FEI XU

Professor

Director, Berkeley Early Learning Lab

University of California, Berkeley

Office: (510) 642-3344

Research Interests

My research focuses on cognitive and language development, from infancy to early childhood. For the last decade, my collaborators, students, and I have advocated for a new approach to cognitive development, namely rational constructivism. We have 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. We have 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. Lastly, we have argued that infants and children are active learners, and cognitive agency is part and parcel of development. For some representative publications on this view, see Xu (2019, Psychological Review), Fedyk and Xu (2018, Review of Philosophy and Psychology), Luchkina and Xu (2022, Psychological Review), Denison and Xu (2019, Perspectives on Psychological Science), Xu and Kushnir (2013, Current Directions in Psychological Science), and Xu and Kushnir (2012, Rational Constructivism in Cognitive Development – an edited volume).

This view also emphasizes the role of formal computational models in understanding learning and development. Early learning may be characterized as rational, statistical, and inferential, and learners have the capacity to construct new concepts and new learning biases. Learners combine prior knowledge and biases with input statistics in a rational manner, which may be captured by Bayesian computational models (see Perfors, Tenenbaum, Griffiths, Xu, 2011, Cognition, for a tutorial introduction; Xu & Tenenbaum, 2007, Psychological Review). Learners may begin with a set of domain-general learning mechanisms that give rise to domain-specific knowledge as development progresses. The rapid accumulation of knowledge in the first few years of life may be the result of employing these powerful statistical inference mechanisms. In collaboration with computational cognitive scientists, we have developed probabilistic models in various domains, e.g., word learning, question-asking, surprise in infants (Sim & Xu, 2019; Ruggeri, Lombrozo, Griffiths & Xu, 2016; Xu & Tenenbaum, 2007b).

In collaboration with the philosopher Mark Fedyk (UC Davis, http://www.markfedyk.net/), I have also explored the implications of rational constructivism for philosophy of mind and epistemology (Fedyk & Xu, 2018; Fedyk, Kushnir & Xu, 2019; Fedyk & Xu, 2020; Fedyk & Xu, 2021).

We have conducted many studies with infants and young children, including research on probabilistic inference, physical reasoning, psychological reasoning, word learning, causal learning, and social cognition.

Some current research topics in our lab:

Probabilistic reasoning in infants and children: Can young learners update probabilities and compute posteriors? Is probability matching a suboptimal strategy in all situations?
Logical reasoning in children: Can young learners reason about multiple incompatible possibilities? Can they reason via disjunctive syllogism?
Compositionality in infants and children: Are young learners able to combine the meanings of basic elements to derive the meaning of larger structures?
Belief revision: Are core principles about objects and agents revisable by infants, children, and adults?
What is the role of race in infants' and children's learning?
Are children active language learners? Can they learn new words and other information through overhead speech?
What is the role of social contingency in early word learning and referential understanding?

Graduate students and postdoctoral fellows may be co-advised across laboratories. Our research has been funded by NSF, NIH, the Lego Foundation, Simons Foundation, McDonnell Foundation, the Bay Area Discovery Museum, and other agencies (NSERC, SSHRC, CFI in Canada).

Brief Bio

Born in 1969, I grew up in Beijing. After finishing high school (人大附中), I moved to the US and obtained my B.A. in Cognitive Science from Smith College in 1991. I went on to get my Ph.D. in Cognitive Science from MIT in 1995.

Curriculum Vitae

Ph.D. 1995
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

1995 - 1997
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Pennsylvania, Rutgers University, and MIT

1997 - 2003
Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, Boston, USA

2003 - 2008
Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

2007 - 2008
Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, USA

2008 - 2009
Professor and Canada Research Chair in Developmental Cognitive Science, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

2009 - Present
Professor, Department of Psychology, UC Berkeley, USA

Publications

Books and monographs

Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (Eds.) (2012) Rational Constructivism in Cognitive Development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 43. Waltham, MA: Academic Press. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Griffiths, T. (Eds.) (2011) Probabilistic Models of Cognitive Development. Special issue. Cognition, 120. Elsevier publishing. (pdf)

Marcus, G. F., Pinker, S., Ullman, M., Hollander, M., Rosen, T.J., & Xu, F. (1992) Overregularization in Language Acquisition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 57(4).

Publications listed by topic

Please Note: These electronic articles are posted for individual, noncommercial use to ensure timely dissemination of scholarly work. They are intended for teaching and training purposes only. Articles may not be reposted or disseminated without permission by the copyright holder. Copyright holders retain all rights as indicated within each article.

Rational constructivism, statistical inference, and cognitive development

In Press

Gelpi, R., Whalen, A., Griffiths, T., Xu, F. & Buchsbaum, D. (in press) Can children balance majority size with information quality in learning about preferences? Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. (pdf)

2024

Croteau, J., Cheries, E. & Xu, F. (2024) The development of kind concepts: Insights from object individuation. Psychological Review. (pdf)

Flanagan, T., Zhao, A., Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (2024) Is it personal or is it social? The interaction of knowledge domain and statistical evidence in U.S. and Chinese preschoolers' social generalizations. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. (pdf)

Luchkina, E. & Xu, F. (2024) How does social contingency facilitate early vocabulary development? Developmental Science. (pdf)

Alderete, S., Cao, A., Piantadosi, S. & Xu, F. (2024) The development of conceptual compositionality in children. Proceedings of the 46th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2024) Violations of core object principles change adults’ behaviors in maze games. Proceedings of the 46th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Tang, M., Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2024) Compositionality in Chinese characters: evidence from English-speaking children. Proceedings of the 46th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2023

Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2023) Not all core knowledge systems are created equal, and they are subject to revision in children and adults. Commentary Spelke (2022), What babies know. Behavioral and Brain Sciences. (pdf)

Alderete, S. & Xu, F. (in press) Three-year-old children’s reasoning about possibilities. Cognition. (pdf)

Bramley, N. & Xu, F. (in press) Active inductive inference in children and adults: A constructivist perspective. Cognition. (pdf)

Foushee, R., Srinivasan, M. & Xu, F. (in press) Active learning in language development. Current Directions in Psychological Science. (pdf)

Chai, K., Xu, F., Swaboda, N. & Ruggeri, A. (2023) Preschoolers’ information search strategies: inefficient but adaptive. Frontiers in Psychology, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1080755. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2023) Is core knowledge in the format of LOT? Commentary on Quilty-Dunn, Porot & Mandelbaum, “The best game in town: the re-emergence of the language of thought hypothesis across the cognitive sciences,” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. (pdf)

Liu, R., Diesendruck, G. & Xu, F. (2023) Changing children’s intergroup biases and social stereotypes through statistical counterevidence. Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2023) Can adults revise their core beliefs about agents? Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

Finiasz, Z., Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (2023) Children’s cost-benefit analysis about agents who act for the greater good. Proceedings of the 45th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

2022

Luchkina, E. & Xu, F. (2022) From social contingency to verbal reference: a constructivist hypothesis. Psychological Review, 129, 890-909. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000320. (pdf)

Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2022) Learning about others and learning from others: Bayesian probabilistic models of intuitive psychology and social learning. In J. Lockman (Ed.), Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 63 (pp. 309-343). Waltham, MA: Academic Press. (pdf)

Shu, Y., Hu, Q., Xu, F. & Bian, L. (2022) Gender stereotypes are racialized: a cross-cultural investigation of gender stereotypes about intellectual talents. Developmental Psychology, 58, 1345-1359. (pdf)

Hirsh-Pasek, K., Christie, S., Masters, A., Gibbs, H., Evans, N., Fletcher, K., Pesch, A., Yang, H., Fan, W., Todaro, R., Golinkoff, R. & Xu, F. (2022) Where global science meets playful learning: implications for home, school, and city planning. White paper for the LEGO Foundation and Yidan Foundation. (pdf)

Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2022) Can adults revise their core beliefs about objects? Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2021

Foushee, R., Srinivasan, M. & Xu, F. (2021) Self-directed learning by preschoolers in a naturalistic overhearing context. Cognition, 206, 54-71. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2020.104415

Lewry, C., Curtis, K., Vasilyeva, N., Xu, F. & Griffiths, T. (2021) Intuitions about magic track the development of intuitive physics. Cognition, 214. (pdf)

Fedyk, M. & Xu, F. (2021). Creativity as potentially valuable improbable constructions. European Journal for Philosophy of Science, 11, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13194-020-00343-4 (pdf)

Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2021) Revising core beliefs in young children. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Meng, Y. & Xu, F. (2021) Naive utility calculus underlies the reproduction of disparities in social groups. Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2020

O'Grady, S. & Xu, F. (2020) The development of non-symbolic probability judgments in children. Child Development, 91, 784-798. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13222 (pdf)

Hoemann, K., Wu, R., LoBue, V., Oakes, L., Xu, F. & Barrett, L.F. (2020) Developing an understanding of emotion categories: lessons from objects. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 24, 39-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2019.10.010 (pdf)

Fedyk, M. & Xu. F. (2020) The metaphysics of the development of the cognitive system: Why the brain cannot replace the mind. In A. Lerner, S. Cullen and S. Leslie (Eds.) Controversies in Philosophy of Cognitive Science (pp. 63-82). Taylor & Francis / Routledge. (pdf)

Fedyk, M. & Xu, F. (2020) The productive mind: creativity as a source of abstract mental representations. Commentary on Gilead et al. “Above and beyond the concrete: The diverse representational substrates of the predictive brain.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences. (pdf)

Liu, R., Diesendruck, G. & Xu, F. (2020) Group- and individual-level information affects children’s playmate choice. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Liu, R. & Xu, F. (2020) Feeling of competence affects children’s curiosity and creativity. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Meng, Y. & Xu, F. (2020) How do disparities reproduce themselves? Ground truth inference from utility-maximizing agent’s sampling behavior. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Luchkina, E., Xu, F., Sobel, D. & Morgan, J. (2020) Sixteen-month-olds comprehend unanchored absent reference. Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2019

Xu, F. (2019) Towards a rational constructivist theory of cognitive development. Psychological Review, 126, 841-864. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/rev0000153 (pdf)

Denison, S. & Xu, F. (2019) Infant statisticians: The origins of reasoning under uncertainty. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 14, 499-509. (pdf)

Sim, Z. & Xu, F. (2019) Another look at looking time: surprise as rational statistical inference. Topics in Cognitive Science, 11, 154-163. (pdf)

Ruggeri, A., Markant, D., Gureckis, T., Bretzke, M., & Xu, F. (2019) Memory enhancements from active control of learning emerge across development. Cognition, 186, 82-94. (pdf)

Hoemann, K., Xu, F. & Barrett, L. (2019) Emotion words, emotion concepts, and emotional development in children: A constructionist hypothesis. Developmental Psychology, 55, 1830-1849. (pdf)

Ruggeri, A., Xu, F. & Lombrozo, T. (2019) Effects of explanation on children's question asking. Cognition, 191. (pdf)

Fedyk, M., Kushnir, T. & Xu, F. (2019) Intuitive epistemology: children’s theory of evidence. In D. Wilkenfeld and R. Samuels (Eds.), Advances in Experimental Philosophy of Science (pp. 122-143). New York: Bloomsbury Academic Publishing. (pdf)

O'Grady, S., Saxe, G. & Xu, F. (2019) Learning the proportional nature of probability from feedback. In A.K. Goel, C.M. Seifert, & C. Freksa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2495-2501). Montreal, QB: Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Meng, Y. & Xu, F. (2019) Leveraging thinking to facilitate causal learning from intervention. In A.K. Goel, C.M. Seifert, & C. Freksa (Eds.), Proceedings of the 41st Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2338-2344). Montreal, QB: Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2018

Fedyk, M. & Xu, F. (2018) The epistemology of rational constructivism. Review of Philosophy and Psychology 9, 343-362. (pdf)

Yu, Y., Shafto, P., Bonawitz, E., Yang, S., Golinkoff, R.M., Corriveau, K., Hirsh-Pasek, K. & Xu, F. (2018) The theoretical and methodological opportunities afforded by guided play with young children. Frontiers in Psychology, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01152 (pdf)

Ruggeri, A., Vagharchakian, L. & Xu, F. (2018) Icon arrays help younger children's proportional reasoning. British Journal of Developmental Psychology 36, 313-333. (pdf)

O'Grady, S. & Xu, F. (2018) Whole number bias in children’s probability judgments. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Meng, Y., Bramley, N. & Xu, F. (2018) Children’s causal interventions combine discrimination and confirmation. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Bramley, N., Rothe, A., Tenenbaum, J.B., Xu, F. & Gureckis, T.M. (2018) Grounding compositional hypothesis generation in specific instances. Proceedings of the 40th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2017

Ruggeri, A.*, Sim Z.L.* & Xu, F. (2017) "Why is Toma late to school again?" Preschoolers identify the most information questions. Developmental Psychology, 53, 1620-1632. (Ruggeri and Sim are joint first authors.) (pdf)

Sim, Z. & Xu, F. (2017) Infants preferentially approach and explore the unexpected. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 35, 596-608. (pdf)

Sim, Z. & Xu, F. (2017) Learning higher-order generalizations through free play: evidence from two- and three-year-old children. Developmental Psychology 53, 642-651. (pdf )

Meng, Y., Griffiths, T. & Xu, F. (2017) Inferring intentional agents from violation of randomness. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Sim, Z., Mahal, K. & Xu, F. (2017) Learning about causal systems through play. Proceedings of the 39th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2016

Wellman, H., Kushnir, T., Xu, F. & Brink, K. (2016) Infants use statistical sampling to understand the psychological world. Infancy, 21, 668-676. (pdf)

Markant, D., Ruggeri, A., Gureckis, T. & Xu, F. (2016) Enhanced memory as a common mechanism underlying active learning. Mind, Brain, and Education, 10, 142-152. (pdf)

Ruggeri, A., Lombrozo, T., Griffiths, T.L. & Xu, F. (2016) Sources of developmental change in the efficiency of information search. Developmental Psychology, 52, 2159-2173. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2016) Preliminary thoughts on a rational constructivist approach to cognitive development: primitives, symbols, learning, and thinking. In D. Barner & A.S. Baron (Eds.), Core knowledge and concept change. Oxford University Press. (pdf)

Sim, Z. & Xu, F. (2016) Probability prediction in children with ASD. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Walin, H., O’Grady, S., & Xu, F. (2016) Curiosity and its influence on children’s memory. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Ruggeri, A., Markant, D., Gureckis, T. & Xu, F. (2016) Active control of study leads to improved recognition memory in children. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

O’Grady, S., Griffiths, T. & Xu, F. (2016) Does ANS acuity influence judgments of probability based on proportion? Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Foushee, R. & Xu, F. (2016) Active overhearing. Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2015

Diesendruck, G., Salzer, S., Kushnir, T. & Xu, F. (2015) When choices aren't personal: The effect of statistical and social cues on children's inferences about the scope of preferences. Journal of Cognition and Development, 16, 370-380. DOI: 10.1080/15248372.2013.848870 (pdf)

Hu, J. Lucas, C., Griffiths, T. & Xu, F. (2015) Preschoolers’ Understanding of Graded Preferences. Cognitive Development 36, 93-102. (pdf)

Hu, J., Whalen, A., Buchsbaum, D., Griffiths, T.L. & Xu, F. (2015) Can children balance the size of a majority with the quality of their information? Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Lieder, F., Sim, Z., Hu, J., Griffiths, T.L. & Xu, F. (2015) Children and adults differ in their strategies for social learning. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Ruggeri, A., Lombrozo, T., Griffiths, T.L. & Xu, F. (2015) Children search for information as efficiently as adults, but seek additional confirmatory evidence. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Sim, Z. & Xu, F. (2015) Toddlers learn from facilitated play, not free play. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Sim, Z., Tanner, M., Alpert, N., & Xu, F. (2015) Children learn better when they select their own data. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2014

Denison, S. & Xu, F. (2014) The Origins of Probabilistic Inference in Human Infants. Cognition 130, 335-347. (pdf)

Denison, S., Trikutam, P., & Xu, F. (2014) Probability versus representativeness in infancy: Can infants use naïve physics to adjust population base rates in probabilistic inference? Developmental Psychology 50, 2009-2019. (pdf)

Lucas, C., Griffiths, T., Xu, F., Fawcett, C., Gopnik, A., Kushnir, T., Markson, L., & Hu, J. (2014) The child as econometrician: A rational model of preference understanding in children. PLoS ONE, 9(3):e92160. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092160. (pdf)

Sim, Z. & Xu, F. (2014) Acquiring inductive constraints from self-generated evidence. Proceedings of the 36th Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2013

Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (2013) Infants are rational constructive learners. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 22, 28-32. (pdf)

Denison, S., Reed, C. & Xu, F. (2013) The emergence of probabilistic reasoning in very young infants: evidence from 4.5- and 6-month-old infants. Developmental Psychology, 49, 243-249. (pdf)

Ma, L. & Xu, F. (2013) Preverbal Infants Infer Intentional Agents From the Perception of Regularity. Developmental Psychology, 49, 1330-1337. (pdf)

Hu, J., Buchsbaum, D., Griffiths, T. & Xu, F. (2013) When does the majority rule? Preschoolers’ trust in majority informants varies by task domain. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

Sim, Z. & Xu, F. (2013) Infants' early understanding of coincidences. Proceedings of the 35th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society. (pdf)

2012

Karmiloff-Smith, A., D’Souzaa, D., Dekkera, T.M., Van Herwegenb, J., Xu, F., Rodica, M., & Ansari, D., (2012) Genetic and environmental vulnerabilities in children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 109, 17261-17265. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (Eds.) (2012) Rational Constructivism in Cognitive Development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 43. Waltham, MA: Academic Press. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Kushnir, T. (2012) What is rational constructivism? In F.Xu and T. Kushnir (Eds.), Rational constructivism in cognitive development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 43. Academic Press.

Denison, S. & Xu, F. (2012) Probabilistic inference in human infants. In F. Xu and T. Kushnir (eds.), Rational constructivism in cognitive development. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, Vol. 43. Waltham, MA: Academic Press. (pdf)

2011

Xu, F. & Griffiths, T.L. (2011) Probabilistic models of cognitive development: Towards a rational constructivist approach to the study of learning and development. Cognition 120, 299-301. (Introduction to the special issue "Probabilistic models of cognitive development"). (pdf)

Perfors, A., Tenenbaum, J.B., Griffiths, T., & Xu, F. (2011) A tutorial introduction to Bayesian models of cognitive development. Cognition 120, 302-321. (pdf)

Ma, L. & Xu, F. (2011) Young children’s use of statistical sampling evidence to infer the subjectivity of preferences. Cognition 120, 403-411. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2011) Rational constructivism, statistical inference, and core cognition (BBS commentary on Carey (2009)). Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 34(3), 151. (pdf)

Denison, S., Reed, C., & Xu, F. (2011) The emergence of probabilistic reasoning in very young infants. Proceedings of the 33rd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 441-446).

Yuan, S., Perfors, A., Tenenbaum, J.B., & Xu, F. (2011) Learning individual words and learning about words simultaneously. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 3280-3285). (pdf)

Sim, Z., Yuan, S. & Xu, F. (2011) Acquiring word learning biases. Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 2544-2549). (pdf)

2010

Kushnir, T., Xu, F. & Wellman, H. (2010) Young children use statistical sampling to infer the preferences of others. Psychological Science, 21, 1134-1140. (pdf)

Denison, S. & Xu, F. (2010) Twelve- to 14-month-old infants can predict single-event probability with large set sizes. Developmental Science, 13, 798-803. (pdf)

Denison, S. & Xu, F. (2010) Integrating physical constraints in statistical inference by 11-month-old infants. Cognitive Science, 34, 885-908. (pdf)

Dewar, K. & Xu, F. (2010) Induction, overhypothesis, and the origin of abstract knowledge: evidence from 9-month-old infants. Psychological Science, 21, 1871-1877. (pdf)

2009

Xu, F. & Denison, S. (2009) Statistical inference and sensitivity to sampling in 11-month-old infants. Cognition, 112, 97-104. (pdf)

Kemp, C., Jern, A. & Xu, F. (2009) Object discovery and identification. Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems, 22. (pdf)

Xu, F., Dewar, K. & Perfors, A. (2009) Induction, overhypotheses, and the shape bias: Some arguments and evidence for rational constructivism. In B. M. Hood and L. Santos (Eds.), The origins of object knowledge (pp. 263-284). Oxford University Press. (pdf)

2008

Xu, F. & Garcia, V. (2008) Intuitive statistics by 8-month-old infants. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 105, 5012-5015. (pdf)

VanHerwegen, J., Ansari, D., Xu, F., & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2008) Small and large number processing in infants and toddlers with Williams Syndrome. Developmental Science, 11, 637-643.

Kemp, C. & Xu, F. (2008) An ideal observer model of infant object perception. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, 21. (pdf)

Lucas, C., Griffiths, T., Xu, F. & Fawcett, C. (2008) A rational model of preference learning and choice prediction by children. Proceedings of the 22nd Annual Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, 21. (pdf)

Kushnir, T., Xu, F. & Wellman, H. (2008) Preschoolers use statistical sampling information to infer the preferences of others. In V. Sloutsky, B. Love, & K. MacRae (Eds.) Proceedings of the 30th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society.

2007

Xu, F. & Tenenbaum, J.B. (2007) Word learning as Bayesian inference. Psychological Review, 114, 245-272. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Tenenbaum, J.B. (2007) Sensitivity to sampling in Bayesian word learning. Developmental Science, 10, 288-297. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2007) Rational statistical inference and cognitive development. In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence, & S. Stich (eds.), The innate mind: foundations and the future (Vol. 3) (pp. 199-215). Oxford University Press. (pdf)

2006

Denison, S., Konopczynski, K., Garcia, V., & Xu, F. (2006) Probabilistic reasoning in preschoolers: random sampling and base rate. In R. Sun and N. Miyake (eds.), Proceedings of the 28th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp. 1216-1221). (pdf)

Sortal concepts and early word learning

Byers-Heinlein, K., Heng Chen, K. & Xu, F. (2014) Surmounting the Tower of Babel: Monolingual and bilingual 2-year-olds' understanding of the nature of foreign language words. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 119, 87-100. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2010) Count nouns, sortal concepts, and the nature of early words. J. Pelletier (ed.), Kinds, things, and stuff: New Directions in Cognitive Science , Vol. 13 (pp. 191-206). Oxford University Press. (pdf)

Dewar, K. & Xu, F. (2009) Do early nouns refer to kinds or distinct shapes? Evidence from 10-month-old infants. Psychological Science, 20, 252-257. (pdf)

Hall, D.G., Corrigall, K., Rhemtulla, M., Donegan, E. & Xu, F. (2008) Infants' use of lexical-category-to-meaning links in object individuation. Child Development, 39, 1432-1443. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2007) Sortal concepts, object individuation, and language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 400-406. (pdf)

Dewar, K. & Xu, F. (2007) Do 9-month-old infants expect distinct words to refer to kinds? Developmental Psychology, 43, 1227-1238. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2007) Language acquisition and concept formation: count nouns and object kinds. In G. Gaskell (ed.), Oxford Handbook of Psycholinguistics. Oxford University Press. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2005) Categories, kinds, and object individuation in infancy. In L. Gershkoff-Stowe and D. Rakison (eds.), Building object categories in developmental time (pp. 63-89). Papers from the 32nd Carnegie Symposium on Cognition. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. (pdf)

Xu, F., Cote, M. & Baker, A. (2005) Labeling guides object individuation in 12-month-old infants. Psychological Science, 16, 372-377. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2002) The role of language in acquiring object kind concepts in infancy. Cognition, 85, 223-250. (pdf)

Object individuation and sortal concepts

Xu, F. (2011) Categorization, object individuation, and object manipulation. Cognitive Development, 26, 104-105. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2007) Sortal concepts, object individuation, and language. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 11, 400-406. (pdf)

Rhemtulla, M. & Xu, F. (2007) Sortal concepts and causal continuity: Comment on Rips, Blok, and Newman (2006). Psychological Review, 114, 1087-1094. (pdf)

Rhemtulla, M. & Xu, F. (2007) Postscript: sortal concepts are fundamental for tracing identity. Psychological Review, 114, 1095. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Baker, A. (2005) Object individuation in 10-month-old infants using a simplified manual search method. Journal of Cognition and Development, 6, 307-323. (pdf)

Xu, F., Carey, S. & Quint, N. (2004) The emergence of kind-based object individuation in infancy. Cognitive Psychology, 49, 155-190. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2003) The development of object individuation in infancy. In H. Hayne & J. Fagen (eds.), Progress in Infancy Research, Vol. 3 (pp. 159-192). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. (pdf)

Carey, S. & Xu, F. (2001) Infants' knowledge of objects: Beyond object files and object tracking. Cognition, 80 , 179-213. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Carey, S. (2000) The emergence of kind concepts: a rejoinder to Needham and Baillargeon (2000). Cognition, 74, 285-301. (pdf)

Xu, F. (1999) Object individuation and object identity in infancy: The role of spatiotemporal information, object property information, and language. Acta Psychologica, 102, 113-136. (pdf)

Xu, F., Carey, S., & Welch, J. (1999) Infants' ability to use object kind information for object individuation. Cognition, 70, 137-166. (pdf)

Leslie, A., Xu, F., Tremoulet, P. & Scholl, B. (1998) Indexing and the object concept: "what" and "where" in infancy. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2, 10-18. (pdf)

Xu, F. (1997) From Lot's wife to a pillar of salt: Evidence for physical object as a sortal concept. Mind and Language, 12, 365-392. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Carey, S. (1996) Infants' metaphysics: the case of numerical identity. Cognitive Psychology, 30, 111-153. (pdf)

Number representations in infants and adults

Van Hewegen, J., Ansari, D., Xu, F. & Karmiloff-Smith, A. (2008) Small and large number processing in infants and toddlers with Williams syndrome. Developmental Science, 11, 637-643.

Ansari, D., Lyons, I., van Eimeren, L., & Xu, F. (2007) The role of the temporo-parietal junction in small and large number processing: an fMRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 19, 1845-1853. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Arriaga, R. I. (2007) Number discrimination in 10-month-old infants. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 25, 103-108. (pdf)

Xu, F., Spelke, E.S., & Goddard, S. (2005) Number sense in human infants. Developmental Science, 8, 88-101. (pdf)

Xu, F. (2003) Numerosity discrimination in infants: Evidence for two systems of representations. Cognition, 89, B15-B25. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Spelke, E. S. (2000) Large number discrimination in 6-month-old infants. Cognition, 74, B1-B11. (pdf)

Other publications

Xu, F. & Rhemtulla, M. (2005) In defense of psychological essentialism. In B.G. Bara, L. Barsalou, and M. Bucciarelli (eds.), Proceedings of the 27th Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society (pp.2377-2380). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. (pdf)

Xu, F. & Pinker, S. (1995) Weird past tense forms. Journal of Child Language, 22, 531-556. (pdf)

Marcus, G., Pinker, S., Ullman, M., Hollander, M., Rosen, J. & Xu, F. (1992) Overregularization in Language Acquisition. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 57(4).

Fei Xu