RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Below is a list of recent publications from the lab. Personal copies are happily shared freely upon request (skucker@smu.edu)

PUBLICATIONS

Kucker, S.C., Jhaveri, S., Guevara, O., & Chmielewski, C. (in press). Measuring individual differences in experimental studies: A thin slice approach to capturing temperament in infants and toddlers. Developmental Psychology, online ahead of print. DOI: 10.1037/dev0001866

Lorenz, M.G., & Kucker, S.C. (2025). To touch or not to touch: The role of object exploration and vocabulary in generalization and retention. Infancy, 30(1), e12632. DOI: 10.1111/infa.12632.

Kucker, S.C. (2024). Developing language in a digital world. Trends in Cognitive Science, 28(10), 871-873. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2024.08.001

Jones, I.J., Kucker, S.C., Perry, L.K., & Grice, J. (2024). Capturing the heterogeneity of word learners by analyzing persons. Behavioral Sciences, 14(8), 708. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs14080708

Kucker, S.C., McMurray, B., & Samuelson, L.K. (2024). Examining the incremental process of word learning: Word-form exposure supports retention of new word-referent mappings. Language Development Research, 4(1), 326-360. http://doi.org/10.34842/3ppz-g170

Kucker, S.C. & Schneider, L.M. (2024). Social interactions offset the detrimental effects of digital media use on children’s vocabulary. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, https://doi.org/10.3389/fdpys.2024.1401736

Kucker, S.C., Perry, L.K., & Barr, R. (2024). Variability and patterns in infant media use and links with language development. Acta Paediatrica, 113(5), 1032-1039. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.17100

Suh, B., Kirkorian, H., Barr, R., Kucker, S.C., Torres, C., & Radesky, J.S. (2024). Measuring parents' regulatory media use for themselves and their children. Frontiers in Developmental Psychology, early view. https://doi.org/10.3389/fdpys.2024.1377998

Melnick, L.M. & Kucker, S.C. (2023). The influence of shyness on language assessment. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 66(9), 3588-3605, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1044/2023_JSLHR-22-00362

Kucker, S.C., Braun, B., & Markham-Anderson, J.A. (2023). Margarita glasses and high heels: How attention to shape, age, and vocabulary impacts children's recognition of typical and atypical exemplars. Child Development, 94(3), 603-616. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13883

Kucker, S.C. & Seidler, E. (2023). The timescales of word learning in children with language delays: In-the-moment mapping, retention, and generalization. Journal of Child Language, 50(2), 245-273. https://www.doi.org/10.1017/S0305000921000817

Mulwa, K., & Kucker, S.C. (2022). Coding social interactions in naturalistic settings: The Taxonomy of Dyadic Conversation. Behavioral Research Methods, early view. DOI: 10.3758/s13428-022-02033-w

Perry, L.K., Kucker, S.C., Horst, J.S., & Samuelson, L.K. (2022). Late bloomer or language disorder? Differences in toddler vocabulary structure associated with long-term language outcomes. Developmental Science, https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13342

Kucker, S.C. & Perry, L.K. (2022). When reading is harder than a mother kucker: The effect of orthographic neighbor taboo-ness on novel word pronunciation. Current Psychology. DOI: 10.1007/s12144-022-03820-6

Kucker, S.C. & Chmielewski, M. (2022). Yes, but…We need reliability to advance infant

work, but there’s more to consider too: Important nuances of reliability and the need to include validity. Infant and Child Development, 31(5), e2325. http://doi.org/10.1002/icd.2325

Rocha-Hidalgo, J., Feller, M., Blanchfield, O.A., Kucker, S.C, & Barr, R. (2021). Patterns of mutual exclusivity and retention: A study of monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds. Infancy, 26(6), 1011-1036. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12432

Perry, L.K., Meltzer, A.L., & Kucker, S.C. (2021). Vocabulary development and the shape bias in children with hearing loss. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 64(9), 3520-3532. https://doi.org/10.1044/2021_JSLHR-21-00003

Kucker, S.C., Zimmerman, C., & Chmielewski, M. (2021). Taking parent personality and child temperament into account in child language development. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 39(4), 540-565. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12379

Kucker, S.C. (2021). Processes and pathways in development via digital media: Examples from word learning. Infant Behavior and Development, 63, 101559. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101559

Kucker, S.C., McMurray, B., & Samuelson, L.K. (2020). Sometimes it is better to know less: How known words influence referent selection and retention in 18- to 24-month-old children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 189, 104705. doi: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104705

Chmielewski, M. & Kucker, S.C. (2020). An MTurk crisis? Shifts in data quality and the impact on study results. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(4), 464-473. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550619875149

Kucker, S.C. (2019). How to learn a word: The dynamic coupling of words and referents in real and developmental time. Invited chapter for P. Hagoort (Ed). Human Language: From Genes and Brains to Behavior. MIT Press.

Perry, L.K., & Kucker, S.C. (2019). The heterogeneity of word learning biases in late talking children. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 62(3), 554-563. https://doi.org/10.1044/2019_JSLHR-L-ASTM-18-0234

Kucker, S.C., Samuelson, L.K., Perry, L.K., Yoshida, H., Colunga, E., Lorenz, M.G., & Smith, L.B. (2018). Reproducibility and a unifying explanation: Lessons from the shape bias. Infant Behavior and Development, 54, 156-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2018.09.011

Kucker, S.C., McMurray, B., & Samuelson, L.K. (2018). Too much of a good thing: How novelty biases and vocabulary influence familiar and novel referent selection in 18-month-old children and associative models. Cognitive Science, 42, 463-493. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12610

Samuelson, L.K., Kucker, S.C., & Spencer, J. (2017). Moving word learning to a novel space: A dynamic systems view of referent selection and retention. Cognitive Science, 41(S1),52-72. https://doi.org/10.1111/cogs.12369

Kucker, S.C., McMurray, B., & Samuelson, L.K. (2015). Slowing down fast mapping: Redefining the dynamics of word learning. Child Development Perspectives, 9(2), 74-78. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12110

McMurray, B., Zhao, L., Kucker, S.C., & Samuelson, L.K. (2013). Pushing the envelope of associative learning: Internal representations and dynamic competition transform association into development. Invited chapter for L. Gogate and G. Hollich (Eds). Theoretical and Computational Models of Word Learning: Trends in Psychology and Artificial Intelligence. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Kucker, S.C., & Samuelson, L.K. (2012). The first slow step: Differential effects of object and word-form familiarization on retention of fast-mapped words. Infancy, 17(3), 295-232. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-7078.2011.00081.x

Horst, J.S., Samuelson, L.K., Kucker, S.C., & McMurray, B. (2011). What’s new? Children prefer novelty in referent selection. Cognition, 118(2), 234-244. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2010.10.015