The MIND Lab at Smith College investigates how early life experience impacts brain and cognitive function in children.
We are interested in better understanding how these differences may contribute to disparities in long-term outcomes for children.
Meet the MIND Lab's fabulous post-doctoral fellow Dr. Catherine Mikkelsen! Leave any questions for Dr. Cat in the comments and she'll do her best to answer!
I never properly introduced myself! Get to know lab manager Maddie, my background, and my role in the lab! If you have any questions about the lab, our work, or my role, leave a comment and I'll try to answer!
Enjoy a day at the Dr Suess Museum at the with Dr. Bearington! He spent the morning playing games, stopped for some lunch (and some dessert!) and spent his afternoon reading all the Dr. Suess classics. What a great day!
08/21/2026
It's Brain Fact Friday!
Did you know....???
Brain information can travel up to 350 miles per hour! That's about as fast as a small airplane!!
In case you missed extracting DNA from strawberries this summer with the MIND Lab, follow along as Samara does a whole bag of strawberries!
Step 1, put berries in a bag and smash!
Step 2, add solution
Step 3, filter
Step 4, add alcohol and scoop out DNA!
you can find detailed instructions here:
https://www.genome.gov/about-genomics/teaching-tools/strawberry-dna-extraction
08/19/2026
Ever wonder what it's like to participate in a MIND Lab Study? Hear from happy parents with this small selection of testimonials from real study participants. You can read all our feedback on our website's wall of appreciation: https://www.science.smith.edu/mindindevelopmentlab/our-wall-of-appreciation/
Learn more about SPARK with Dr. Bearington and Ernie! In SPARK, we study brain synchrony by hyperscanning, or simultaneously neuroimaging 2 people as they interact. The interaction that parents and children take part in during the SPARK Study? The pegboard game!
Dr. BB and Ernie almost finished their image before the time ran out, great job, guys!
08/17/2026
Here's what we're reading in the MIND Lab! Check out a recent paper from our friend and fellow Smithie, Brianna McMillan, and colleagues. What can 5000 babies tell us about developing minds and how to study them? The results might surprise you!
McMillan, B. T. M., Baumgartner, H. A., Bergmann, C., Frank, M. C., Hamlin, J. K., Kampis, D., Kline Struhl, M., Ko, E.-S., Kosie, J. E., Lew-Williams, C., Lucca, K., Schuwerk, T., Soderstrom, M., Visser, I., Yuen, F. L., Zettersten, M., & Byers-Heinlein, K. (2026). What 5000 babies can tell us about developing minds and how to study them. Communications Psychology, 4(1), 92. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-026-00477-w
Since fNIRS is cap based, hair can have a really strong effect on data quality. The sensors, or "optodes" need to make good contact with the skin to record high quality data. To learn more about how hair type can affect data quality and what we are doing to promote racial equity in neuroimaging research, check out our page and look for an upcoming paper on our BRAIDS (Braiding for Research Access, Inclusivity, and Diversity in Science) project, demonstrating the effectiveness of cornrowing afro-textured hair to improve data quality in fNIRS.