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Lipsitt, Lewis P.
This review of the sensory behavioral research of Lewis P. Lipsitt traces his contributions to infant development by profiling his work on the chemical senses, touch, vision, and audition.
Lipsitt conducted most of this research as part of his general study program, founded in 1957, on the sensory and learning processing of infants at Brown University and the Providence Lying-In Hospital. The development of this laboratory was facilitated by the establishment at Brown University of the “Providence Cohort” (4,000 children born in Rhode Island and followed into adulthood), of which Lipsitt was one of the original researchers and eventually the director. The overarching themes of Lipsitt's research, which will be clear from this review, are the consequences of behavior and the importance of hedonic (pleasure-displeasure) factors in perception and human adaptation.
Professional Life
Lewis P. Lipsitt came to Brown University as an instructor of psychology in 1957, after obtaining his PhD from the University of Iowa, and he retired in 1996 as professor emeritus of psychology, medical science, and human development. Lipsitt continues his faculty presence today, with an office in the department of psychology and as a core member of the Brown University Center for the Study of Human Development (which he founded in 1967 as the Brown University Child Study Center). Along with his wife, Edna Duchin Lipsitt, he also organizes their endowed Child Behavior and Development annual lecture series at Brown University.
Lipsitt trained 52 honors students, 17 masters students, and 16 doctoral students during his tenure at Brown University. At least six of his former students have gone on to their own illustrious careers in psychophysics and sensory research, including Carolyn Rovee-Collier, Velma Dobson, Stephen Buka, John Werner, and Christine Kennedy. Lipsitt has earned tremendous respect among his colleagues and peers for his seminal research in sensory development and learning throughout his career. Most recently (in 2003), he was named the Hilgard Awardee for his lifetime contributions to psychology by the Society of General Psychology (Division 1 of the American Psychological Association [APA]) and at the same time has been named the Bronfenbrenner Lecturer for the 2004 APA meetings by the APA's Division of Developmental Psychology.
Early Contributions: Infant Chemosenses
Lipsitt's research covered the five senses, with a particular focus on the chemosenses(taste and smell). He made his first contribution to the chemical senses in 1963, with two articles published in collaboration with Trygg Engen, of the Brown University Psychology Department. The method they used to assess infants' chemosensory preferences was an ingenious sucking device, along with a stabilimeter for assessing motoric activity. Lipsitt developed this device in his first work on neonatal learning, and it was used in a variety of studies testing nonolfactory stimuli as well. Among the important discoveries that are due to this device was the observation that the shape of the nipple itself, in the absence of any fluid reinforcement, was a determinant of sucking rate (Lipsitt & Kaye, 1965). With the appropriately designed nipple, Lipsitt showed that infants suck differently (with longer bursts of sucking, but at slower rates within bursts) for fluids that they like. Lipsitt's general sucking method continues to be used today in studies on infant learning across the senses.
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