PERSPECTIVE article
Front. Dev. Psychol.
Sec. Cognitive Development
This article is part of the Research TopicInsights and Future Directions in Cognitive DevelopmentView all 13 articles
Leveraging Research in Early Cognitive Development for Application and Impact
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Kansas, Lawrence, United States
- 2University of Connecticut, Storrs, United States
- 3The University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, United States
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Research in cognitive development has generally been aligned with the explication and understanding of basic mechanisms underlying change in mental development over time. We suggest here that work done in the measurement and assessment of granular cognitive functions be leveraged toward translational or applied work in order to realize enhanced impact and influence. Specifically, we propose the use of cognitive measures or performance on laboratory-based cognitive tasks as outcomes in clinical trials, as biobehavioral markers for developmental risk or disorders, and perhaps even as intervention methods per se. We argue that this strategy can address changing pressures in both public and private sponsorship as well as contribute to building stronger public support for research endeavors in the field.
Keywords: biobehavioral markers, clinical trials, cognitive assessment, Cognitive developement, individual differences, Infancy, longitudinal research, Translational research
Received: 13 Nov 2025; Accepted: 10 Feb 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Colombo, Cuevas and Shaddy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: John Colombo
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