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Jenna DiStefano

@jennadistefano.bsky.social
99 followers 143 following 22 posts

Dev Psych PhD candidate @ucdavis | studying the impact of spoken and sign language experience on cog dev 🧠🤟🏼 | formerly @upenn @vanderbilt

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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
What types of toys do 5-7-year-olds find fun and cool these days? I have some funds to buy more toys for kids and siblings who participate in my dissertation study to play with while they’re at the lab. No slime…
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Such a fun episode! 🎙️
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
New ep! 🚨 We chatted with Brown Professor Dave Sobel about the blicket detector, poetry, early-life tragedy, and even his early life of “crime.” 😂 Plus, we chatted about his recent Psychological Review paper on reach tracking and inhibitory control in children. itsinnate.fireside.fm/44
itsinnate.fireside.fm
Staying ahead of the curv[ature deviance] (with Dave Sobel)
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Eliza Bliss-Moreau @eblissmoreau.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
We're currently hiring a new director for the renowned UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain. The director will be appointed as a Professor in our psychology department: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07814
recruit.ucdavis.edu
Director of the Center for Mind and Brain & Professor of Psychology
University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Check out my first solo episode! And wait for more 🤭
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I’m so honored to have been awarded the Duolingo Dissertation Research Grant! 🦉💚 My dissertation explores how language learning mechanisms (statistical learning) unfold across multiple populations of infants, children, and adults, including how attention and prior language experience shape learning.
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
New ep! 🚨 Prof. Tamar Kushnir talks about her academic path & training alongside some of cognitive science’s biggest names such as Prof. Alison Gopnik. Then we chat about her latest third-person belief-revision paper & debate whether associative learning can explain it. itsinnate.fireside.fm/42
itsinnate.fireside.fm
Change starts with believing that things can be different (with Tamar Kushnir)
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Center for Open Science @cos.io · 11/08/2026
COS is announcing important changes to the Open Science Framework (OSF). OSF Projects—used for project collaboration, file mgmt, & storage—is being phased out as an active workspace over the next 6 months. This change does not affect persistence & accessibility of existing public projects. (🧵1/2)
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Hi Bluesky, been a while! I’m trying to learn more about Generalized Additive Models (GAMs). If you have experience with this type of modeling please send me your favorite resources, papers, etc. 🥹 TIA!
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Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · 01/06/2026
Deaf signers read more efficiently (faster with equivalent comprehension) and have wider reading spans than hearing readers. Our new paper shows that reading comprehension skills are positively linked with reading span size only for deaf readers. Open Access: jov.arvojournals.org/article.aspx...
jov.arvojournals.org
Identifying the visual and linguistic sources of reading efficiency: A comparison of individual differences among deaf and hearing readers | JOV | ARVO Journals
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Such a fun one!
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
New ep! 🚨 We chatted with Dr. Viridiana Benitez (viribeni.bsky.social) about her academic journey and mentorship. We also discuss her Current Biology paper, “Predictable Events Enhance Word Learning in Toddlers,” as well as her work on predictability and bilingualism. itsinnate.fireside.fm/36
itsinnate.fireside.fm
The goldilocks of predicability (with Viridiana Benitez)
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
Had an amazing time at my first CDS! Highlights were hearing about all of the awesome bilingualism research at Friday’s talks, the poster sessions, and of course, poutine! 🇨🇦 @cogdevsoc.bsky.social
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 18/03/2026
Great news! It's Innate! is now available on Apple Podcasts! Listen and subscribe here: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
podcasts.apple.com
The It's Innate! Podcast
Education Podcast · Updated Biweekly · Two opinionated developmental cognitive scientists wax theoretical about how infants and children acquire knowledge!
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
We're looking forward to our conversation tomorrow with Dr. Richard Prather (pratherlab.bsky.social) about what it means to apply a critical approach to the cognitive sciences and to releasing the episode shortly thereafter! Don't forget to let us know who you'd like to hear from next!
pratherlab.bsky.social
Richard. (@pratherlab.bsky.social)
This profile requires authentication to view.
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
A little teaser of upcoming guests: 🎉Dr. Richard Prather -- addressing the "homogenous samples" fallacy (pratherlab.bsky.social) 🎉Dr. Viridiana Benitez (viribeni.bsky.social) -- infant statistical learning 🎉Dr. Alessandra Geraci -- innate socio evaluation & sensitivity to ostensive pointing
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 13/03/2026
New ep! 🚨 In the first half, they discuss Jenny’s recent paper showing that children’s number estimates can be influenced by the gender of the person providing the estimate. In the second half, they talk about Deon's recent paper examining children's causal judgements. itsinnate.fireside.fm/34
itsinnate.fireside.fm
"There are only so many experiments one can do!"
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Karen Emmorey @kemmorey.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
The title of this new article by >30 deaf and hearing authors says it all "Avoiding unintended consequences: Science of reading policies have potential to harm deaf children" doi.org/10.1093/jdsa...
doi.org
Avoiding unintended consequences: science of reading policies may harm deaf children
Abstract. Many U.S. policies inspired by the Science of Reading rest on two assumptions: (1) skilled reading always involves automatic mapping between writ
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The It's Innate! Podcast @theitsinnatepc.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
New ep! 🚨 In it, we introduce a new member of our team — Jenna DiStefano (@jennadistefano.bsky.social) — and chat with her about her work — how Infant Directed Speech varies across context. With Jenna as our editor, we may *finally* be able to release episodes regularly! itsinnate.fireside.fm/33
itsinnate.fireside.fm
Finding common ground (with Jenna DiStefano)
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Jesse Niebaum @niebaumjc.bsky.social · 30/01/2026
We're hiring! The Cognition in Context Lab at UC-Davis is recruiting a full-time junior specialist lab coordinator to start in early summer 2026. Go here for more information about the position and how to apply: recruit.ucdavis.edu/JPF07476 Please share and consider applying!
recruit.ucdavis.edu
Junior Specialist- Munakata Lab
University of California, Davis is hiring. Apply now!
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Michelle Perdomo @prosodactyl.bsky.social · 24/11/2025
Vandy CaLL is hiring a Project Manager for early 2026! We're looking for someone that can help manage work on an NSF-funded project investigating how individual differences in cognitive ability and language experience shapes L2 sentence processing. ecsr.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...
ecsr.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com
Project Coordinator - Term
The Communication and Language Lab (https://www.thecommunicationandlanguagelab.com/) in the Department of Psychology and Human Development is looking for a full-time Project Coordinator. The Communica...
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Brianna Hunter @briannakhunter.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
I wrote a paper with some of my favorite people synthesizing the last 25 years of research on my favorite topic: the development of visual attention during infancy 👶👀 doi.org/10.1016/j.in... #infantcognition #development #visualperception #visualattention
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UC Davis @ucdavis.bsky.social · 08/09/2025
Words and gestures help tune infant attention before they can speak. New UC Davis study finds babies focus longer when object labels ("bear") are paired with spatial words ("here"), and even longer when paired with gestures like pointing. ucdav.is/4lYtXgL
A woman and baby sit together reading a colorful book in a cozy room with shelves behind them; text overlay discusses babies' attention and communication cues. Text on image says, “Babies Pay Attention Longest When Words and Gestures Combined.”
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 01/08/2025
When your poster is too big for the board…enjoying my time at #CogSci2025 🧠
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Stand Up for Science! @standupforscience.net · 15/07/2025
NIH slashed 80% of funding for programs that support deaf scientists. The Trump admin's message is clear - exclusion & further marginalization. We reject that. Science is for everyone. Read on for ways to support deaf students in STEM ➡️ zurl.co/H9O12
nature.com
Deaf scientists hit by drastic NIH cuts — the research community must support them
Severe blows to the ‘deaf-scientist pipeline’ must not mean abandoning its best practices. Here is how to support current and future students. Severe blows to the ‘deaf-scientist pipeline’ must not mean abandoning its best practices. Here is how to support current and future students.
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
What’s a bigger win of the week, passing my qualifying exam or throwing my first successful bowl? 🤩
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Bad photo but amazing quote 👏🏻👏🏻 #SRCD2025
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
First symposium of #SRCD2025 off to a great start! Enjoyed @nemeth.bsky.social ‘s discussion about the “cooperative and competitive” relationship between statistical learning and executive functions! Will be taking these thoughts with me 🤔💭
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
Looking forward to presenting some of my current analyses next week at the Bay Area Language Processing Interest Group Meeting! I will be discussing how characteristics of deafness in particular can play a role in working memory and inhibitory control 🧏🏻‍♀️🧠🗣️
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Allie Sinclair @asinclair.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
📣 Across the U.S., cuts to federal funding for health research are projected to cause losses of $16B and 68,500 jobs. How will YOUR area be impacted? Excited to share SCIMaP, a website that our team has created to communicate the impact of funding cuts. #PsychSciSky #MedicalSky scienceimpacts.org
scienceimpacts.org
SCiMaP
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Ellen Roche @ellroche.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Disappeared Tufts Human Dev. PhD student Rumesya Ozturk is also a graduate of Teachers College - she’s a dev. psychologist studying children’s media & prosocial development. She also bakes without recipes and binge-watches cartoons. She is our colleague & she was abducted on the street w/ our tax $.
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
So excited to head to Sacramento soon!
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Jenna DiStefano @jennadistefano.bsky.social · 13/01/2025
My very first first-authored paper is out! We studied how caregivers may adjust the way they communicate with infants based on the specific communicative context they are in, and discuss why these adjustments occur and how they may support language development 🗣️👶🏻 www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Prosodic variation between contexts in infant-directed speech | Journal of Child Language | Cambridge Core
Prosodic variation between contexts in infant-directed speech
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Wyatte Hall @wyattehall.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
Here's a thread detailing my first major and most-cited publication in @anthrodad.bsky.social's Maternal and Child Health Journal "What you dont know can hurt you: The risk of language deprivation by impairing sign language development in deaf children" (2017) link.springer.com/article/10.1... 1/
link.springer.com
What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: The Risk of Language Deprivation by Impairing Sign Language Development in Deaf Children - Maternal and Child Health Journal
A long-standing belief is that sign language interferes with spoken language development in deaf children, despite a chronic lack of evidence supporting this belief. This deserves discussion as poor l...
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