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Biography
Background
I earned by BSc in Cognitive Science at Carnegie Mellon University, and my PhD in Psychology at Duke University with Prof. Amy Needham. From there, I took a postdoctoral position with Prof. Mark Johnson at the Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development at University of London studying infant brain development. Recently, I moved to Swinburne University of Technology where my group has established Australia’s first infant cognitive neuroscience laboratory.
Research Interests
My main scientific interest can be summarised by the following question: how does the mental world of the infant differ from that of children and adults? My research uses a multi-disciplinary approach which includes: electrophysiological (EEG) methods to measure brain activity related to cognitive processing, an infrared eye-tracking system to examine spatial sequence learning, behavioural methods including measuring infant habituation to various stimulus types (actual objects, computer animations, videotaped recordings, etc), and thorough literature reviews to form specific and testable hypothesis.
Teaching
Developmental Psychology Neuroscience Methods
Research Interests
Developmental cognitive neuroscience Object processing Spatial cognition Cognitive, social and brain development in infants Early markers for atypical development (e.g., for Autism and Schizophrenia)
Publications Include
Mercure, E., Dick. F., Kaufman, J. & Johnson, M.H. (in press). Differential lateralization for words and faces: Category or psychophysics. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience. Southgate, V., Csibra, G., Kaufman, J., & Johnson, M. H. (2008). Distinct processing of objects and faces in the infant brain. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 20, 741-749. Kaufman, J., Gilmore, R.O. & Johnson, M. H. (2006). Frames of Reference for Anticipatory Action in 4-Month-Old Infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 29, 322-333. Kaufman, J., Csibra, G. & Johnson, M. H. (2005). Oscillatory activity in the infant brain reflects object maintenance. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 102(42), 5271-5274. Reid, V.M., Striano, T., Kaufman, J. & Johnson, M.H. (2004). Eye gaze cueing facilitates neural processing of objects in 4-month-old infants. Neuroreport, 15(16), 2553-2555. Kaufman, J., Csibra, G., & Johnson, M. H. (2003). Representing occluded objects in the human infant brain. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (Suppl.), Biology Letters, 270/S2, 140-143. Kaufman, J., Mareschal, D. & Johnson, M. H. (2003). Graspability andobject processing in infants. Infant Behavior and Development, 26, 516-528.
Professional Association Memberships
American Psychological Society International Society for Infant Studies Society for Research in Child Development
Other Projects
Communications Manager, Brain Sciences Institute