Education

Professional and Academic Positions

2000- Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Iowa
1997-1998 Instructor, Department of Psychology, Indiana University
1993-1996 Graduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Psychology, Indiana University

Honors and Awards

• University of Iowa Old Gold Summer Fellowship, 2001
• J.R. Kantor Graduate Award, Alumni Board, College of Arts & Sciences, Indiana University, 2000
• PHS National Research Service Award Predoctoral Fellowship #1F31MH12069, Early Word Learning: Computational and Behavioral Tests (1998 - 2000)
• Predoctoral Trainee, Multidisciplinary Program in Developmental Process, Indiana University (1997)
• Student Travel Award, Society for Research in Child Development (1997)
• Travel Grant, College of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University (1996)
• Summer Research Fellowship, Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University (1995)
• Honorary Summer Research Fellowship, Cognitive Science Program, Indiana University (1994)
• Summer Research Incentive Fellowship, Indiana University (1994)
• Honorable Mention, National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship Program (1994)
• Elected to Phi Beta Kappa (1993)
• Graduated with honors and high distinction, Indiana University (1993)

Professional Organizations

• American Psychological Society
• American Psychological Association
• Cognitive Development Society
• Cognitive Science Society
• International Society on Infant Studies
• Society for Research in Child Development

Teaching Enhancement Awards
New Technology in the Learning Environment (nTITLE) Workshop & Fellowship, University of Iowa, $3000, Summer, 2001

Refereed Publications

• Samuelson, L. K. , & Horst, J. S. (in press). Dynamic noun generalization: Moment-to-moment interactions shape children’s naming biases. Infancy, 11(1).
• Smith, L. B. & Samuelson, L. K. (in press). The shape bias: Different questions, fundamentally different answers: Reply to Cimpian & Markman (2005) and Booth, Waxman & Huang (2005). Developmental Psychology.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (2005). They call it like they see it: Spontaneous naming and attention to shape. Developmental Science, 8, 182-198.
• Smith, L.B., & Samuelson, L. K. (2003). Different is good: Connectionism and dynamic systems theory are complementary emergentist approaches to development. Developmental Science, 6(4), 434-439.
• Samuelson, L. K. (2002). Statistical Regularities in Vocabulary Guide Language Acquisition in Connectionist Models and 15-20-Month-Olds. Developmental Psychology, 38, 1016-1037.
• Smith, L. B., Jones, S. S., Landau, B., Gershkoff-Stowe, L., & Samuelson, L. K. (2002). Object name learning provides on-the-job training for attention. Psychological Science, 13, 13-19.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (2000b). Children' s attention to rigid and deformable shape in naming and non-naming tasks. Child Development, 71(6), 1555-1570.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (2000a). Grounding Development in Cognitive Processes. Child Development, 71, 98-106.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (1999). Early noun vocabularies: Do ontology, category organization and syntax correspond? Cognition, 73(1), 1-33.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (1998). Memory and attention make smart word learning: An alternative account of Akhtar, Carpenter and Tomasello. Child Development, 1, 94-104.

Refereed Published Conference Proceedings

• Samuelson, L.K., Horst, J.S., Dobbertin, B.N., & Schutte, A.S. (in press). Knowledge, performance and Task: décalage and dynamics in young children’s noun generalizations. Talk to be presented at the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
• Lipinski, J., Spencer, J.P., Samuelson, L.K. & Schöner, G. (in press). SPAM-Ling: A dynamical model of spatial working memory and spatial language. Talk to be presented at the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
• Horst, J.S., McMurray B., & Samuelson, L.K. (in press). Online processing is essential for learning: Understanding fast mapping and word learning in a dynamic connectionist architecture. Talk to be presented at the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.
• Lipinski, J., Spencer, J.P., & Samuelson, L.K. (2004). Integrating spatial language and spatial memory: A dynamical systems approach. In D. Gentner & Terry Reiger (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Sixth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 831-836) LEA
• Samuelson, L. K. (2000). Attentional biases in artificial noun learning tasks: Generalizations across the structure of already-learned nouns. In L. R. Gleitman & A. K. Joshi (Eds.), Proceedings of the Twenty-Second Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 423-428). LEA.

Conference Symposia

• Smith, L. B., & Samuelson, L. K., (2005, April). From the A not-B error to early word learning: Binding cognitive contents through space. In Spencer J. P. (Chair), The Dynamic Field Theory: A General Process Approach to Cognitive Development. Symposium conducted at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
• Spencer, J. P., Lipinski, J., Samuelson, L. K. (2004, October). It’s in the eye of the beholder: Spatial Language and Spatial Memory use the same perceptual reference frames. Talk presented at the fourth annual Language and Space Workshop, Bloomington, IN.
• Samuelson, L. K. (2002, April). Origins of a notion of object in the perceptual cues to solidity. In Smith L. B. (Chair), What is an object? Symposium conducted at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa, Fl.
• Samuelson, L. K. (2002, July). What children need to learn language: Constraints and a way to use them. In L. Gershkoff-Stowe (Chair), What children need to learn language. Symposium conducted at the ninth International Congress for the Study of Child Language and the Symposium on Research in Child Language Disorders Madison, WI.
• Smith, L. B., & Samuelson, L. K. (2001, August). Smart variability: The role of context in young children's naming. In E. Wasserman & A. Neuringer (Chairs.), Adapting to a Changing World—Variability of Stimuli, Responses, and Strategies. Symposium conducted at the 109th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Society, San Francisco, CA

Invited Addresses and Colloquia

• Samuelson, L. K. (2005, March). Dynamic Grounding: Taking the Shape Bias to Task. Invited talk presented at the University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
• Samuelson, L. K. (2001, February). Attentional Biases and Object Name Learning: Bringing a Laboratory Phenomenon Back to the World. Invited talk to be presented at Carnigie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA.

Papers Presented

• Lipinski, J., Spencer, J.P., & Samuelson, L.K. (2005, November). Shared representational processes in spatial language and spatial working memory. Poster presented at the 46th Annual Meeting of the Psychonomic Society. Toronto.
• Horst, J.S., Samuelson, L.K. & McMurray, B. (2005, October). Connecting Fast Mapping to Word Learning: the Real-Time Dynamics of Language Acquisition in Two-Year-Olds and Connectionist Models. Poster session presented at the Fourth Biennial Meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, San Diego, CA.
• Horst, J.S., McMurray, B. & Samuelson, L.K. (2005, June). Connectionist Time and Dynamic Systems Time in One Architecture? Modeling Word Learning at Two Time Scales. Poster session presented at Connectionist and Dynamic Systems Approaches to Development: On the Cusp of a New Grand Theory or Still Too Distributed? Iowa City, IA
• Horst, J.S. & Samuelson, L.K. (2005, April) Slow Down: Understanding the Time Course Behind Fast Mapping. Poster session presented at the 2005 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
• Horst, J.S. & Samuelson, L.K. (2005, April) Look and Do Touch: Differences in Children’s Explorations of Solid Objects and Nonsolid Substances. Poster session presented at the 2005 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Atlanta, GA.
• Samuelson, L. K., Horst, J. S., (2004, May). Are word learning biases created in the moment? Task and stimulus factors affect the shape and material biases. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the International Society on Infant Studies, Chicago, IL.
• Samuelson, L. K., Horst, J. S., Schutte, A. R. & Dobbertin, B. (2003, October). Vocabulary development and word learning strategies: A solid connection. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Park City, UT.
• Horst, J. S. & Samuelson, L. K. (2003, April). Language and flexible categorization in early childhood. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Tampa Fl.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Schutte, A. (2001, October). The effects of syntax on a curvilinear trend in how young children name deformable objects. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Cognitive Development Society, Virginia Beach, VA.
• Samuelson, L. K. (2001, April). A curvilinear trend in how young children name deformable objects. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Minneapolis, MN.
• Samuelson, L. K., Gasser, M., & Smith, L. B. (1997, August). Statistical regularities in input lead to a naming bias: A connectionist model of the shape bias. Poster session presented at the Nineteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Palo Alto, CA.
• Samuelson, L. (1997, June). Shape and animacy in young children's spontaneous overgeneralizations. Paper presented at the Fourth Annual Midwest Developmental Research Forum, Bloomington, IN.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Gasser, M. (1997, April). Developmental patterns from statistical regularities: A connectionist model. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington, DC.
• Samuelson, L. K. (1997, April). A spontaneous shape bias: Overgeneralizations of 18- to 28- month olds. Poster session presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Washington DC.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (1996, October). General cognitive processes make children smart word learners. Poster session presented at the 37th annual meeting of the Psychonomic Society, Chicago, Il.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (1996, August). The role of task and stimulus context in category development. Poster session presented at the Eighteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, La Jolla, CA.
• Samuelson, L. K., & Smith, L. B. (1994, May). Task context and the shape bias. Paper presented at the First Annual Midwest Developmental Research Forum, Bloomington, IN.

• Spencer, J.P., Lipinski, J., & Samuelson, L.K. (in press). It's in the eye of the beholder: Spatial language and spatial memory use the same perceptual reference frames. To appear in L. Smith, M. Gasser, & K. Mix (Eds.) The spatial foundations of language. Oxford University Press
• Smith, L. B., & Samuelson, L. K. (1997). Perceiving and remembering: Category stability, variability, and development. In K. Lamberts & D. Shanks (Eds.), Knowledge, concepts, and categories (pp. 161-195). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• "Learning to learn words: Tests of a four-step process", National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Larissa K. Samuelson (PI), $562,500 total direct costs, 7/1/04-4/30/09
• "The role of parent-child interactions, child experiences, and vocabulary development in the acquisition of a biased noun vocabulary", University of Iowa Social Sciences Funding Program grant, Larissa Samuelson (PI) $25,268, January, 2003

Departmental Service

• Organizer of Wednesday Departmental Brown Bag Series, 2004 – present
• Psychology Department Developmental Faculty Recruiting Committee, 2003-2004
• Psychology Department Cognition and Perception Faculty Recruiting Committee, 2001-2002
• Psychology Department Cognition and Perception Faculty Recruiting Committee, 2002-2003
• Psychology Department Technical Support Services Committee (2002 – present)

College Service