B.A., Ohio Wesleyan University; Ph.D., Cornell University
Expertise: Child Development, Infant Language Learning, Parenting
Dr. Rachel Albert is an associate professor of psychology at Lebanon Valley College and the director of the LVC Baby Lab. She received her Ph.D. in child development from Cornell University and specializes in infant language learning. She studies when and how parents react to infant vocalizations and how infants learn from those reactions. At LVC, Dr. Albert is the faculty advisor of the Psychology Club and Psi Chi International Honor Society.
Vallotton, C.D. & Albert, R. (2024). Infants’ contributions to prelinguistic conversations drive language learning. In J.D. Osofsky, H.E. Fitzgerald, M. Keren & K. Puura (eds). WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health. Springer, Cham. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-48627-2_5
Albert, R. R., Ernst, M., & Vallotton, C. D. (2023). Infant vocalizations elicit simplified speech in childcare. Infancy, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1111/infa.12520
Albert, R. R. (2021). Teacher talk: Infant vocal cues affect non-lead infant teachers’ responding. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 55, 326-335. https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1cSI-39HNKaTLS
Albert, R. R., Schwade, J. A., & Goldstein, M. H. (2018). The social functions of babbling: Acoustic and contextual characteristics that facilitate maternal responsiveness. Developmental Science. e12641. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/desc.12641/full
Presentations:
Crespo, L. ’25, Dintiman, S. ’25, Rjepaj, E. ’28, Wasko, A. ’25, & Albert, R. R., (March, 2025). Does Infant Gaze Influence Inexperienced Caregivers’ Perceptions of Infant Vocalizations? Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association’s annual meeting, New York, NY.
Albert, R. R., Crespo, L. ’25, Dintiman, S. ’25, Wasko, A. ’25, Sweller, N. & Degotardi, S. (March, 2025). Factors Impacting Conversational-Turn-Taking in Infant-Toddler Classrooms. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association’s annual meeting, New York, NY.
Casella, R., Hartsock, J., & Albert, R.R. (March, 2024). Are Your Eyes Telling Lies? Investigating the believability of AI-generated images of children. Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association’s annual meeting, Philadelphia, Pa.
Hartsock, J., Casella, R., Geary, M. & Albert, R.R. (March, 2024). Do infants’ eyes influence mothers’ ears when interpreting infant vocalizations? Poster presented at the Eastern Psychological Association’s annual meeting, Philadelphia, Pa.
