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Georgene Troseth

Professor of Psychology, Emerita
Department of Psychology & Human Development; Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

Professor Troseth's research focuses on young children's symbolic development, including their understanding of representational artifacts and media (e.g., pictures, video images, touchscreens, scale models) and of the intent to symbolize. Current research involves designing an intelligent avatar in an eBook (using Artificial Intelligence) to support parents' use of "dialogic questioning" while reading picture books with their children. In the general area of knowledge representation, Troseth is specifically interested in children's representations of the mental states - intentions, beliefs, desires, and knowledge - of other people.

Representative Publications

Troseth, G. L., Barr, R. F., Zosh, J. M., Strouse, G. A., & Myers, L. J. (2023). Video chat: A tool for young children’s engagement and early social learning. Invited chapter to appear in G. Frizzo (Ed.), Digital media and early child development: Theoretical and empirical issues. Springer.

Stuckelman, Z. D., Yaremych, H. E., & Troseth, G. L. (2023). A new way to co-play with digital media: Evaluating the role of instructional prompts on parent-child interaction quality. Translational Issues in Psychological Science. Special issue: The impact of digital media on child development. DOI:10.1037/tps0000363

Strouse, G. S., Troseth, G. L., & Stuckelman, Z. D. (2023). Page and screen: Storybook features that promote parent-child talk during shared reading. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 86, 101522 (12 pp). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2023.101522

Piper, D. Malik, S., Badger, A-N., Strouse, G. A., Myers, L. J., McClure, E., Troseth, G. L., Zosh, J. M., & Barr, R. (2023). Sharing culture in a tech world: Grandparent-grandchild cultural exchanges over video chat. Translational Issues in Psychological Science. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/tps0000358

Stuckelman, Z. D., Troseth, G. L., & Strouse, G. A. (2022). Value added: Digital modeling of dialogic questioning promotes positive parenting during shared reading. Journal of Family Psychology, 36(6), 1010-1020.   DOI: 10.1037/fam0000932

Zosh, J. M., Strouse, G. A., Myers, L. J., Xu, C., Stuckelman, Z., McClure, E. Troseth, G. L., & Barr, R. (2022). Virtual grandparenting: Identifying barriers to supportive video chat between grandparents and grandchildren. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies. Special issue: The impact of digital media on child development. Article ID 9454654, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/9454654.

Roche, E., Rocha-Hidalgo, J., Piper, D., Strouse, G. A., Neely, L., Ryu, J., Myers, L. M., McClure, E. Troseth, G. L., Zosh, J. M., & Barr, R. (2022). Presence at a distance: Video chat supports intergenerational sensitivity and positive infant affect during COVID-19. Infancy(27), 1008-1031. DOI: 10.1111/infa.12491

Russo Johnson, C. R., Flores, I., & Troseth, G. L. (2021). Do young children of the “Selfie generation” understand digital photos as representations? Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3(4), 512-524.https://doi.org/10.1002/hbe2.287

Strouse, G.S., McClure, E., Myers, L. J., Zosh, J. M., Troseth, G. L. Blanchfield, O.,Roche, E., Malik, S., & Barr, R. (2021). Zooming through development: Using video chat to support family connections during COVID-19. Human Behavior and Emerging Technologies, 3(4), 552-571. DOI: 10.1002/hbe2.268

Troseth, G.L., Strouse, G.S., Flores, I., Stuckelman, Z., & Russo Johnson, C.R. (2020). An enhanced eBook facilitates parent-child talk during shared reading by families of low socioeconomic status. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 50, 45-58. Special issue on the Word Gap.DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2019.02.009

Troseth, G.L., Flores, I., & Stuckelman, Z. D. (2019). When representation becomes reality: Interactive digital media and symbolic development. In J. Benson (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 56 (pp. 65-108). London, UK: Elsevier.

Rasmussen, E. E., Strouse, G. A., Colwell, M. J., Russo, C., Holiday, S., Brady, K., Flores, I., Troseth, G., Wright, H., Densley, R., & Norman, M. (2019).Promoting preschoolers’ emotional competence through prosocial TV and mobile app use. Media Psychology, 22(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1080/15213269.2018.1476890

Revelle., G. L., Strouse, G. A., Troseth, G. L., Rvachew, S., & Thompson Forrester, D. (2019). Technology support for adults and children reading together: Questions answered and questions raised.  In J. E. Kim & B. Hassinger-Das (Eds.), Reading in the digital age: Young children’s experiences with e-books. International studies with e-books in diverse contexts (pp. 103-132). NY: Springer.

Troseth, G.L., Strouse, G.A., Verdine, B.N., & Saylor, M.M., (2018). Let’s chat: On-screen social responsiveness is not sufficient to support toddlers’ word learning from video. Frontiers in Psychology: Developmental Psychology, 9, Article ID 2195.  http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02195

Troseth, G.L., Mancilla-Martinez, J., & Flores, I. (2018). Bilingual children: Active language learners as language brokers.  In M. M. Saylor and P. A. Ganea (Eds.), Active learning from infancy to childhood: Social motivation, cognition, and linguistic mechanisms (pp. 233-259). NY: Springer.

Strouse, G.A., Troseth, G.L., O’Doherty, K.D., & Saylor, M.M. (2018). Co-viewing supports toddlers’ word learning from contingent and non-contingent video.Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 166, 310-326. doi:      10.1016/j.jecp.2017.09.005.

Russo Johnson, C., Troseth, G., Duncan, C. A., Mesghina, A. (2017). All tapped out: Touchscreen interactivity and young children’s word learning. Frontiers in Psychology. 8(578). doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00578.

Troseth, G.L., & Strouse, G.A. (2017). Designing and using digital books for learning: The informative case of young children and video. International Journal of Child Computer Interaction Special Issue: E-reading with Children. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijcci.2016.12.002

Troseth, G. L., Strouse, G. A., & Russo, C. E. (2017). Early digital literacy: Learning to learn from video.  In F. Blumberg & P. Brooks (Eds.), Cognitive development in digital contexts (pp. 29-52). London, UK: Elsevier.

Troseth, G.L., Russo, C.E., & Strouse, G.A. (2016). What’s next for research on young children’s interactive media? Journal of Children and Media, 10(1), 54-62. 10th Anniversary Issue. DOI: 10.1080/17482798.2015.1123166 .

Kirkorian, H.L., Lavigne, H.J., Hanson, K.G., Troseth, G.L., Demers, L.B., & Anderson, D.R. (2016).  Video deficit in toddlers’ object retrieval: What eye movements reveal about online cognition. Infancy, 1-28. DOI: 10.1111/infa.1210

 

Honors

2020    Fellow, Association for Psychological Science

2015    David Schleyer Faculty Award, Peabody College, for outstanding mentoring of undergraduate students

2013    Vanderbilt Kennedy Center acknowledgment of participation in and support of the Next Steps at Vanderbilt Program

2009    Honoree of gift given to Vanderbilt Kennedy Center (by Rachel Weaver)