Carolyn Rovee-Collier

            Carolyn Rovee-Collier, a world-renowned cognitive development expert, not only discovered mobile conjunctive reinforcement, but she completely changed the way that psychologists considered the learning habits and memory of infants. Her breakthrough came from the experiences she had with her own eldest son. As she worked on her thesis for grad school, she would keep her son occupied and content with the mobile above him. Eventually, she tied a ribbon around her son’s ankle and attached it to the mobile so that he could power the movements of the mobile himself using his kicks. After a few times of Carolyn doing that, he “would start to kick before the ribbon was attached to his ankle” (Rutgers). This instilled the idea in her that infants can learn and remember things. 

            Her findings completely altered the way that psychologists looked at the way that infants learn and how their memory works. She also played a large part in the understanding of “how early experience affects later behavior” (FABBS), as well as finding out that babies remember things from months beforehand after being exposed to the old stimulus. Needless to say, she played a large part in the way that psychologists and the public consider the learning capacity and memory skills of infants.

References

Rutgers. (n.d.). About the psychology department: Carolyn Rovee-Collier. Retrieved from https://psych.rutgers.edu/faculty-emeriti/496-obituary-for-carolyn-rovee-collier (accessed March 4, 2019).

Federation of Associations in Behavioral & Brain Sciences (FABBS). (n.d.). In memory of… Carolyn Rovee-Collier. Retrieved from https://fabbs.org/our_scientists/carolyn-rovee-collier-phd/ (accessed March 4, 2019).