Linda B. Smith

Timeline

1. By 1977

   From Portsmouth to psychology

   She grows up in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and later transfers to the University of Wisconsin–Madison to study psychology. She earns a B.S. there in 1973 and a Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1977.

2. 1988–2002

   Shape bias in word learning

   In 1988, she, Barbara Landau, and Susan Jones publish “The importance of shape in early lexical learning.” Their work shows that two-year-olds generalize new object names by shape, an example of one-shot word learning; in 2002, Smith and collaborators publish “Object name learning provides on-the-job training for attention.”

3. 1994

   A dynamic-systems book

   She and Esther Thelen publish A Dynamical Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action in 1994. The book uses dynamic-systems theory to explain how behavior and motor development shape perception and cognition.

4. 2013

   A pair of scientific awards

   She receives the David E. Rumelhart Prize in Cognitive Science and the American Psychological Association’s Award for Distinguished Scientific Career Contributions in 2013.

5. 2017

   Developmental data for machine learning

   With Lauren K. Slone, she publishes “A Developmental Approach to Machine Learning?” in 2017. The paper argues that infants’ and toddlers’ self-generated visual experience can provide useful training data for machine learning.

6. 2018

   A curriculum for statistical learning

   With Swapnaa Jayaraman, Elizabeth Clerkin, and Chen Yu, Smith publishes “The Developing Infant Creates a Curriculum for Statistical Learning” in 2018. The review links infants’ changing sensory-motor abilities to the ordered visual data available for learning.

7. 2019

   A lifetime award and AI grant

   She receives the Norman Anderson Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Experimental Psychologists and is elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2019. In 2019, she leads an Indiana University Emerging Areas of Research grant that links machine learning and cognitive development, and speaks about teaching machines from infants’ perspective.

8. As of October 2026

   Professor at Indiana University

   As of October 2026, Smith is Distinguished Professor and Chancellor’s Professor of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Indiana University. Her Cognitive Development Lab studies how infants and young children create opportunities to learn.