Yi-Lin Li

Her research investigates how infants explore their environment and whether they adapt their learning and exploration to a changing environment.

In her recent study, toddlers aged 18 to 36 months were either allowed to actively control their exploration (Active condition) or presented with the same information that they could only passively observe (Yoked condition). They were then tested in a preferential-looking paradigm in which familiar versus novel stimuli were presented in pairs. Evidence from eye-movement patterns indicates that toddlers have better recognition memory when given active control over the learning experience.