Fei Xu
Fei Xu | |
---|---|
徐绯 | |
Born | 1969 (age 52–53) Beijing, China |
Nationality | American |
Occupation | Professor of Psychology |
Years active | 1995–present |
Academic background | |
Education | Ph.D. in Cognitive Science |
Alma mater |
|
Thesis | Criteria of Object Individual and Numerical Identity in Infants and Adults: The Object-first Hypothesis (1995) |
Doctoral advisor | Susan Carey |
Academic work | |
Discipline | Psychologist |
Sub-discipline | Developmental psychology Cognitive science Bayesian cognitive science |
Institutions |
|
Fei Xu (Chinese: 徐绯; pinyin: Xú Fēi; born 1969) is an American developmental psychologist and cognitive scientist who is currently a professor of psychology and the director of the Berkeley Early Learning Lab at UC Berkeley. Her research focuses on cognitive and language development, from infancy to middle childhood.[1]
Early life[edit]
Xu was born and raised in Beijing, China, where she graduated from the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China.[2] She moved to the U.S. and attended Smith College, graduating in 1991 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science.[2] She earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from M.I.T. in 1995.[2]
Career[edit]
Xu began her career as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and M.I.T. under Alan M. Leslie.[3][2] She joined Northeastern University as an assistant professor in 1997.[2] In 2003, she moved to Vancouver to be an associate professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Science.[2] She was a visiting professor at UC Berkeley in 2007–2008, then returned to UBC.[2][4] In 2009, she joined the UC Berkeley Department of Psychology as a Professor, where she is also the director of the school's Early Learning Lab.[2][5][6][7]
Research[edit]
Xu worked with several prominent developmental and cognitive psychologists early in her career. She worked with Susan Carey for her Ph.D. research on object individuation, sortal concepts, and early word learning.[8] She worked with Elizabeth Spelke as a postdoctoral fellow, focusing on prelinguistic infants’ representation of numbers.[2][9] She also worked with Alan Leslie at Rutgers University on infants’ object concept.[10]
Beginning in the 2010s, Xu advocated for a new approach to the study of cognitive development, namely rational constructivism.[11][12] She argued that human infants begin life with a set of proto-conceptual primitives such as object, number, and agent, and as young learners acquire language. These initial representations are transformed into a format that is compatible with language and propositional thought.[13] She suggested that three types of learning mechanisms explain both belief revision and genuine conceptual change: (1) Language and symbol learning; (2) Bayesian inductive learning; and (3) Constructive thinking.[13] She also suggests that infants and young children are active learners, and cognitive agency is part and parcel of development.[13] In addition, she has explored the implications of rational constructivism for philosophy of mind and epistemology.[14]
Awards[edit]
- 2006: Stanton Prize[15] from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.
- 2018: Guggenheim Fellowship[1]
- She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science[16] and is a member of the editorial board for Psychological Science.[17]
- 2020: Fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists.[18]
Selected bibliography[edit]
- Xu, F. (1995) Criteria of Object Individual and Numerical Identity in Infants and Adults: The Object-first Hypothesis. M.I.T.[8]
- Leslie, A., Xu, F., Tremoulet, P, & Scholl, B. (1998)"Indexing and the object concept: developing 'what' and 'where' systems". Trends in Cognitive Sciences.[10]
- Xu, F. & Spelke, S. (2000) "Large number discrimination in 6-month-old infants". Cognition.[9]
- Xu, F., & Tenenbaum, J. B. (2007). Word learning as Bayesian inference. Psychological Review, 114(2), 245–272. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.2.245
- Xu, F. & Garcia, V. (2008). Intuitive statistics by 8-month-old infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (13), 5012-5015 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0704450105
- Xu, F. & Kushnir, T., eds. (2012) Rational Constructivism in Cognitive Development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 43. Academic Press.[19]
- Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (2013) "Infants are rational constructive learners". Current Directions in Psychological Science.[20]
- Xu. F. (2016) "Preliminary thoughts on a rational constructivist approach to cognitive development: primitives, symbols, learning, and thinking". In Core knowledge and concept change. Oxford University Press.[12]
- Fedyk, M. & Xu, F. (2018) "The epistemology of rational constructivism". Review of Philosophy and Psychology.[14]
- Xu, F. (2019) "Towards a rational constructivist theory of cognitive development". Psychological Review.[13]
- Denison, S. & Xu, F. (2019) "Infant statisticians: the origins of reasoning under uncertainty". Perspectives on Psychological Science.[21]
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Fei Xu". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Fei Xu". Berkeley Early Learning Lab. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ^ "Lab Members – Cognitive Development Laboratory". sites.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ "ProActive Disclosure for the Canada Research Chairs (2009) / Divulgation proactive des chaires de recherche du Canada (2009)" (PDF). Canada Research Chairs. September 26, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ Anwar, Yasmin (March 12, 2012). "Scientists tap the genius of babies and youngsters to make computers smarter". UC Berkeley. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ Smilables Inc. (July 29, 2015). "Smilables' Baby Brain Development System To Aid New Parents Draws On Scientific Expertise From Top Universities". PR Newswire. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
- ^ "Lab Manager Position at the Berkeley Early Learning Lab". Duke University.
- ^ a b Xu, Fei (1995). Criteria of Object Individual and Numerical Identity in Infants and Adults: The Object-first Hypothesis. MIT. hdl:1721.1/11135. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
- ^ a b Xu, Fei; Spelke, Elizabeth S. (January 10, 2000). "Large number discrimination in 6-month-old infants". Cognition. 74 (1): B1–B11. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00066-9. PMID 10594312. S2CID 12185314. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ a b Leslie, Alan M.; Xu, Fei; Tremoulet, Patrice D.; Scholl, Brian J. (January 1, 1998). "Indexing and the object concept: developing 'what' and 'where' systems". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2 (1): 10–18. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(97)01113-3. PMID 21244957. S2CID 8612552. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ Xu, Fei (March 31, 2014). "Towards a rational constructivist approach to cognitive development" (Video). UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture. Retrieved March 18, 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ a b Xu, Fei (2016). "Preliminary thoughts on a rational constructivist approach to cognitive development: primitives, symbols, learning, and thinking". In Barner, David; Baron, Andrew Scott (eds.). Core knowledge and concept change (PDF). New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 11–28. ISBN 9780190467630. LCCN 2016014527.
- ^ a b c d Xu, Fei (2019). "Towards a rational constructivist theory of cognitive development". Psychological Review. 126 (6): 841–864. doi:10.1037/rev0000153. PMID 31180701.
- ^ a b Fedyk, Mark; Xu, Fei (November 27, 2017). "The Epistemology of Rational Constructivism". Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 9 (June 2018): 343–362. doi:10.1007/s13164-017-0372-1. S2CID 53641572. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ^ "Prizes". Society for Philosophy and Psychology. November 13, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
- ^ "APS Fellows Elected to SEP". APS Observer. 33 (2). 2020-01-29.
- ^ "2020 Editorial Team". Association for Psychological Science - APS. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ "Five APS Fellows Elected to Society of Experimental Psychologists". Association for Psychological Science - APS. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
- ^ Xu, Fei; Kushnir, Tamar; Benson, Janette B., eds. (2012). Rational Constructivism in Cognitive Development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. Vol. 43. Waltham, Massachusetts: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-397919-3.
- ^ Xu, Fei; Kushnir, Tamar (February 1, 2013). "Infants are rational constructive learners". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 22 (1): 28–32. doi:10.1177/0963721412469396. S2CID 52994806. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ^ Denison, Stephanie; Xu, Fei (June 11, 2019). "Infant Statisticians: The Origins of Reasoning Under Uncertainty". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 14 (4): 499–509. doi:10.1177/1745691619847201. PMID 31185184. S2CID 186203667. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
External links[edit]
- Berkeley Early Learning Lab
- Fei Xu publications indexed by Google Scholar
- Fei Xu as indexed by Neurotree
- Canada Research Chairs
- 20th-century American psychologists
- 21st-century American psychologists
- Asian-American women psychologists
- Cognitive development researchers
- University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni
- Smith College alumni
- People from Beijing
- High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China alumni
- 1969 births
- Living people
- 21st-century American women