Linda B. Smith

Who is Linda B. Smith?

Linda B. Smith is a Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Indiana University. Smith earned her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Smith is the author of more than 100 publications on cognitive and linguistic development in young children. With Esther Thelen, she co-authored the books A Dynamic Systems Approach to Development and A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action, which look at development from a dynamic systems perspective.

She is also well known for her research on the shape bias, children's tendency to generalize new concrete nouns on the basis of the shape of the object to which they refer.

In 1997, she received the Tracy Sonneborn Award, Indiana University's highest award to its faculty. In 2007, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Smith is also a member of the Governing Board of the Cognitive Science Society.