood when we learn new scripts.
Frizell, T., Vinci-Booher, S., Zemlock, D., James, K.H., & Crandall, D.J. (2015, July). Exploring automated techniques for identifying and scoring children’s handwriting samples. Poster presented at the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates Conference, Bloomington, IN.
James, K.H. & Atwood, T. (2009). The role of sensorimotor learning in the perception of letter-like forms: Tracking the causes of neural specialization for letters. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 26(1), 91-110. doi: 10.1080/02643290802425914
- This benefit may be partially due to the output of the motor act of writing – in the variable symbols that are produced when we first learn to print.
Li, J.X., James K.H. (2016) Handwriting generates variable visual input to facilitate symbol learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 145(3):298-313. doi:10.1037/xge0000134.
Zemlock, D., Vinci-Booher, S., & James, K.H. (2016, April). Learning about letters through handwriting practice . Poster presented at The National Conference on Undergraduate Research, Asheville, NC.
- Only printing experience functionally connects visual and motor networks in the developing brain
Vinci-Booher, S., Engelhardt, L., James, T.W., & James, K.H. (2014). Investigating the development of letter perception using gPPI connectivity analysis. Presented at the Center of Excellence for Women in Technology Conference, Bloomington, Indiana.
From Neural Substrates of Sensorimotor Processes: Letter Writing and Letter Perception. Journal of Neurophysiology, 115(1), 1-4.
Only letters learned through printing experience, not typing, promote functional connections between a letter perception area in the left fusiform gyrus (L-FuG) with sensorimotor regions. Additionally, only letters learned through printing, not shapes learned through drawing, promote functional connections between the same letter perception area and premotor areas. On the other hand, the right hemisphere homologue, right fusiform gyrus (R-FuG), becomes more functionally connected with premotor areas for shapes learned through drawing, than letters learned through printing. Overall, sensorimotor and premotor areas show increased functional connectivity with left hemispheric letter perception areas for letters learned through printing. For more information, view doctoral student Sophia Vinci-Booher's research poster.
This body of work has led to numerous conference presentations, publications, and media attention:
Dr. James' handwriting research was featured in a New York Times Well Blog entry entitled "Why Handwriting is Still Essential in the Keyboard Age."
A TIME magazine article, "Are There Really Benefits to Writing Things by Hand?" includes Dr. James’ research results and observations.
Dr. James' research on handwriting was featured in the September 21, 2014, edition of Parade Magazine.
How Does Handwriting Affect Brain Development? Dr. James explores this question on the September 19, 2014 edition of Sound Medicine, Public Radio's Weekly Magazine About Medicine and Health.
"What's Lost as Handwriting Fades" Dr. James' work was part of the June 2, 2014, New York Times feature on the effects of the diminished emphasis on teaching handwriting skills to school children.
This handwriting research is highlighted in the IU Newsroom Fall, 2014 back-to-school-issue.
During the 2012 Handwriting in the 21st Century Educational Summit in Washington, DC, Dr. James presented some of her findings from this research.
On January 23, 2012, while at the Summit, Dr. James discussed the importance of handwriting in child development on the Fox News network affiliate in Washington DC.
More about the educational summit
Dr. James was interviewed for a feature in STATEIMPACT INDIANA entitled "Why Schools Should Keep Teaching Handwriting, Even If Typing Is More Useful." (September 29, 2011)
Read the June 15, 2011 Chicago Tribune article, "The many health perks of good handwriting: Not only does it help the brain develop, it can also improve grades and confidence" which features Dr. Karin James.
This body of research was used to illustrate the benefits of handwriting in the October 5, 2010 Wall Street Journal article "Handwriting Trains the Brain." (October, 2010)
Visually-guided action not only facilitates object recognition and serves to connect brain regions important in understanding objects, it also helps children learn words.
- In this program of research, we first determined that like adults, 5-year old children also had brain regions that responded to verbs that reflect effector (arm or leg) specific verbs (e.g. jump and reach).
James, K.H. & Mauoene, J. (2010). Auditory verb perception recruits motor systems in the developing brain: an fMRI investigation. Developmental Science, 12(6), F26-F34. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2009.00919.x
- We then showed that activating these regions was experience dependent: only children that learned verbs through self-generated actions (as opposed to watching others perform the same action) showed this adult-like brain activation.
James, K.H., & Swain, S.N. (2011). Only self-generated actions create sensori-motor systems in the developing brain. Developmental Science 14 (4), 673-687. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2010.01011.x
James, K.H. & Bose, P. (2011). Self-generated actions during learning objects and sounds create sensori-motor systems in the developing brain. Cognition, Brain & Behavior, 15(4), 485-503.
- We are now investigating a large corpus of words that are rated as highly active or highly abstract to further understand how brain regions become connected as a result of experience.
Munoz-Rubke, F., Kafadar, K., & James, K. H. (2015). Action is the key to observe the continuum among concrete and abstract words. Poster presented at the 2015 Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA.
Are young children who have extremely intense interests "experts?" Does the brain processing of the category of expertise in children look like that seen in adults?
- My interest in letter processing emerged from an interest in perceptual expertise. This interest was motivated by my postdoctoral work with Isabel Gauthier and involved participation in the Perceptual Expertise Network.
James, K.H. & Gauthier, I. (2009). When writing impairs reading: Letter perception’s susceptibility to motor interference. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 138, 416-431. doi: 10.1037/a0015836
Wong, A C-N, Jobard, G., James, T.W., James, K.H., Gauthier, I. (2009). Expertise with characters in alphabetic and non-alphabetic writing system engage the same occipito-temporal area. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 26, 111-127. doi: 10.1080/02643290802340972
James, K.H. & Gauthier, I. (2006). Letter processing automatically recruits a sensory-motor brain network. Neuropsychologia, 44(14), 2937-2949.
James, K.H., James, T.W., Jobard, G., Wong, C-N., & Gauthier, I (2005). Letter processing in the visual system: Different activation patterns for single letters and strings. Cognitive, Affective and Behavioral Neuroscience, 5(4), 452-466.
- These questions also led to a study on young children who were experts in Pokémon cards. In this study, we showed that indeed, Pokémon experts showed brain activation patterns similar to the adult response to faces. Unlike non-experts, these children showed increased activation to pictures of Pokémon in the right fusiform gyrus that was even greater than their response to faces.
James, T.W. & James, K.H. (2013). Expert individuation of objects increases activation in the fusiform face area of children. NeuroImage, 67, 182-192. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.11.007
We are presently investigating the development of this type of expertise in older participants (Morson & James, in progress). In this current research program, we ask questions such as: Do child experts continue to be experts in other domains? How often does the domain shift and how long does an individual stay in one category of expertise? What types of vocations do child experts choose? What kind of background supports child expertise? Are there personality factors that lead to perceptual expertise?
To better understand whether learning through active experience facilitates learning at all ages, we have conducted several studies that show that even adults learn novel objects and sounds better if they are able to actively interact with objects during learning. Associations among visual and motor systems facilitate learning and create networks in the brain that reflect this enhanced learning. Some of our findings include:
- Adults recognize objects better when they can actively manipulate them.
James, T.W., Humphrey, G.K., James, K.H. & Goodale, M.A. (2005). Do visual and tactile object representations share the same neural substrate? M.A. Heller and S. Ballesteros (Eds.), Touch and Blindness: Psychology and Neuroscience. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
James, K.H., Humphrey, G.K., Vilis, T., Baddour, R., Corrie, B. & Goodale, M.A. (2002). “Active” and “passive” learning of three-dimensional object structure within an immersive virtual reality environment. Behavioral Research Methods, Instruments and Computers, 34 (3), 383-390.
James, K.H., Humphrey, G.K. & Goodale, M.A. (2001). Manipulating and Recognizing Virtual Objects: Where the Action Is. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology, 55 (2), 111-120.
Harman, K.L., Humphrey, G.K. & Goodale, M.A. (1999). Active manual control of object views facilitates visual recognition. Current Biology, 9 (22), 1315-1318.
Harman, K.L. & Humphrey, G.K. (1999). Encoding ‘regular’ and ‘random’ sequences of views of novel, three-dimensional objects. Perception, 28, 601-615. doi:10.1068/p2924
- Additionally, adults are better able to associate sounds with objects.
Butler, A.J. & James, K.H. (2012). Active Learning of Novel Sound-producing Objects: Motor Reactivism and Enhancement of Visuo-motor Connectivity. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(2), 203-218. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00284
Much of this early work led to our studies on the development of object understanding through visually-guided action.
Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) 
- Jao, R. J., James, T. W., & James, K. H. (2014). Multisensory convergence of visual and haptic object preference across development. Neuropsychologia 56, 381–392. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2014.02.009
- Jao, R. J., James, K. H., & James, T. W. (2014).Development of dorsal and ventral stream connectivity: A visuohaptic psychophysiological interaction study. Journal of Vision, 14 (10), 1104: doi:10.1167/14.10.1104
- Jao, R. J., James, T. W., & James, K. H. (2013). Visuohaptic crossmodal matching: A developmental fMRI study. Journal of Vision, 13 (9), 1330. doi:10.1167/13.9.1330
- Butler, A.J. & James, K.H. (2013). Active Learning of Novel Sound-producing Objects: Motor Reactivism and Enhancement of Visuo-motor Connectivity. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 25(2), 203-218. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00284
- Butler, A.J. & James, K.H. (2011). Cross-modal versus within-modal recall: Differences in behavioral and brain responses. Behavioral Brain Research, 224, 387-396. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2011.06.017
- Butler, A.J., James, T.W. & James, K.H. (2011). Enhanced multisensory integration and motor reactivation after active motor learning of audiovisual associations. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(11), 3515-3528. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00015
- James, T.W., VanDerKlok, R.M., Stevenson, R.A., & Harman James, K. (2011). Mulitisensory perception of action in posterior temporal cortex. Neuropsychologia, 49, 108-114. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.10.030
- James, T.W., Stevenson, R.A, Kim, S., VanDerKlok, R.M & James, K.H. (2011). Shape from Sound: Evidence for a shape operator in the lateral occipital cortex. Neuropsychologia, 49, 1807-1815. doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.10.030
Active Research Support
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
EXTERNAL
"Integrative study of developmental process"
NIH/NICHHD 5T32HD007475
Co-PI
2005 - 2020
National Science Foundation (NSF)
EXTERNAL
"Harnessing Gesture and Action to Improve Pre-Algebra Instruction"
fMRI Consultant
"The role of gesture in word learning: Collaborative Research"
Co-PI
Susan Goldin-Meadow | Department of Psychology, University of Chicago
Karin H. James | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
Elizabeth Wakefield | Department of Psychology, Loyola University
2014 - 2018
Clinical & Translational Science Institute in Indiana (CTSI in IN)
EXTERNAL
"Modern diffusion-weighted MRI protocol for early profiling and detection of reading disabilities in preschool children"
Co-PI
Karin H. James | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
Franco Pestilli | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
2014 -2018
Imaging Research Facility at Indiana University (IRF at IU)
INTERNAL
"Neuroimaging studies of the effects of writing on early mathematical understanding"
PI
"Effects of active learning on word meaning"
PI
"Gesture processing in pre-school children"
PI
"Functional connectivity in the developing brain: PPI and Grainger causality analyses"
PI
TBA
Johnson Center for Innovative & Translational Research Pilot Grant (JCI & TR Pilot Grant)
INTERNAL
"MR-Safe Electronic Tablet for use in Functional MRI”
PI
Karin H. James | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
Sophia Vinci-Booher | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
2017
Social Science Research Commons Grant (SSRC at IU)
INTERNAL
"Efficacy of Two Reading Interventions: A Randomized Control Trial with a Mixed-Method Evaluation"
Co-PI
Karin H. James | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
Rebecca S. Martinez | Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology
2017
Emerging Areas of Research Initiative at Indiana University (EAR at IU)
INTERNAL
"Learning: Brains, Machines and Children"
Co-PI
David Crandall | School of Informatics and Computing
Robert Goldstone | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Cognitive Science
Michael Jones | Department of Psychological and Brain Science, Program in Cognitive Science
Karin H. James | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
David Landy | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Cognitive Science
Sriraam Natarajan | School of Informatics and Computing
Franco Pestilli | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience, Program in Cognitive Science
Michael Ryoo | School of Informatics and Computing
Linda Smith | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Cognitive Science
Olaf Sporns | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Cognitive Science, Program in Neuroscience
Martha White | School of Informatics and Computing
Chen Yu | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Cognitive Science, School of Informatics and Computing
2017 - 2020
Faculty Research Support Program
INTERNAL
"Interaction between sensory and motor processes in the brain"
Co-PI
Karin H. James | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
Hannah J. Block | Kinesiology
Aina Puce | Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Program in Neuroscience
TBA