Fei Xu

Fei Xu
徐绯
Born	1969 (age 54–55) Beijing, China
Nationality	American
Occupation	Professor of Psychology
Years active	1995–present
Academic background
Education	Ph.D. in Cognitive Science
Alma mater	Smith College (B.A. 1991) M.I.T. (Ph.D. 1995)
Thesis	Criteria of Object Individual and Numerical Identity in Infants and Adults: The Object-first Hypothesis (1995)
Doctoral advisor	Susan Carey
Academic work
Discipline	Psychologist
Sub-discipline	Developmental psychology Cognitive science Bayesian cognitive science
Institutions	Northeastern University (1997–2003) University of British Columbia (2003–2009) UC Berkeley (2009–present)

Fei Xu (Chinese: 徐绯; pinyin: Xú Fēi; born 1969) is an American developmental psychologist and cognitive scientist who is currently a professor of psychology and the director of the Berkeley Early Learning Lab at UC Berkeley. Her research focuses on cognitive and language development, from infancy to middle childhood.^[1]

Early life

Xu was born and raised in Beijing, China, where she graduated from the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China.^[2] She moved to the U.S. and attended Smith College, graduating in 1991 with a B.A. in Cognitive Science.^[2] She earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from M.I.T. in 1995.^[2]

Career

Xu began her career as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and M.I.T. under Alan M. Leslie.^[3][2] She joined Northeastern University as an assistant professor in 1997.^[2] In 2003, she moved to Vancouver to be an associate professor at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and was awarded the Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Science.^[2] She was a visiting professor at UC Berkeley in 2007–2008, then returned to UBC.^[2][4] In 2009, she joined the UC Berkeley Department of Psychology as a Professor, where she is also the director of the school's Early Learning Lab.^[2][5][6][7]

Research

Xu worked with several prominent developmental and cognitive psychologists early in her career. She worked with Susan Carey for her Ph.D. research on object individuation, sortal concepts, and early word learning.^[8] She worked with Elizabeth Spelke as a postdoctoral fellow, focusing on prelinguistic infants’ representation of numbers.^[2][9] She also worked with Alan Leslie at Rutgers University on infants’ object concept.^[10]

Inspired by a philosophical analysis of sortals/kind concepts, Xu developed a new method for studying how infants track objects over time and how they establish representations of multiple objects in an event (i.e., object individuation). She found that it is not until about 12 months of age that infants are able to use the differences between, for example, a toy duck and a ball to decide that there are two objects in an event, perhaps because infants did not represent the objects as belonging to two different kinds (i.e., duck and ball).^{[11][12][13][14]} Furthermore, learning words for object kinds may play a critical role in object individuation and the developmental of kind concepts.^[15][16][17]

In another line of work, Xu investigated whether prelinguistic infants can estimate numbers. She found that 6-month-old infants can discriminate between an array of 8 dots and 16 dots, but not between an array of 8 dots and 12 dots. That is, infants have a number sense, like many other non-human animals. The number sense is a number estimation system that is evolutionarily old and is distinct from our verbal counting system.^[18][19][20]

Xu’s lab has also published research on early inductive learning mechanisms. They found that 6-, 8-, and 11-month-old infants have a rudimentary understanding of probability, and they can use this understanding to make inferences about the physical and psychological world. When an infant is shown an experimenter (with her eyes closed) randomly picking 4 red and 1 white ping-pong balls from a box, infants infer that the box must contain a majority of red ping-pong balls and a minority of white ping-pong balls.^[21][22]

Taking an interdisciplinary, cognitive science approach to the study of learning and development, Xu and her collaborators have developed computational models – Bayesian probabilistic models – on word learning, object perception, preference attribution, question-asking, infants' surprise, and hypothesis generation.^{[23][24][25][26][27]}

Beginning in the 2010s, Xu advocated for a new approach to the study of cognitive development, namely rational constructivism.^[28][29] She argued that human infants begin life with a set of proto-conceptual primitives such as object, number, and agent, and as young learners acquire language, these initial representations are transformed into a format that is compatible with language and propositional thought.^[30] She suggested that three types of learning mechanisms explain both belief revision and genuine conceptual change: (1) Language and symbol learning; (2) Bayesian inductive learning; and (3) Constructive thinking.^[30] She also suggests that infants and young children are active learners, and cognitive agency is part and parcel of development.^[30] In addition, she has explored the implications of rational constructivism for philosophy of mind and epistemology.^[31]

Awards

• 2006: Stanton Prize^[32] from the Society for Philosophy and Psychology.
• 2018: Guggenheim Fellowship^[1]
• She is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science^[33] and is a member of the editorial board for Psychological Science.^[34]
• 2020: Fellow of the Society of Experimental Psychologists.^[35]             

Selected bibliography

• Xu, F. (1995) Criteria of Object Individual and Numerical Identity in Infants and Adults: The Object-first Hypothesis. M.I.T.^[8]
• Leslie, A., Xu, F., Tremoulet, P, & Scholl, B. (1998)"Indexing and the object concept: developing 'what' and 'where' systems". Trends in Cognitive Sciences.^[10]
• Xu, F. & Spelke, S. (2000) "Large number discrimination in 6-month-old infants". Cognition.^[9]
• Xu, F., & Tenenbaum, J. B. (2007). Word learning as Bayesian inference. Psychological Review, 114(2), 245–272.^[23]
• Xu, F. & Garcia, V. (2008). Intuitive statistics by 8-month-old infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105 (13), 5012-5015^[22]
• Xu, F. & Kushnir, T., eds. (2012) Rational Constructivism in Cognitive Development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 43. Academic Press.^[36]
• Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (2013) "Infants are rational constructive learners". Current Directions in Psychological Science.^[37]
• Xu. F. (2016) "Preliminary thoughts on a rational constructivist approach to cognitive development: primitives, symbols, learning, and thinking". In Core knowledge and concept change. Oxford University Press.^[29]
• Fedyk, M. & Xu, F. (2018) "The epistemology of rational constructivism". Review of Philosophy and Psychology.^[31]
• Xu, F. (2019) "Towards a rational constructivist theory of cognitive development". Psychological Review.^[30]
• Denison, S. & Xu, F. (2019) "Infant statisticians: the origins of reasoning under uncertainty". Perspectives on Psychological Science.^[38]

References

1. "Fei Xu". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
2. "Fei Xu". Berkeley Early Learning Lab. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
3. "Lab Members – Cognitive Development Laboratory". sites.rutgers.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
4. "ProActive Disclosure for the Canada Research Chairs (2009) / Divulgation proactive des chaires de recherche du Canada (2009)" (PDF). Canada Research Chairs. September 26, 2011. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
5. Anwar, Yasmin (March 12, 2012). "Scientists tap the genius of babies and youngsters to make computers smarter". UC Berkeley. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
6. Smilables Inc. (July 29, 2015). "Smilables' Baby Brain Development System To Aid New Parents Draws On Scientific Expertise From Top Universities". PR Newswire. Retrieved March 22, 2021.
7. "Lab Manager Position at the Berkeley Early Learning Lab". Duke University. Archived from the original on 2021-03-22. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
8. Xu, Fei (1995). Criteria of Object Individual and Numerical Identity in Infants and Adults: The Object-first Hypothesis (Thesis). MIT. hdl:1721.1/11135. Retrieved March 16, 2021.
9. Xu, Fei; Spelke, Elizabeth S. (January 10, 2000). "Large number discrimination in 6-month-old infants". Cognition. 74 (1): B1–B11. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(99)00066-9. PMID 10594312. S2CID 12185314. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
10. Leslie, Alan M.; Xu, Fei; Tremoulet, Patrice D.; Scholl, Brian J. (January 1, 1998). "Indexing and the object concept: developing 'what' and 'where' systems". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 2 (1): 10–18. doi:10.1016/S1364-6613(97)01113-3. PMID 21244957. S2CID 8612552. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
11. Xu, Fei (1997). "From Lot's Wife to a Pillar of Salt: Evidence that Physical Object is a Sortal Concept". Mind & Language. 12 (3–4): 365–392. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0017.1997.tb00078.x.
12. Xu, Fei (September 2007). "Sortal concepts, object individuation, and language". Trends in Cognitive Sciences. 11 (9): 400–406. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2007.08.002. PMID 17698404. S2CID 2058140.
13. Xu, Fei; Carey, Susan (April 1996). "Infants' Metaphysics: The Case of Numerical Identity". Cognitive Psychology. 30 (2): 111–153. doi:10.1006/cogp.1996.0005. PMID 8635312. S2CID 1756983.
14. Xu, Fei; Carey, Susan; Quint, Nina (September 2004). "The emergence of kind-based object individuation in infancy". Cognitive Psychology. 49 (2): 155–190. doi:10.1016/j.cogpsych.2004.01.001. PMID 15304370. S2CID 14560401.
15. Dewar, Kathryn; Xu, Fei (February 2009). "Do early nouns refer to kinds or distinct shapes? Evidence from 10-month-old infants". Psychological Science. 20 (2): 252–257. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02278.x. PMID 19175526. S2CID 29859477.
16. Xu, Fei (October 2002). "The role of language in acquiring object kind concepts in infancy". Cognition. 85 (3): 223–250. doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(02)00109-9. PMID 12169410. S2CID 7820397.
17. Xu, Fei; Cote, Melissa; Baker, Allison (May 2005). "Labeling guides object individuation in 12-month-old infants". Psychological Science. 16 (5): 372–377. doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01543.x. PMID 15869696. S2CID 22705130.
18. Xu, Fei (August 2003). "Numerosity discrimination in infants: evidence for two systems of representations". Cognition. 89 (1): B15–B25. doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(03)00050-7. PMID 12893126. S2CID 10728486.
19. Xu; Spelke, Elizabeth S. (January 10, 2000). "Large number discrimination in 6-month-old infants". Cognition. 74 (1): B1–B11. doi:10.1016/s0010-0277(99)00066-9. PMID 10594312. S2CID 12185314.
20. Xu, Fei; Spelke, Elizabeth S.; Goddard, Sydney (January 2005). "Number sense in human infants". Developmental Science. 8 (1): 88–101. doi:10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00395.x. PMID 15647069.
21. Denison, Stephanie; Xu, Fei (July 2019). "Infant Statisticians: The Origins of Reasoning Under Uncertainty". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 14 (4): 499–509. doi:10.1177/1745691619847201. PMID 31185184. S2CID 186203667.
22. Xu, Fei; Garcia, Vashti (April 1, 2008). "Intuitive statistics by 8-month-old infants". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. 105 (13): 5012–5015. doi:10.1073/pnas.0704450105. PMC 2278207. PMID 18378901.
23. Xu, Fei; Tenenbaum, Joshua B. (April 2007). "Word learning as Bayesian inference". Psychological Review. 114 (2): 245–272. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.114.2.245. PMID 17500627.
24. Kemp, Charles; Xu, Fei (2008). "An ideal observer model of infant object perception". In Koller, D.; Schuurmans, D.; Bengio, Y.; Bottou, L. (eds.). Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 21 (NIPS 2008). Curran. pp. 825–832. ISBN 9781605609492.
25. Lucas, Christopher G.; Griffiths, Thomas L.; Xu, Fei; Fawcett, Christine; Gopnik, Alison; Kushnir, Tamar; Markson, Lori; Hu, Jane (March 25, 2014). "The child as econometrician: a rational model of preference understanding in children". PLoS One. 9 (3): e92160. Bibcode:2014PLoSO...992160L. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092160. PMC 3965422. PMID 24667309.
26. Perfors, Amy; Tenenbaum, Joshua B.; Griffiths, Thomas L.; Xu, Fei (September 2011). "A tutorial introduction to Bayesian models of cognitive development". Cognition. 120 (3): 302–321. doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2010.11.015. hdl:1721.1/98835. PMID 21269608. S2CID 7105260.
27. Sim, Zi L.; Xu, Fei (January 2019). "Another Look at Looking Time: Surprise as Rational Statistical Inference". Topics in Cognitive Science. 11 (1): 154–163. doi:10.1111/tops.12393. PMID 30411516. S2CID 53242636.
28. Xu, Fei (March 31, 2014). "Towards a rational constructivist approach to cognitive development" (Video). UCLA Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture. Retrieved March 18, 2021 – via YouTube.
29. Xu, Fei (2016). "Preliminary thoughts on a rational constructivist approach to cognitive development: primitives, symbols, learning, and thinking". In Barner, David; Baron, Andrew Scott (eds.). Core knowledge and concept change (PDF). New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 11–28. ISBN 9780190467630. LCCN 2016014527.
30. Xu, Fei (2019). "Towards a rational constructivist theory of cognitive development". Psychological Review. 126 (6): 841–864. doi:10.1037/rev0000153. PMID 31180701.
31. Fedyk, Mark; Xu, Fei (November 27, 2017). "The Epistemology of Rational Constructivism". Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 9 (June 2018): 343–362. doi:10.1007/s13164-017-0372-1. S2CID 53641572. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
32. "Prizes". Society for Philosophy and Psychology. November 13, 2019. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
33. "APS Fellows Elected to SEP". APS Observer. 33 (2). 2020-01-29.
34. "2020 Editorial Team". Association for Psychological Science - APS. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
35. "Five APS Fellows Elected to Society of Experimental Psychologists". Association for Psychological Science - APS. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
36. Xu, Fei; Kushnir, Tamar; Benson, Janette B., eds. (2012). Rational Constructivism in Cognitive Development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior. Vol. 43. Waltham, Massachusetts: Academic Press. ISBN 978-0-12-397919-3.
37. Xu, Fei; Kushnir, Tamar (February 1, 2013). "Infants are rational constructive learners". Current Directions in Psychological Science. 22 (1): 28–32. doi:10.1177/0963721412469396. S2CID 52994806. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
38. Denison, Stephanie; Xu, Fei (June 11, 2019). "Infant Statisticians: The Origins of Reasoning Under Uncertainty". Perspectives on Psychological Science. 14 (4): 499–509. doi:10.1177/1745691619847201. PMID 31185184. S2CID 186203667. Retrieved March 15, 2021.

External links

• Berkeley Early Learning Lab
• Fei Xu publications indexed by Google Scholar
• Fei Xu as indexed by Neurotree