Center for Child & Family Policy | Duke University

Makeba P. Wilbourn

Assistant Professor of Psychology & Neuroscience and Affiliate of the Center for Child and Family Policy

Makeba Wilbourn's program of research explores how the relationship between cognition and language changes over time and the types of input (e.g., gestures, bilingualism) that influence this relationship.

In general, her research addresses three key theoretical questions. First, how does cognition influence language early in development? In particular, she is interested in how infants and toddlers’ developing cognitive and perceptual skills lay the foundation for early word learning and how this changes as a function of input and experience. Second, how does language come to influence cognition in children and adults? In this line of research, she is interested in determining how various types of linguistic and cultural experiences affect the cognitive abilities of monolinguals and bilinguals throughout development. Finally, how does the use of gesture influence the relationship between cognition and language? This area of research focuses on the relationship between early gesture use and later language development and how this relationship is influenced by socio-cultural factors, such as race and socioeconomic status.

Research Interests:
Child Development, Early Childhood, Cognitive Neuroscience

Education:

• Ph.D. Cornell University - 2008
• M.A. California State University, Fullerton - 2001
• B.A. California State University, Fullerton - 1997

Teaching Spring 2024:

• PSY 435S.01, ROLE RACE/CULTURE ON DEVL Synopsis
  Reuben-Coo 319, Th 11:45 AM-02:15 PM
• PSY 496.01, DISTINCTION THESIS WORKSHOP Synopsis
  Reuben-Coo 319, Th 03:20 PM-05:50 PM
• PSY 496.02, DISTINCTION THESIS WORKSHOP Synopsis
  Reuben-Coo 128, Tu 03:20 PM-05:50 PM

• PSY 103.01, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Synopsis
  Online ON, MTuTh 12:30 PM-02:35 PM

• PSY 103D.001, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Synopsis
  Reuben-Coo 130, MW 11:45 AM-01:00 PM
• PSY 103D.01D, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Synopsis
  Reuben-Coo 127, M 01:40 PM-02:30 PM
• PSY 103D.02D, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Synopsis
  Social Sciences 124, Tu 01:40 PM-02:30 PM
• PSY 103D.03D, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Synopsis
  Reuben-Coo 127, M 03:20 PM-04:10 PM
• PSY 103D.04D, DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY Synopsis
  Allen 326, Tu 03:20 PM-04:10 PM
• PSY 727S.01, DEV PSYCH THEORY Synopsis
  Reuben-Coo 319, Th 01:25 PM-03:55 PM

Representative Publications   (More Publications)

1. Wilbourn, MP; Casasola, M (2012). Hand me a cue: Developmental changes in infants’ associative word learning abilities. Developmental Psychology.


2. Kalia, V; Wilbourn, MP; Ghio, K (2012). Age of second language acquisition and language proficiency interactively influence bilinguals’ cognition. Bilingualism: Cognition & Language.


3. Robertson, SR; Watamura, SE; Wilbourn, MP (2012). Attentional dynamics of infant visual foraging. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 109(28), 11460-11464. [doi]  [abs]


4. Wilbourn, MP; Sims, JP (2013). Get by with a little help from a word: Multimodal input facilitates 26-month-olds' ability to learn symbolic gestures as labels. Journal of Cognition and Development, 14(2), 250-269. [doi]  [abs]


5. Wilbourn, MP; Kurtz, LE; Kalia, V (2012). The Lexical Stroop Sort (LSS) picture-word task: a computerized task for assessing the relationship between language and executive functioning in school-aged children.. Behavior research methods, 44(1), 270-286. [21853409], [doi]  [abs]


6. Wilbourn, MP; Gottfried, AW; Kee, DW (2011). Consistency of hand-preference across the early years: long-term relationship to verbal intelligence and reading achievement in girls.. Developmental psychology, 47(4), 931-942. [21574699], [doi]  [abs]


7. Wilbourn, MP; Casasola, M (2007). Discriminating signs: perceptual precursors to acquiring a visual-gestural language.. Infant behavior & development, 30(1), 153-160. [doi]  [abs]


8. Casasola, M; Wilbourn, MP; Yang, S (2006). Can English-learning toddlers acquire and generalize a novel spatial word?. First Language, 26(2), 187-205. [doi]  [abs]


9. Casasola, M; Wilbourn, MP (2004). Fourteen-month-old infants form novel word-spatial relation associations. Infancy, 6(3), 385-396.  [abs]


10. Gottfried, A.W., Gottfried, A.E., Bathurst, K., Guerin, D.W., & Parramore, M.(2003). "Socioeconomic status in children’s development and family environment: Infancy through adolescence. In M. Bornstein & R. Bradley (Eds.)." Socioeconomic status, parenting, and child development. Mahway, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.


11. Hersberger, S., Marcoulides, G., & Parramore, M. (2002). "Introduction to structural equation modeling techniques. In Pugesek, B., Tomer, A., von Eye, A. (Eds.)." Structural equation modeling: Applications in ecological and evolutionary research. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.

Curriculum Vitae