To view all publications from the Language and Cognition Lab, please use Google Scholar, searching for Barbara Landau.

Selected Articles and Book Chapters

If you don’t have online access to these journals through your university library, please contact us at [email protected] for PDFs of specific papers.

Hafri, A., Landau, B., Bonner, M.F., & Firestone, C. (under review). A phone in a basket looks like a knife in a cup: The perception of abstract relations.

Elli, G.V., Bedny, M., Landau, B. (2021). How does a blind person see? Developmental change in applying visual verbs to agents with disabilities. Cognition.

Lakusta, L., Wodzinski, A., Landau, B. (2021). Providing Support for ‘Support’: Parents’ Use of Verbs and Prepositions When Describing Support Configurations to Their Children. Journal of Cognition and Development, 1-10.

Jones, J.D., Cortesa, C., Shelton, A., Landau, B., Khudanpur, S., Hager, G.D. (2021). Fine-grained activity recognition for assembly videos. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 3728-3735.

Davis, E. E., & Landau, B. (2020). Seeing and Believing: The Relationship between Perception and Mental Verbs in Acquisition. Language Learning and Development, 1-21. 

Ferrara, K., Seydell‐Greenwald, A., Chambers, C.E., Newport, E.L., & Landau, B. (2020). Development of bilateral parietal activation for complex visual‐spatial function: Evidence from a visual‐spatial construction task. Developmental Science.

Kim, J.G., Gregory, E., Landau, B., McCloskey, M., Turk-Browne, N.B., & Kastner, S. (2020). Functions of ventral visual cortex after bilateral medial temporal lobe damage. Progress in Neurobiology.

Gleitman, L.R. and Landau, B. (2020). Every Child an Isolate. Sentence First, Arguments Afterward: Essays in Language and Learning, 241.

Lakusta, L., Brucato, M., & Landau, B. (2020). Evidence for a Core Representation for Support in Early Language Development. Language Learning and Development, 180-195.

Bochynska, A., Vulchanova, M., Vulchanov, V., Landau, B. (2020). Spatial language difficulties reflect the structure of intact spatial representation: Evidence from high-functioning autism. Cognitive Psychology.

Bracken, A., Hauss, J., Torsiello, D., Wodzinski, A., Landau, B., & Lakusta, L. (2020). Children’s Mapping of Mechanical Support Spatial Configurations to Language.

Landau, B. (2020). Editor’s Introduction: 2017 Rumelhart Prize Issue Honoring Lila R. Gleitman. Topics in Cognitive Science, 7-21.

Landau, B. (2020). Learning simple spatial terms: Core and more. Topics in Cognitive Science, 91-114.

Ferrara, K., Landau B., Park, S. (2019). Impaired behavioral and neural representation of scenes in Williams syndrome. Cortex, 264-276.

Hafri, A., Landau, B., Bonner, M.F., & Firestone, C. (2019). When a phone in a basket looks like a knife in a cup: Perception and abstraction of visual-spatial relations between objects. Journal of Vision, 160a.

Seydell-Greenwald, A., Pu, S.F., Ferrara, K., Chambers, C.E., Newport, E.L., & Landau B. (2019). Revisiting the Landmark Task as a tool for studying hemispheric specialization: What’s really right? Neuropsychologia, 57-65.

Landau, B. (2019). Space in semantics and cognition. Semantics – Typology, Diachrony and Processing, 341-365.

Rissman, L., Rawlins, K., & Landau, B. (2019). Event Participants and Verbal Semantics: Non-Discrete Structure in English, Spanish and Mandarin. CogSci, 960-966.

Kim, J.G., Gregory, E., Landau, B., McCloskey, M., Turk-Browne, N.B., & Kastner, S. (2019). Functions of ventral visual cortex after bilateral hippocampal loss.

Cortesa, C. S., Jones, J. D., Hager, G. D., Khudanpur, S., Landau, B., & Shelton, A. L. (2018). Constraints and Development in Children’s Block Construction. CogSci 2018 Proceedings, 246-251.

Cortesa, C. S., Jones, J. D., Hager, G. D., Khudanpur, S., Shelton, A. L., & Landau, B. (2017). Characterizing spatial construction processes: Toward computational tools to understand cognition. CogSci 2017 Proceedings, 246-251.

Landau, B. (2016). Update on ‘What’ and ‘where’ in spatial language: A new division of labor for spatial terms. Cognitive Science, 1-30. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12410

Landau, B., Johannes, K., Skordos, D., & Papafragou, A. (2016). Containment and support: Core and complexity in spatial language learning. Cognitive Science, 1-32. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12389

Ferrara, K., Silva, M., Wilson, C. & Landau, B. (2015). Spatial language and the embedded listener model in parents’ input to children. Cognitive Science, 1-34. doi: 10.1111/cogs.12328

Ferrara, K. and Landau, B. (2015). Geometric and featural systems, separable and combined: Evidence from reorientation in people with Williams syndrome. Cognition, 144, 123-133.

Johannes, K., Wang, J., Papafragou, A. & Landau, B. (2015). Similarity and variation in the distribution of spatial expressions across three languages. Proceedings of the 37th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, TX, (pp. 997-1002)

Rissman, L., Rawlins, K. and Landau, B. (2015). Using instruments to understand argument structure: Evidence for gradient representation. Cognition, 142, 266-290.

Lewis, S. and Landau, B. (2015). Language development in children with Williams syndrome: genes, modularity, and the importance of development. In Bavin and Naigles (eds.), The Cambridge Handbook of Child Language, 2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.

Libertus, M., Feigenson, L., Halberda, J., and Landau, B. (2014). Understanding the mapping between numerical approximation and number words: Evidence from Williams syndrome and typical development. Developmental Science. 1-15. doi: 10/1111/desc.12154

Schapiro, A., Gregory, E., Landau, B., McCloskey, M., & Turk-Browne, N., (2014). The necessity of the medial temporal lobe for statistical learning. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 26 (8), 1736-1747. doi:10.1162/jocn_a_00578

Landau, B. & Ferrara, K. (2013). Space and Language in Williams syndrome: Insights from normal development. WIREs Cognitive Science.

Dessalegn, B. & Landau, B. (2013). Interaction between language and vision: It’s momentary, abstract, and it develops.Cognition, 127, 331-344.

Rissman, L., Legendre, G., & Landau, B. (2013). Abstract morphosyntax in two and three year- old children: Evidence from priming. Language Learning and Development, 9(3) 278-292.

Yoshioka, T., Dillon, M.R., Beck, G.C., Rapp, B., & Landau, B. (2013) Tactile localization on digits and hand: Structure and development. Psychological Science, 24(8), 1-11.

Dessalegn, B., Landau, B., & Rapp, B. (2012). Consequences of severe visual-spatial deficits for reading acquisition: Evidence from Williams syndrome. Neurocase, iFirst, 1-20.

Musolino, J. & Landau, B. (2012). Genes, language, and the nature of scientific explanations: The case of Williams syndrome. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 29(1-2), 123-148.

Lakusta, L. & Landau, B. (2012). Language and memory for motion events: Origins of the asymmetry between source and goal paths. Cognitive Science, 36(3), 517-544.

Gregory, E., Landau, B., & McCloskey, M. (2011). Representation of object orientation in children: Evidence from mirror image confusions. Visual Cognition, 19(8), 1035-1062.

Landau, B. (2011). The organization and development of spatial cognition: Insights from Williams syndrome. In J. Burack, R.M. Hodapp, G. Iarocci, & E. Zigler (Eds.), Handbook of Intellectual Disabilities and Development, 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press.

O’Hearn, K., Hoffman, J., & Landau, B. (2011). Small subitizing range in people with Williams syndrome. Visual Cognition, 19(3), 289-312.

O’Hearn, K., Roth, J.K., Courtney, S.M., Luna, B., Street, W., Terwillinger, R., & Landau, B. (2011). Object recognition in Williams syndrome: Uneven ventral stream activation. Developmental Science, 14(3), 549-565.

Lakusta, L, Dessalegn, B., & Landau, B. (2010). Impaired geometric reorientation caused by genetic defect.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(7), 2813-2817.

Musolino, J. & Landau, B. (2010). When theories don’t compete. Response to Thomas, Karaminis, & Knowland’s Commentary on Musolino, Chunyo, and Landau. Language Learning and Development, 6(2), 170-178.

Musolino, J., Chunyo, G., & Landau, B. (2010). Uncovering knowledge of core syntactic and semantic principles in individuals with Williams Syndrome. Language Learning and Development, 6(2), 126-161.

Landau, B., Dessalegn, B., & Goldberg, A.M. (2010). Language and space: Momentary interactions. In P. Chilton and V. Evans (Eds.), Language, cognition and space: The state of the art and new directions. Advances in Cognitive Linguistics Series (Ed, V. Evans, B. Bergen, J. Zinken). London: Equinox Publishing.

O’Hearn, K., Hoffman, J., & Landau, B. (2010). Developmental profiles for multiple object tracking and spatial memory: Typically developing preschoolers and people with Williams syndrome. Developmental Science,13(3), 430-440.

Munnich, E. & Landau, B. (2010). Developmental decline in the acquisition of spatial language. Language Learning and Development, 6(1), 32-59.

Landau, B. (2009). The importance of the nativist-empiricist debate: Thinking about primitives without primitive thinking.Child Development Perspectives, 3(2), 88-90.

Landau, B. & Lakusta, L. (2009). Spatial representation across species: Geometry, language, and maps. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 19(1), 12-19.

Palomares, M., Landau, B., & Egeth, H. (2009). Orientation perception in Williams syndrome: Discrimination and integration. Brain and Cognition, 70(1), 21-30.

Palomares, M., Ogbonna, C., Landau, B. & Egeth, H. (2009). Normal susceptibility to visual illusions in abnormal development: Evidence from Williams Syndrome. Perception, 38(2), 186-199.

O’Hearn, K., Courtney, S., Street, W., & Landau, B. (2008). Working memory impairment in people with Williams syndrome: Effects of delay, task, and stimuli. Brain and Cognition, 69(3), 495-503.

Palomares, M., Landau, B., & Egeth, H. (2008). Visuospatial interpolation in typically developing children and people with Williams Syndrome. Vision Research, 48(23-24), 2439-2450.

Dessalegn, B. & Landau, B. (2008). More than meets the eye: The role of language in binding visual properties.Psychological Science, 19(2), 189-195.

Dilks, D., Hoffman, J.E., & Landau (2008). Vision for perception and vision for action: Normal and unusual development.Developmental Science, 11(4), 474-486.

Landau, B., & Hoffman, J.E. (2007). Explaining selective spatial breakdown in Williams syndrome: Four principles of normal development and why they matter. In J. Plumert and J. Spencer (Eds.), The emerging spatial mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lakusta, L., Wagner, L., O’Hearn, K., & Landau, B. (2007). Conceptual foundations of spatial language: Evidence for goal bias in infants. Language Learning and Development, 3(3), 179-197.

O’Hearn, K. & Landau, B. (2007). Mathematical skill in individuals with Williams syndrome: Evidence from a standardized mathematics battery. Brain and Cognition, 64(3), 238-246.

Landau, B., Hoffman, J.E., & Kurz, N. (2006). Object recognition with severe spatial deficits in Williams syndrome: Sparing and breakdown. Cognition, 100(3), 483-510.

Reiss, J., Hoffman, J.E., & Landau, B. (2005). Motion processing specialization in Williams syndrome. Vision Research, 45(27), 3379-3390.

O’Hearn, K., Landau, B., & Hoffman, J.E. (2005). Multiple object tracking in people with Williams syndrome and in normally developing children. Psychological Science. 16(11), 905-912.

Landau, B. & Hoffman, J.E. (2005). Parallels between spatial cognition and spatial language: Evidence from Williams syndrome. Journal of Memory and Language, 53(2), 163-185.

Landau, B., Hoffman, J.E., Reiss, J.E., Dilks, D., Lakusta, L., & Chunyo, G. (2005). Specialization, breakdown, and sparing in spatial cognition: Lessons from Williams syndrome. In C. Morris, H. Lenhoff, & P. Wang (Eds.), Williams-Beuren syndrome: Research and Clinical Perspectives. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.

Landau, B. & Lakusta, L. (2005). Spatial language and spatial representation: Autonomy and interaction. In M. Kickman & S. Robert (Eds.), Williams-Beuren syndrome: Research and Clinical Perspectives. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins Press.

Lakusta, L. & Landau, B. (2005). Starting at the end: The importance of goals in spatial language. Cognition, 96(1), 1-33.

Georgopoulos, M-A., Georgopoulos, A.P., Kurz, N., & Landau, B. (2004). Figure copying in Williams syndrome and normal subjects. Experimental Brain Research, 157(2), 137-146.

Munnich, E. & Landau, B. (2003). The effect of spatial language on spatial representations: Setting some boundaries. In D. Gentner. & S. Goldin-Meadow (Eds.) Language in mind: Advances in the study of language and thought. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B. (2003). Perceptual units and their mapping with language: How children can (or can’t?) use perception to learn words. In D.G. Hall and S. Waxman (Eds.), Weaving a lexicon. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Landau, B. & Zukowski, A. (2003). Objects, motions, and paths: Spatial language in children with Williams syndrome.Developmental Neuropsychology, 23(1-2), Special Issue: Williams syndrome, 105-137.

Hoffman, J. E., Landau, B., & Pagani, B. (2003). Spatial breakdown in spatial construction: Evidence from eye fixations in children with Williams syndrome. Cognitive Psychology, 46(3), 260-301.

Landau, B. (2002). Spatial cognition. In V. Ramachandran(Ed.), Encyclopedia of the human brain. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Landau, B. (2002). Early experience and cognitive organization. In L. Nadel (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science. Nature Publishing Group, England: Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

Jordan, H., Reiss, J. E., Hoffman, J. E., & Landau, B. (2002). Intact perception of biological motion in the face of profound spatial deficits: Williams syndrome. Psychological Science, 13(2), 162-167.

Smith, L.B., Jones, S.S., Landau, B., Gershkoff-Stowe, L., & Samuelson, L. (2002). Object name learning provides on-the-job training for attention. Psychological Science, 13(1), 13-19.

Munnich, E., Landau, B., & Dosher, B. (2001). Spatial language and spatial representation: A cross-linguistic comparison. Cognition, 81, 171-207.

Landau, B. & Shipley, E. (2001). Labeling patterns and object naming. Developmental Science, 4(1), 109-118.

Landau, B. (2001). Perceptual units and their mapping with language. In T. F. Shipley and P. Kellman (Eds.) From fragments to objects: Segmentation and grouping in vision. Advances in Psychology Series, Elsevier Publishing.

Landau, B. (2000). Language and space. In B. Landau, J. Sabini, J. Jonides, and E. Newport (Eds.), Perception, cognition, and language: Essays in honor of Henry and Lila Gleitman. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.

Landau, B. & Leyton, M. (1999). Perception, object kind, and object naming. Spatial Cognition and Computation, 1(1), 1-29.

Kim, M., Landau, B., & Phillips, C. (1999). Cross-linguistic differences in children’s syntax for locative verbs. In A. Stringfellow (Ed.), Proceedings of the Boston University Conference on Language Development, Vol. 23. Brookline, Mass: Cascadilla Press.

Landau, B., Smith, L., & Jones, S. (1998). Object perception and object naming in early development. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2(1), 19-24.Landau, B. (1998). Nativist perspectives on the acquisition of knowledge. In W. Bechtel & G. Graham (Eds.), A companion to cognitive science. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.

Wright, C.E. & Landau, B. (1998). Language and Action: Current challenges to cognitive theory. In J. Hochberg & J. E. Cutting (Eds.), Handbook of perception and cognition. Perception and cognition at century’s end: History, philosophy, theory. Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

Landau, B., Smith, L., & Jones, S. (1998). Object shape, object function, and object name. Journal of Memory and Language, 36(1): 1-27.

Smith, L., Jones, S., & Landau, B. (1996). Naming in young children: A dumb attentional mechanism? Cognition, 60(2), 143-171.

Landau, B. (1996). Multiple geometric representations of objects in languages and language learners. In P. Bloom, M. Peterson, L. Nadel, & M. Garrett (Eds.), Language and space. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B. (1994). Object shape, object name, and object kind: Representation and development. In D. L. Medin (Ed.),The psychology of learning and motivation, Vol. 31. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Landau, B. (1994). Where’s what and what’s where? The language of objects in space. In L. R. Gleitman & B. Landau (Eds.), Acquisition of the lexicon. Special Issue, Lingua, 92, 259-296. Reprinted by Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B. & Jackendoff, R. (1993). “What” and “where” in spatial language and spatial cognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 16(2), 217-238.

Landau, B., Smith, L., & Jones, S. (1992). Syntactic context and the shape bias in children’s and adults’ lexical learning.Journal of Memory and Language, 31(6), 807-825.

Landau, B., Jones, S., & Smith, L. (1992). Perception, ontology, and naming in young children: Commentary on Soja, Carey, & Spelke. Cognition, 43(1), 85-91

Landau, B. & Stecker, D. (1990). Objects and places: Geometric and syntactic representation in early lexical learning.Cognitive Development, 5(3), 287-312.

Landau, B., Smith, L. B., & Jones, S. (1988). The importance of shape in early lexical learning. Cognitive Development, 3(3), 299-321.

Landau, B. (1986). Early map use as an unlearned ability. Cognition, 22(3), 201-223.

Landau, B., Spelke, E., & Gleitman, H. (1984). Spatial knowledge in a young blind child. Cognition, 16(3), 225-260.

Landau, B., Gleitman, H., & Spelke, E. (1981). Spatial knowledge and geometric representation in a child blind from birth. Science, 213(4513), 1275-1278.

Conference Presentations

Hafri, A., Gleitman, L.R., Landau, B., & Trueswell., J.C. (2021). When word and world meet: Intuitive correspondence between visual and linguistic symmetry. Talk to be presented at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Davis, E. E., Jones, J. J., McKee, K., Shelton, A. L., & Landau, B. (2021). The importance of stability in children’s and adults’ block building. Poster to be presented at the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Pasquinelli, R., Lakusta, L., Landau, B. (2021). Adults and children use physics to guide language use. Women of Whiting Women in Stem Symposium, virtual.

Pasquinelli, R., Lakusta, L., Landau, B. (2020). Will it fall? Is it on? Children and adults use physical knowledge to inform linguistic expressions of support relations. The International Congress of Infant Studies, virtual.

Davis, E. E., & Landau, B. Seeing vs. Seeing That: Children’s Understanding of Direct Perception and Inference Reports. Talk: Experiments in Linguistic Meaning 1 (Virtual), 2020.

Davis, E. E., & Landau, B. What counts as seeing? Young children’s understanding of perceptual reports. Poster: Annual Virtual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2020.

Hafri, A., Landau, B., Bonner, M.F., & Firestone, C. (2019). When a phone in a basket looks like a knife in a cup: Perception and abstraction of visual-spatial relations between objects. Poster presented at the 2019 Vision Sciences Society Annual Meeting, St. Pete Beach, Florida, 2019

Davis, E. E., & Landau, B. Seeing vs. Seeing That: Interpreting reports of direct perception and inference. Talk: MACSIM 8, New York, NY, 2019.

Davis, E. E., & Landau, B. Seeing vs. Seeing That: Children’s understanding of syntactic markers of perception and inference. Poster: 2019 Biennial Meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Baltimore, MD, 2019.

Davis, E. E., & Landau, B. Does see that help children learn think that? The intersection of perception and mental verbs in development. Poster: Boston University Conference on Language Development, Boston, MA, 2018.

Books and Special Issues

Landau, B. (Ed.) (2013). Understanding cognitive development: Approaches from mind and brain. Oxfordshire: Psychology Press.

Landau, B. & Hoffman, J.E. (2012). Spatial representation: From gene to mind. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Landau, B. (Ed.) (2012). Understanding cognitive development: Approaches from mind and brain. Special Issue of Cognitive Neuropsychology, Vol. 29, Issues 1–2 (February and March 2012).

Landau, B., Sabini, J., Jonides, J., & Newport, E. (Eds.) (2000). Perception, cognition, and language: Essays in honor of Henry and Lila Gleitman. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Gleitman, L.R. & Landau, B. (Eds.) (1994). Acquisition of the lexicon. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Landau, B. & Gleitman, L.R. (1985). Language and experience: Evidence from the blind child. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.