​Research Interests
1. Interactions between memory, cognitive control, and attention across development. 
My postdoctoral research (funded by a postdoctoral NRSA from NIH/NICHD) examined how memory and planning interact across early development. Findings suggest that memory and planning systems both serve important, individualized functions, which may impact cognitive constructs that are dependent on both (e.g., future thinking). 
    Representative Publication: 

• Blankenship, T. L. & Kibbe, M. M. (2023). Plan chunking supports memory-guided planning in 3-year-olds. Child Development. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13929
  
• ​Blankenship, T. L., & Kibbe,M. M. (2019). Examining the limits of memory-guided planning in 3 and 4- year olds, Cognitive Development, 52, 100820. 
  

2. Developmental origins of attention systems. 
My work examines the development of multifocal attention through use of multiple object tracking tasks (MOT) during middle childhood.  Findings suggest that 6-year olds are able to engage in multifocal tracking for up to 4 moving objects. More recent work provides insight into the mechanisms supporting attention to multiple objects/locations (i.e., splitting vs spreading).
    Representative Publication: 

• Blankenship, T. L., Strong, R. W., & Kibbe, M. M. (under review). The ability to divide spatial attention across non-contiguous locations develops in middle childhood.
  
• Blankenship, T. L., Strong, R. W., & Kibbe, M. M. (2020). Multifocal attention: sources of developmental change. Developmental Psychology, 56(9), 1684.
  

3. Developmental origins of memory systems.
My recent work examines the emergence of memory-guided planning. Findings suggest that 2-year-olds are able to engage in simple single step plans using past episodes, and that they can use these memories flexibly (generalizing to new contexts). I am currently examining the limits of memory-guided planning in 2-year-olds and how this relates to inhibitory control.
   Representative Publications:

• Blankenship T. L. & Kibbe, M. M. (2022) Two-year-olds apply episodic memories to accomplish novel goals. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 214, 105286.

4. How memory and attention systems interact to predict academic achievement. 
I am interested in both the concurrent as well as long term predictors of academic achievement. Across a series of experiments, I have examined how memory and attention differentially impact academic achievement. 
    Representative Publications: 

• Blankenship T. L., Slough, M. A., Calkins, S. D., Deater-Deckard, K., Kim-Spoon, J., & Bell, M.A. (2019). Attention and executive functioning in infancy: links to childhood executive function and reading achievement. Developmental Science, e12824.
• Blankenship, T. L., O'Neill, M., Ross, A., & Bell, M. A. (2015). Working memory and recollection contribute to academic achievement, Learning and Individual Differences, 43,164-169. 

5. The relation between social cognition and memory.
My recent work (in progress) examines the relation between episodic future thinking and theory of mind in preschoolers. Using a novel task, Dr. Alleyne Broomell and I are examining whether children's episodic future thinking performance is impacted when a social partner's preference is different from their own.