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The Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (formerly known as The Center for Mind, Brain and Learning) was established at the University
of Washington (UW) in Seattle to conduct innovative scientific research
on early learning and the brain. Its international team of scientists
investigates fundamental questions about why the first five years of life
are so primed for learning and so important for later development.
Drawing
on the expertise of faculty researchers in developmental psychology, speech
and language science, neuroscience, computer science, education, and genetics,
the Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences encourages interdisciplinary collaboration
in order to advance basic research and span the gap between the science
and the practice of learning. The center researchers are all UW faculty
members or visiting faculty recruited for this enterprise due to their international
repute.
The center is co-directed by Patricia
K. Kuhl and Andrew
N. Meltzoff. Throughout their 25 years of research they have been deeply
committed to sharing scientific discoveries with parents, educators, policymakers,
and the private sector. Towards this end, Meltzoff and Kuhl recently co-authored
The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us about the Mind,
which has had an impact both nationally and internationally. Kuhl, an expert
on language and the brain, has been a featured speaker at two White
House conferences. Meltzoff, an expert on cognitive and social development,
has had his discoveries featured on television science documentaries, in
museums, and in the media worldwide. Together, Kuhl and Meltzoff have been
instrumental in revolutionizing our ideas about the developing mind and
brain, with far-reaching implications for transforming early education.
Their research and that of others in the Institute is devoted to helping society
maximize the potential of every child.
Initial funding was provided by the Talaris Research Institute.The work of individual scientists is also
supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, the National
Science Foundation, the Human Frontiers Science Program, and the William
P. and Ruth Gerberding Professorship Fund.
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