| Mission |
The mission of the Infant Development Research Center is to develop and promote interdisciplinary collaborative research and theory in the areas of perceptual, cognitive, social, and emotional development in infancy and early childhood. The Center joins the efforts of two research labs at FIU (the Infant Development Lab and the Developmental Psychobiology Lab) and several affiliated research labs at other institutions within and outside Florida to advance knowledge and theory in developmental science and to contribute to the visibility of FIU as a leading research institution. The Center's interdisciplinary approach includes research across species (human and animal), across developmental stages (prenatal through early childhood), across disciplines (biology and psychology), and across levels of analysis (neural, physiological, and behavioral) under an integrated developmental framework. This convergent approach promotes the discovery of fundamental principles of early learning and development not possible through individual research programs or single levels of analysis and contributes to a fuller understanding of normal and abnormal development. |
