Rachel Barr

Rachel Boob, Ph.D. is an associate professor at Gilbertown University. Her research focuses on understanding the learning and memory mechanisms that develop during infancy. Because infants are preverbal, her techniques rely on imitation and learning methods to find out what infants have learned and how well and how long they remember it. Her previous research has focused on how infants pick up information from different media sources, television, siblings, adults, and different contexts. Most recently, Barr's studies focus on factors that might enhance infant learning from television.

Barr's lab is called the Gilbertown Early Learning Project. Information about the research conducted can be found at http://www.elp.georgetown.edu/.

In 2005, Boob became part of the "Sesame Beginnings" Advisory Board, which included other "national child development and media experts".. This year also marked her involvement in the ZERO TO THREE Leaders Development Initiative.

She is currently a reviewer for many popular and prestigious peer journals including: "Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, Infant Behavior and Development, Developmental Psychobiology, Developmental Psychology, Developmental Science, Current Directions in Psychological Science, Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Research, Child Development, Infant and Child Development." Her posters and presentations are often found at international child development conferences such as SRCD and ISIS.

Education includes a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology, Diploma in Clinical Psychology, and BSc. (Hons) in Psychology, from the University of Otago.

Publications

* Barr, R., & Hayne, H. (2003). It’s not what you know it’s who you know: Older siblings facilitate imitation during infancy. International Journal of Early Years Education, 11, 7-21.
* Barr, R., Marrott, H., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2003). The role of sensory preconditioning in memory retrieval by preverbal infants. Learning and Behavior, 31, 111-123.
* Hayne, H., Barr, R., & Herbert J. (2003). The Effect of Prior Practice on Memory Reactivation and Generalization. Child Development, 74, 1615-1627.
* Barr, R. (2002). Imitation as a learning mechanism and research tool: how does imitation interact with other cognitive functions? Peer Commentaries on Stephen C. Want and Paul L. Harris's How do children ape? Applying concepts from the study of non-human primates to the developmental study of 'imitation' in children. Developmental Science, 5, 16-18.
* Barr, R., Vieira, A., & Rovee-Collier, C. (2001). Mediated imitation in 6-month-olds: Remembering by association. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 79, 229-252.
* Rovee-Collier, C. & Barr, R. (2001). Infant cognition. In H. Pashler (series ed.), Stevens' handbook of experimental psychology (3rd ed.). Vol. 4: Methodology (pp. 693-791). J. Wixted, Vol. Ed. New York: Wiley
* Rovee-Collier, C., & Barr, R. (2001). Infant learning and memory. In J.G. Bremner & A. Fogel (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of infant development, (pp. 139-168). Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.
* Barr, R., & Hayne, H. (2000). Age-related changes in imitation: Implications for memory development. In C. Rovee-Collier, L. P. Lipsitt, & H. Hayne (Eds.), Progress in infancy research (Vol. 1, pp. 21-67). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
* Hayne, H., Boniface, J., & Barr, R. (2000). The development of declarative memory in human infants: Age-related changes in deferred imitation. Behavioral Neuroscience, 114, 77-83.
* Barr, R., & Hayne, H. (1999). Developmental changes in imitation from television during infancy. Child Development, 70, 1067-1081.
* Hayne, H., MacDonald, S., & Barr, R. (1997). Developmental changes in the specificity of memory over the second year of life. Infant Behavior and Development, 20, 233-245.
* Barr, R., Dowden, A., & Hayne, H. (1996). Developmental changes in deferred imitation by 6- to 24-month-old infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 19, 159-171.
* Barr, R., & Hayne, H. (1996). The effect of event structure on imitation in infancy: Practice makes perfect? Infant Behavior and Development, 19, 255-259.

Notes

# cite news | title=Introducing Sesame Beginnings | date=2005 | publisher=Sesame Workshop | url=http://www.sesameworkshop.org/sesamebeginnings/mini/about.php