How do infants and young children learn about the world around them? In particular, how do they learn about plants and nature? These overarching questions drive the research carried out by the Lab for Infant Learning and Cognition (LILAC) at UC Santa Barbara, led by Dr. Annie E. Wertz.
We use an interdisciplinary approach to examine social learning and cognitive development in the lab and in naturalistic contexts. We draw on theory and methods from cognitive science, developmental psychology, evolutionary biology, and anthropology. The LILAC opened in the UCSB Department for Psychological and Brain Sciences in 2024. Prior to that, Dr. Wertz pursued this research program with her students and staff in her independent "Naturalistic Social Cognition" Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin, Germany from 2014-2024.