Professor Virginia Slaughter
Head of School
School of Psychology
+61 7 3365 4909
McElwain Building (24A)
Level 1, Room 130
Level 1, Room 130
Researcher biography
Virginia Slaughter is Professor of Psychology at the University of Queensland, Australia, where she founded the Early Cognitive Development Centre. Her research focuses on social and cognitive development in infants and young children, with particular emphasis on social behaviour in infancy, theory-of-mind development and the acquisition of peer interaction skills. She is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.
Books
Lillienfeld, Scott O., Lynn, Steven J., Namy, Laura L., Woolf, Nancy K., Jamieson, Graham, Slaughter, V. and Haslam,Nick (2011). Psychology: From inquiry to understanding. Frenchs Forest, N.S.W., Australia: Pearson Australia.
Slaughter, Virginia and Repacholi, Betty (2003). Individual differences in theory of mind: Implications for typical and atypical development. Psychology Press. doi: 10.4324/9780203488508
Book Chapters
Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2017). Culture and the sequence of developmental milestones toward theory of mind mastery. Theory of mind development in context. (pp. 25-40) Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781315749181-10
Gopnik, Alison, Slaughter, Virginia and Meltzoff, Andrew (2014). Changing your views: How understanding visual perception can lead to a new theory of the mind. Children's Early Understanding of Mind: Origins and Development. (pp. 157-181) Taylor and Francis.
Slaughter, Virginia, Heron-Delaney, Michelle and Christie, Tamara (2012). Developing expertise in human body perception. Early development of body representations. (pp. 81-100) edited by Virginia Slaughter and Celia A. Brownell. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139019484.008
Slaughter, Virginia (2011). Early adoption of Machiavellian attitudes: Implications for children's interpersonal relationships. Narcissism and Machiavellianism in youth: Implications for the development of adaptive and maladaptive behavior. (pp. 177-192) edited by Christopher T. Barry, Patricia K. Kerig, Kurt K. Stellwagen and Tammy D. Barry. Washington, DC, United States: American Psychological Association.
Slaughter, Virginia (2011). Development of social cognition. Child psychology and psychiatry: Frameworks for practice. (pp. 51-55) edited by David Skuse, Helen Bruce, Linda Dowdney and David Mrazek. Chichester, England, U.K.: John Wiley and Sons. doi: 10.1002/9781119993971.ch9
Slaughter, Virginia and Peterson, Candida C. (2011). How conversational input shapes theory of mind development in infancy and early childhood. Access to language and cognitive development. (pp. 3-22) edited by Michael Siegal and Luca Surian. New York, NY United States: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592722.003.0001
Nielsen, Mark G. and Slaughter, Virginia (2007). Multiple motivations for imitation in infancy. Imitation and social learning in robots, humans and animals. (pp. 343-359) edited by Nehaniv, C. L. and Dautenhahn, K.. United States: Cambridge University Press.
Nielsen, Mark and Slaughter, Virginia (2007). Multiple motivations for imitation in infancy. Imitation and Social Learning in Robots, Humans and Animals: Behavioural, Social and Communicative Dimensions. (pp. 343-360) edited by Nehaniv, Chrystopher L. and Dautenhahn, Kerstin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511489808.023
Repacholi, Betty, Slaughter, Virginia, Pritchard, Michelle and Gibbs, Vicki (2003). Theory of mind, machiavellianism, and social functioning in childhood. Individual Differences in Theory of Mind: Implications for Typical and Atypical Development. (pp. 68-98) Psychology Press. doi: 10.4324/9780203488508
Slaughter, V. and Repacholi, B (2003). Introduction: Individual differences in theory of mind: What are we investigating?. Individual Differences in Theory of Mind: Implications for Typical and Atypical Development. (pp. 1-12) edited by B. Repacholi and V. Slaughter. New York: Psychology Press.
Repacholi, B, Slaughter, V., Pritchard, M. and Gibbs, V. (2003). Theory of mind, machiavellianism, and social functioning in childhood. Individual Differences in Theory of Mind: Implications for Typical and Atypical Development. (pp. 67-98) edited by B. Repacholi and V. Slaughter. New York: Psychology Press.
Slaughter, V. (1999). Autism. Magill's Medical Guide. (pp. 45-49) edited by C. Carson III, L. Fleming Fallon Jr., K. Kalumuck, N. Piotrowski and C. Rizzo. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
Slaughter, V., Jaakkola, R. and Carey, S. (1999). Constructing a coherent theory: Children's biological understanding of life and death. Children's Understanding of Biology and Health. (pp. 71-98) edited by Michael Siegal and Candida L. Peterson. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
Slaughter, V. (1999). Primitive reflexes. Magill's Medical Guide. (pp. 611-613) edited by C. Carson III, L. Fleming Fallon Jr., K. Kalumuck, N. Piotrowski and C. Rizzo. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press.
Journal Articles
Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2024). Are Autistic Children with Theory of Mind Delays Unexpectedly Competent at Moral Reasoning?. International Journal of Disability Development and Education, ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print), 1-13. doi: 10.1080/1034912X.2023.2295916
Farrell, Callyn, Slaughter, Virginia, McAuliffe, Tomomi and Mulvihill, Aisling (2023). Participation and experiences in extracurricular activities for autistic and neurotypical children. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-15. doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-06142-z
Cuskelly, Monica, Gilmore, Linda, Rayner, Christopher, Girkin, Fiona, Mulvihill, Aisling and Slaughter, Virginia (2023). The impacts of typically developing siblings on the developmental outcomes of children with disability: a scoping review. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 140 104574, 104574. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2023.104574
Sommer, Kristyn, Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet and Nielsen, Mark (2023). Revisiting the video deficit in technology-saturated environments: Successful imitation from people, screens, and social robots. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 232 105673, 1-13. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2023.105673
Farrell, Callyn, Slaughter, Virginia, Thai, Michael and Mulvihill, Aisling (2023). How we talk to kids: adults prefer different forms of language for children based on gender expression. Sex Roles, 89 (3-4), 119-134. doi: 10.1007/s11199-023-01393-7
Puskás, Tünde, Andersson, Anita, Jeppsson, Fredrik and Slaughter, Virginia (2023). Living in heaven and buried in the earth? Teaching young children about death. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 31, 900-14. doi: 10.1080/1350293X.2023.2221002
Mulvihill, Aisling, Armstrong, Rebecca, Casey, Charlotte, Redshaw, Jonathan, Scarinci, Nerina and Slaughter, Virginia (2023). Early childhood educators' mental state language and children's theory of mind in the preschool setting. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 41 (3), 227-245. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12449
Kong, Qiuyi, Mulvihill, Aisling, Slaughter, Virginia, Fraser, Harry, Cavanagh-Welch, Bailey, Elwina, Felicia Crysta, Kang, Jie and Ruffman, Ted (2023). Not just quantity but also quality of language: cross-cultural comparisons of maternal mental state talk in New Zealand, Australia, and China. PLOS ONE, 18 (3) e0282480, e0282480. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0282480
Kim, Lee Rae, Jetten, Jolanda, Pekerti, Andre and Slaughter, Virginia (2023). Mindreading across cultural boundaries. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 93 101775, 1-12. doi: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2023.101775
Imuta, Kana, Song, Sumin, Henry, Julie D., Ruffman, Ted, Peterson, Candida and Slaughter, Virginia (2022). A meta-analytic review on the social–emotional intelligence correlates of the six bullying roles: bullies, followers, victims, bully-victims, defenders, and outsiders. Psychological Bulletin, 148 (3-4), 199-226. doi: 10.1037/bul0000364
Ribner, Andrew D., Coulanges, Linsah, Friedman, Samantha, Libertus, Melissa E., Hughes, Claire, Foley, Sarah, Devine, Rory, Fink, Elian, Selby, Amy, Brocki, Karin, Frick, Matilda, Badinlou, Farzaneh, Feng, Xin, Chan, Meingold, Slaughter, Virginia, Clark, Sally, Su, Yanjie, Wan, Shan, Lecce, Serena, Basile, Chiara, Elliott, Leanne and Silver, Alex (2021). Screen time in the coronavirus 2019 era: international trends of increasing use among 3- to 7-year-old children. Journal of Pediatrics, 239, 59-66.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2021.08.068
Sommer, Kristyn, Redshaw, Jonathan, Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet and Nielsen, Mark (2021). The early ontogeny of infants’ imitation of on screen humans and robots. Infant Behavior and Development, 64 101614, 1-11. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101614
Siriattakul, Parinya, Suttiwan, Panrapee, Slaughter, Virginia and Peterson, Candida C. (2021). Theory of Mind (ToM) Development in Thai Deaf Children. Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 26 (2), 241-250. doi: 10.1093/deafed/enaa036
Slaughter, Virginia (2021). Do newborns have the ability to imitate?. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 25 (5), 377-387. doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2021.02.006
Sommer, Kristyn, Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet, Owen, Kathryn, Chiba, Andrea A., Forster, Deborah, Malmir, Mohsen and Nielsen, Mark (2021). Can a robot teach me that? Children's ability to imitate robots. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 203 105040, 105040. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.105040
Davis, Jacqueline, Redshaw, Jonathan, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Oostenbroek, Janine and Slaughter, Virginia (2021). Does neonatal imitation exist? Insights from a meta-analysis of 336 effect sizes. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 16 (6), 1745691620959834-1397. doi: 10.1177/1745691620959834
Sommer, Kristyn, Davidson, Rebecca, Armitage, Kristy L., Slaughter, Virginia, Wiles, Janet and Nielsen, Mark (2020). Preschool children overimitate robots, but do so less than they overimitate humans. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 191 104702, 104702. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2019.104702
O’Brien, Zachariah K., Cuskelly, Monica and Slaughter, Virginia (2020). Social behaviors of children with ASD during play with siblings and parents: Parental perceptions. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 97 103525, 103525. doi: 10.1016/j.ridd.2019.103525
Kritikos, Ada, Lister, Jessica, Sparks, Samuel, Sofronoff, Kate, Bayliss, Andrew and Slaughter, Virginia (2020). To have and to hold: embodied ownership is established in early childhood. Experimental Brain Research, 238 (2), 355-367. doi: 10.1007/s00221-020-05726-w
Moss, Katrina M., Loxton, Deborah, Dobson, Annette J., Slaughter, Virginia and Mishra, Gita D. (2019). Correction to: Testing competing mediators of the association between pre-conception maternal depression and child health-related quality of life: the MatCH study. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 23 (3), 447-447. doi: 10.1007/s00737-019-01014-x
Ekerim-Akbulut, Muge, Selcuk, Bilge, Slaughter, Virginia, Hunter, John A. and Ruffman, Ted (2019). In two minds: similarity, threat, and prejudice contribute to worse mindreading of outgroups compared with an ingroup. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 51 (1), 002202211988369-48. doi: 10.1177/0022022119883699
Lim, Jiayuan, Peterson, Candida C., De Rosnay, Marc and Slaughter, Virginia (2019). Children's moral evaluations of prosocial and self-interested lying in relation to age, ToM, cognitive empathy and culture. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 17 (4), 1-23. doi: 10.1080/17405629.2019.1667766
Redshaw, Jonathan, Nielsen, Mark, Slaughter, Virginia, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Oostenbroek, Janine, Crimston, Jessica and Suddendorf, Thomas (2019). Individual differences in neonatal 'imitation' fail to predict early social cognitive behaviour. Developmental Science, 23 (2) e12892, e12892. doi: 10.1111/desc.12892
Gönültaş, Seçil, Selçuk, Bilge, Slaughter, Virginia, Hunter, John A. and Ruffman, Ted (2019). The capricious nature of theory of mind: Does mental state understanding depend on the characteristics of the target?. Child Development, 91 (2), e280-e298. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13223
Moss, Katrina M., Loxton, Deborah, Dobson, Annette J., Slaughter, Virginia and Mishra, Gita D. (2019). Testing competing mediators of the association between pre-conception maternal depression and child health-related quality of life: the MatCH study. Archives of Women's Mental Health, 23 (1), 53-62. doi: 10.1007/s00737-019-0941-7
Etel, Evren and Slaughter, Virginia (2019). Theory of mind and peer cooperation in two play contexts. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 60, 87-95. doi: 10.1016/j.appdev.2018.11.004
Guérin, Noémie A., Gabriels, Robin L., Germone, Monique M., B. Schuck, Sabrina E., Traynor, Anne, Thomas, Katherine M., McKenzie, Samantha J., Slaughter, Virginia and O'Haire, Marguerite E. (2018). Reliability and validity assessment of the observation of human-animal interaction for research (OHAIRE) behavior coding tool. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, 5 (NOV) 268, 268. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2018.00268
Oostenbroek, Janine, Redshaw, Jonathan, Davis, Jacqueline, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Nielsen, Mark, Slaughter, Virginia and Suddendorf, Thomas (2018). Re-evaluating the neonatal imitation hypothesis. Developmental Science, 22 (2) e12720, e12720. doi: 10.1111/desc.12720
Longbottom, Sarah and Slaughter, Virginia (2018). Sources of children's knowledge about death and dying. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B: Biological Sciences, 373 (1754) 20170267, 20170267. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2017.0267
Ip, Martin Ho Kwan, Imuta, Kana and Slaughter, Virginia (2018). Which button will I press? Preference for correctly ordered counting sequences in 18-month-olds. Developmental Psychology, 54 (7), 1199-1207. doi: 10.1037/dev0000515
Peterson, Candida C, Slaughter, Virginia and Wellman, Henry M (2018). Nimble negotiators: How theory of mind (ToM) interconnects with persuasion skills in children with and without ToM delay. Developmental psychology, 54 (3), 494-509. doi: 10.1037/dev0000451
Kuntoro, Ike Anggraika, Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2017). Culture, Parenting, and Children’s Theory of Mind Development in Indonesia. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 48 (9), 1389-1409. doi: 10.1177/0022022117725404
Ebert, Susanne, Peterson, Candida, Slaughter, Virginia and Weinert, Sabine (2017). Links among parents' mental state language, family socioeconomic status, and preschoolers' theory of mind development. Cognitive Development, 44, 32-48. doi: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2017.08.005
Schneider, Dana, Slaughter, Virginia P. and Dux, Paul E. (2017). Current evidence for automatic Theory of Mind processing in adults. Cognition, 162, 27-31. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.01.018
Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Redshaw, Jonathan, Davis, Jacqueline, Clark, Sally and Slaughter, Virginia (2017). There is no compelling evidence that human neonates imitate. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 40 e392, e392. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X16001898
Imuta, Kana, Henry, Julie D., Slaughter, Virginia, Selcuk, Bilge and Ruffman, Ted (2016). Theory of mind and prosocial behavior in childhood: a meta-analytic review. Developmental Psychology, 52 (8), 1192-1205. doi: 10.1037/dev0000140
Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas, Nielsen, Mark, Redshaw, Jonathan, Kennedy-Costantini, Siobhan, Davis, Jacqueline, Clark, Sally and Slaughter, Virginia (2016). Comprehensive Longitudinal Study Challenges the Existence of Neonatal Imitation in Humans. Current Biology, 26 (10), 1334-1338. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.047
Longbottom, Sarah E. and Slaughter, Virginia (2016). Direct experience with nature and the development of biological knowledge. Early Education and Development, 27 (8), 1-14. doi: 10.1080/10409289.2016.1169822
Peterson, Candida, Slaughter, Virginia, Moore, Chris and Wellman, Henry M. (2016). Peer social skills and theory of mind in children with autism, deafness, or typical development. Developmental Psychology, 52 (1), 46-57. doi: 10.1037/a0039833
Perez-Zapata, Daniel, Slaughter, Virginia and Henry, Julie D. (2016). Cultural effects on mindreading. Cognition, 146, 410-414. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2015.10.018
Peterson, Candida C., Slaughter, Virginia and Brownell, Celia (2015). Children with autism spectrum disorder are skilled at reading emotion body language. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 139, 35-50. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2015.04.012
Slaughter, Virginia, Imuta, Kana, Peterson, Candida C. and Henry, Julie D. (2015). Meta-analysis of theory of mind and peer popularity in the preschool and early school years. Child Development, 86 (4), 1159-1174. doi: 10.1111/cdev.12372
Slaughter, Virginia (2015). Theory of Mind in Infants and Young Children: A Review. Australian Psychologist, 50 (3), 169-172. doi: 10.1111/ap.12080
O'Haire, Marguerite E, Mckenzie, Samantha J, Beck, Alan M and Slaughter, Virginia (2015). Animals may act as social buffers: Skin conductance arousal in children with autism spectrum disorder in a social context. Developmental Psychobiology, 57 (5), 584-595. doi: 10.1002/dev.21310
Fink, Elian, Begeer, Sander, Peterson, Candida C., Slaughter, Virginia and de Rosnay, Marc (2015). Friends, friendlessness, and the social consequences of gaining a theory of mind. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 33 (1), 27-30. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12080
Colditz, Paul, Sanders, Matthew R., Boyd, Roslyn, Pritchard, Margo, Gray, Peter, O'Callaghan, Michael J., Slaughter, Virginia, Whittingham, Koa, O'Rourke, Peter, Winter, Leanne, Evans, Tracey, Herd, Michael, Ahern, Jessica and Jardine, Luke (2015). Prem Baby Triple P: a randomised controlled trial of enhanced parenting capacity to improve developmental outcomes in preterm infants. BMC Pediatrics, 15 (1) 15, 1-13. doi: 10.1186/s12887-015-0331-x
Schneider, Dana, Slaughter, Virginia P. and Dux, Paul E. (2015). What do we know about implicit false-belief tracking?. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 22 (1), 1-12. doi: 10.3758/s13423-014-0644-z
Slaughter, Virginia and Perez-Zapata, Daniel (2014). Cultural Variations in the Development of Mind Reading. Child Development Perspectives, 8 (4), 237-241. doi: 10.1111/cdep.12091
Shahaeian, Ameneh, Nielsen, Mark, Peterson, Candida C., Aboutalebi, Maedeh and Slaughter, Virginia (2014). Knowledge and Belief Understanding Among Iranian and Australian Preschool Children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45 (10), 1643-1654. doi: 10.1177/0022022114548484
Schneider, Dana, Slaughter, Virginia P., Becker, Stefanie I. and Dux, Paul E. (2014). Implicit false-belief processing in the human brain. NeuroImage, 101, 268-275. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.07.014
Slaughter, Virginia and Ong, Su Sen (2014). Social behaviors increase more when children with ASD are imitated by their mother vs. an unfamiliar adult. Autism Research, 7 (5), 582-589. doi: 10.1002/aur.1392
Fink, Elian, Begeer, Sander, Peterson, Candida C., Slaughter, Virginia and de Rosnay, Marc (2014). Friendlessness and theory of mind: a prospective longitudinal study. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 33 (1), 1-17. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12060
O'Haire, Marguerite, McKenzie, Samantha J., McCune, Sandra and Slaughter, Virginia (2014). Effects of classroom animal-assisted activities on social functioning in children with autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 20 (3), 162-168. doi: 10.1089/acm.2013.0165
De Rosnay, Marc, Fink, Elian, Begeer, Sander, Slaughter, Virginia and Peterson, Candida (2014). Talking theory of mind talk: Young school-aged children's everyday conversation and understanding of mind and emotion. Journal of Child Language, 41 (5), 1179-1193. doi: 10.1017/S0305000913000433
Shahaeian, Ameneh, Nielsen, Mark, Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2014). Iranian Mothers' Disciplinary Strategies and Theory of Mind in Children: A Focus on Belief Understanding. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45 (7), 1110-1123. doi: 10.1177/0022022114534772
Shahaeian, Ameneh, Nielsen, Mark, Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Cultural and family influences on children's theory of mind development: a comparison of Australian and Iranian school-age children. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, OnlineFirst (4), 1-14. doi: 10.1177/0022022113513921
Erlich, Nicole, Lipp, Ottmar V. and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Of hissing snakes and angry voices: human infants are differentially responsive to evolutionary fear-relevant sounds. Developmental Science, 16 (6), 894-904. doi: 10.1111/desc.12091
O'Haire, Marguerite E., McKenzie, Samantha J., McCune, Sandra and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Effects of animal-assisted activities with guinea pigs in the primary school classroom. Anthrozoos, 26 (3), 445-458. doi: 10.2752/175303713X13697429463835
Fink, Elian, de Rosnay, Marc, Peterson, Candida and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Validation of the Peer Social Maturity Scale for Assessing Children's Social Skills. Infant and Child Development, 22 (5), 539-552. doi: 10.1002/icd.1809
Kuntoro, Ike Anggraika, Saraswati, Liliek, Peterson, Candida and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Micro-cultural influences on theory of mind development: a comparative study of middle-class and pemulung children in Jakarta, Indonesia. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 37 (3), 266-273. doi: 10.1177/0165025413478258
Peterson, Candida C., Slaughter, Virginia, Peterson, James and Premack, David (2013). Children with autism can track others' beliefs in a competitive game. Developmental Science, 16 (3), 443-450. doi: 10.1111/desc.12040
Slaughter, Virginia, Peterson, Candida C. and Moore, Chris (2013). I can talk you into it: theory of mind and persuasion behavior in young children. Developmental Psychology, 49 (2), 227-231. doi: 10.1037/a0028280
Nielsen, Mark, Slaughter, Virginia and Dissanayake, Cheryl (2013). Object-directed imitation in children with high-functioning autism: testing the social motivation hypothesis. Autism Research, 6 (1), 23-32. doi: 10.1002/aur.1261
O'Haire, Marguerite E., McKenzie, Samantha J., Beck, Alan M. and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Social behaviors increase in children with autism in the presence of animals compared to toys. PLoS One, 8 (2) e57010, e57010.1-e57010.10. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0057010
Suddendorf, Thomas, Oostenbroek, Janine, Nielsen, Mark and Slaughter, Virginia (2013). Is newborn imitation developmentally homologous to later social-cognitive skills?. Developmental Psychobiology, 55 (1), 52-58. doi: 10.1002/dev.21005
Oostenbroek, Janine, Slaughter, Virginia, Nielsen, Mark and Suddendorf, Thomas (2013). Why the confusion around neonatal imitation? A review. Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, 31 (4), 328-341. doi: 10.1080/02646838.2013.832180
Schneider, Dana, Slaughter, Virginia P., Bayliss, Andrew P. and Dux, Paul E. (2013). A temporally sustained implicit theory of mind deficit in autism spectrum disorders. Cognition, 129 (2), 410-417. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2013.08.004
Guzzetta, Andrea, Boyd, Roslyn N., Perez, Micah, Ziviani, Jenny, Burzi, Valentina, Slaughter, Virginia, Rose, Stephen, Provan, Kerry, Findlay, Lisa, Fisher, Imogen, Colombini, Francesca, Tealdi, Gessica, Marchi, Viviani and Whittingham, Koa (2013). UP-BEAT (Upper Limb Baby Early Action-observation Training): protocol of two parallel randomised controlled trials of action-observation training for typically developing infants and infants with asymmetric brain lesions. BMJ Open, 3 (2) 002512, 1-11. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2012-002512
Morita, Tomoyo, Slaughter, Virginia, Katayama, Nobuko, Kitazaki, Michiteru, Kakigi, Ryusuke and Itakura, Shoji (2012). Infant and adult perceptions of possible and impossible body movements: an eye-tracking study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 113 (3), 401-414. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2012.07.003
Peterson, Candida, Wellman, Henry M. and Slaughter, Virginia (2012). The mind behind the message: Advancing theory-of-mind scales for typically developing children, and those with deafness, autism, or asperger syndrome. Child Development, 83 (2), 469-485. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01728.x
Slaughter, Virginia, Itakura, Shoji, Kutsuki, Aya and Siegal, Michael (2011). Learning to count begins in infancy: Evidence from 18 month olds' visual preferences. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 278 (1720), 2979-2984. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2010.2602
Shahaeian, Ameneh, Peterson, Candida C., Slaughter, Virginia and Wellman, Henry M. (2011). Culture and the sequence of steps in Theory of Mind development. Developmental Psychology, 47 (5), 1239-1247. doi: 10.1037/a0023899
O'Brien, Karen, Slaughter, Virginia and Peterson, Candida C. (2011). Sibling influences on theory of mind development for children with ASD. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52 (6), 713-719. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02389.x
Slaughter, Virginia and Neary, Philippa (2011). Do young infants respond socially to human hands?. Infant Behavior and Development, 34 (2), 374-377. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2011.01.004
Brown, Felicity L. and Slaughter, Virginia (2011). Normal body, beautiful body: Discrepant perceptions reveal a pervasive ‘thin ideal’ in childhood. Body Image, 8 (2), 119-125. doi: 10.1016/j.bodyim.2011.02.002
Slaughter, Virginia (2011). Human body perception and higher-level person perception are dissociated in early development. Cognitive Neuroscience, 2 (3-4), 206-207. doi: 10.1080/17588928.2011.604720
Slaughter, Virginia (2011). Development of Social Cognition. Child Psychology and Psychiatry: Frameworks for Practice, 2Nd Edition, 51-55.
Slaughter, Virginia and Heron-Delaney, Michelle (2011). When do infants expect hands to be connected to a person?. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 108 (1), 220-227. doi: 10.1016/j.jecp.2010.08.005
Slaughter, Virginia and Ting, Claire (2010). Development of ideas about food and nutrition from preschool to university. Appetite, 55 (3), 556-564. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2010.09.004
O'Haire, Marguerite E., Rand, Jacquie S., McKenzie, Samantha J. and Slaughter, Virginia (2010). Guinea pigs as classroom pets. Society for Companion Animal Studies Journal
Christie, Tamara and Slaughter, Virginia (2010). Movement contributes to infants' recognition of the human form. Cognition, 114 (3), 329-337. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2009.10.004
Heron, Michelle and Slaughter, Virginia (2010). Infants' responses to real humans and representations of humans. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 34 (1), 34-45. doi: 10.1177/0165025409345047
Ramm, Brentyn J., Cummins, Tarrant D. R. and Slaughter, Virginia (2010). Specifying the human body configuration. Visual Cognition, 18 (6), 898-919. doi: 10.1080/13506280903412153
Slaughter, Virginia, Peterson, Candida C. and Carpenter, Malinda (2009). Maternal mental state talk and infants' early gestural communication. Journal of Child Language, 36 (5), 1053-1074. doi: 10.1017/S0305000908009306
Peterson, Candida C. and Slaughter, Virginia (2009). Theory of mind (ToM) in children with autism or typical development: Links between eye-reading and false belief understanding. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3 (2), 462-473. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2008.09.007
Christie, Tamara and Slaughter, Virginia (2009). Exploring Links Between Sensorimotor and Visuospatial Body Representations in Infancy. Developmental Neuropsychology, 34 (4), 448-460. doi: 10.1080/87565640902964532
Hudry, Kristelle and Slaughter, Virginia (2009). Agent familiarity and emotional context influence the everyday empathic responding of young children with autism. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3 (1), 74-85. doi: 10.1016/j.rasd.2008.04.004
Heron, Michelle and Slaughter, Virginia (2008). Toddlers' categorization of typical and scrambled dolls and cars. Infant Behavior and Development, 31 (3), 374-385. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2007.12.017
Slaughter, Virginia, Nielsen, Mark and Enchelmaier, Petrina (2008). Interacting socially with human hands at 24 months of age. Infancy, 13 (2), 185-195. doi: 10.1080/15250000701795721
Slaughter, Virginia, Peterson, Candida C. and Carpenter, Malinda (2008). Maternal Talk About Mental States and the Emergence of Joint Visual Attention. Infancy, 13 (6), 640-659. doi: 10.1080/15250000802458807
Lim, Hui Keow and Slaughter, Virginia (2008). Brief report: Human figure drawings by children with Asperger's syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38 (5), 988-994. doi: 10.1007/s10803-007-0468-z
Slaughter, Virginia and Corbett, Danielle (2007). Differential copying of human and non-human models at 12 and 18 months of age. European Journal of Development Psychology, 4 (1), 31-45. doi: 10.1080/17405620601005622
Slaughter, Virginia and Griffiths, Maya (2007). Death understanding and fear of death in young children. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry, 12 (4), 525-535. doi: 10.1177/1359104507080980
Slaughter, Virginia and Suddendorf, Thomas (2007). Participant loss due to "fussiness" in infant visual paradigms: A review of the last 20 years. Infant Behavior & Development, 30 (3), 505-514. doi: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2006.12.006
Peterson, C. L., Slaughter, V. and Paynter, J. (2007). Social maturity and theory of mind in typically developing children and those on the autism spectrum. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 48 (12), 1243-1250. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01810.x
Christie, T. L. and Slaughter, V. (2007). Early development of body representations. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 30 (2), 203-204. doi: 10.1017/S0140505X07001422
Slaughter, Virginia, Peterson, Candida L. and Mackintosh, Emily (2007). Mind what mother says: Narrative input and theory of mind in typical children and those on the austism spectrum. Child Development, 78 (3), 839-858. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2007.01036.x
Peterson, CC and Slaughter, VP (2006). Telling the story of theory of mind: Deaf and hearing children's narratives and mental state understanding. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 24 (Part 1), 151-179. doi: 10.1348/026151005X60022
Nielsen, Mark, Suddendorf, Thomas and Slaughter, Virginia (2006). Mirror self-recognition beyond the face. Child Development, 77 (1), 176-185. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2006.00863.x
Slaughter, V., Kamppi, D. and Paynter, J. (2006). Toddler subtraction with large sets: further evidence for an analog-magnitude representation of number. Developmental Science, 9 (1), 33-39. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00460.x
Slaughter, V (2005). Young children's understanding of death. Australian Psychologist, 40 (3), 179-186. doi: 10.1080/00050060500243426
Symons, DK, Peterson, CC, Slaughter, V, Roche, J and Doyle, E (2005). Theory of mind and mental state discourse during book reading and story-telling tasks. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23 (1), 81-102. doi: 10.1348/026151004x21080
Slaughter, Virginia (2004). Emulator as body schema. Behavioral And Brain Sciences, 27 (3), 415-416. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X04410097
Connolly, J. M., Slaughter, V. and Mealey, L. (2004). The development of preferences for specific body shapes. Journal of Sex Research, 41 (1), 5-15. doi: 10.1080/00224490409552209
Slaughter, Virginia and Heron, Michelle (2004). Origins and early development of human body knowledge. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 69 (2), vii, 1-102. doi: 10.1111/j.0037-976x.2004.00286.x
Slaughter, V. and Heron, M. (2004). Origins and early development of human body knowledge. Monographs of The Society For Research In Child Development, 69 (2), VII-115. doi: 10.1111/j.0037-976X.2004.00287.x
Slaughter, Virginia, Stone, Valerie E. and Reed, Catherine (2004). Perception of faces and bodies: Similar or different?. Current Directions In Psychological Science, 13 (6), 219-223. doi: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00312.x
Slaughter, Virginia and Repacholi, Betty (2003). Introduction individual differences in theory of mind: What are we investigating?. Individual Differences in Theory of Mind: Implications for Typical and Atypical Development, 1-13. doi: 10.4324/9780203488508
Slaughter, Virginia and McConnell, Danielle (2003). Emergence of joint attention: Relationships between gaze following, social referencing, imitation, and naming in infancy. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 164 (1), 54-71. doi: 10.1080/00221320309597503
Slaughter, V. and Lyons, M. (2003). Learning about life and death in early childhood. Cognitive Psychology, 46 (1), 1-30. doi: 10.1016/S0010-0285(02)00504-2
Peterson, C and Slaughter, V (2003). Opening windows into the mind: mothers' preferences for mental state explanations and children's theory of mind. Cognitive Development, 18 (3), 399-429. doi: 10.1016/S0885-2014(03)00041-8
Slaughter, V., Dennis, M. J. and Pritchard, M. (2002). Theory of mind and peer acceptance in preschool children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20 (4), 545-564. doi: 10.1348/026151002760390945
Jaakkola, Raquel O. and Slaughter, Virginia (2002). Children's body knowledge: Understanding 'life' as a biological goal. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 20 (3), 325-342. doi: 10.1348/026151002320620352
Slaughter, V, Heron, M and Sim, S (2002). Development of preferences for the human body shape in infancy. Cognition, 85 (3), B71-B81. doi: 10.1016/S0010-0277(02)00111-7
Slaughter, V. and Boh, W (2001). Decalage in infants' search for mothers versus toys demonstrated with a delayed response task. Infancy, 2 (3), 405-413. doi: 10.1207/S15327078IN0203_8
Connolly, J. M., Mealey, L. and Slaughter, V. (2000). The development of waist-to-hip ratio preferences. Perspectives in Human Biology, 5, 19-29.
Waters, L. J., Siegal, M. and Slaughter, V. (2000). Development of reasoning and the tension between scientific and conversational inference. Social Development, 9 (3), 383-396. doi: 10.1111/1467-9507.00132
Johnson, Susan, Slaughter, Virginia and Carey, Susan (1998). Whose gaze will infants follow? The elicitation of gaze following in 12-month-olds. Developmental Science, 1 (2), 233-238. doi: 10.1111/1467-7687.00036
Slaughter, V and Mealey, L (1998). Seeing is not (necessarily) believing. Behavioral And Brain Sciences, 21 (1), 130-130. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X98400700
Slaughter, V (1998). Children's understanding of pictorial and mental representations. Child Development, 69 (2), 321-332. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06191.x
Slaughter, and Gopnik, A (1996). Conceptual coherence in the child's theory of mind: Training children to understand belief. Child Development, 67 (6), 2967-2988. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01898.x
GOPNIK, A and SLAUGHTER, (1991). YOUNG CHILDRENS UNDERSTANDING OF CHANGES IN THEIR MENTAL STATES. Child Development, 62 (1), 98-110. doi: 10.2307/1130707
WALLACH, H and SLAUGHTER, (1988). THE ROLE OF MEMORY IN PERCEIVING SUBJECTIVE CONTOURS. Perception & Psychophysics, 43 (2), 101-106. doi: 10.3758/BF03214186
WALLACH, H and SLAUGHTER, (1988). VIEWING DIRECTION AND PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION. Perception & Psychophysics, 43 (1), 79-82. doi: 10.3758/BF03208976
Conference Papers
Hensby, Kristyn, Wiles, Janet, Boden, Marie, Heath, Scott, Nielsen, Mark, Pounds, Paul, Riddell, Joshua, Rogers, Kristopher, Rybak, Nikodem, Slaughter, Virginia, Smith, Michael, Taufatofua, Jonathon, Worthy, Peter and Weigel, Jason (2016). Hand in hand: tools and techniques for understanding children's touch with a social robot. 11th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2016, Christchurch, New Zealand, 7-10 March 2016. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE Computer Society. doi: 10.1109/HRI.2016.7451794
Toyama, Kaoru, Imuta, Kana, Slaughter, Virginia, Kitazaki, Michiteru and Itakura, Shoji (2015). Comparison of Japanese and Australian adults in theory of mind: Investigating the use of subject and mental state language. IEICE, Shodoshima, Japan, 30-31 January 2015.
Slaughter, Virginia, Oostenbroek, Janine, Suddendorf, Thomas and Nielsen, Mark (2013). Is the human mirror system operational at birth?. ACNS-2013 Australasian Cognitive Neuroscience Society Conference, Melbourne, Australia, 28 Nov - 1 Dec, 2013. Lausanne, Switzerland: Frontiers Research Foundation. doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2013.212.00043
O'Haire, Marguerite, McKenzie, Samantha and Slaughter, Virginia (2012). Animal-assisted intervention for children with autism and their peers in a classroom setting: a survey study. ISAZ2012, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 11-13 July 2012.
O'Haire, Marguerite, Slaughter, Virginia, McKenzie, Samantha and McCune, Sandra (2012). Effects of an animal-assisted intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder and their peers in a classroom setting. ISAZ 2012: 21st Annual Conference of the International Society of Anthrozoology, Cambridge, England, 11-13 July, 2012. Davis, CA, USA: International Society for Anthrozoology.
O’Haire, Marguerite, Rand, Jacquie, Slaughter, Virginia, McKenzie, Samantha, Motro, Michal and McCune, Sandra (2010). Effects of a classroom–based intervention utilizing animal-assisted activities for primary-school children with autism and their peers. IAHAIO (International Association of Human-Animal Interaction Organizations), Stockholm , Sweden, July 1- 4 2010.
Erlich, Nicole S., Lipp, Ottmar V. and Slaughter, Virginia (2008). Physiological correlates of affective sounds in Australian adults and infants. 48th Annual Meeting of the Society-for-Psychophysiological-Research, Austin Tx, Oct 01-05, 2008. OXFORD: BLACKWELL PUBLISHING.
Suddendorf, T., Nielson, M., Slaughter, V. and Simcock, G. (2004). The nature of early self-recognition. 39th Conference of the Australian Psychological Society, Sydney, Australia, 29 September - 3 October 2004. CARLTON: Taylor & Francis.
Hudry, K. and Slaughter, V. (2002). Parental reports of day-to-day empathic displays in children with autism, intellectual impairment, and typical development Hosted by University of Auckland and Auckland Institute of Technology. The 13th Biennial Australasian Human Development Conference, Waiheke Island, New Zealand, 6th - 9th July, 2003. Basingstoke, U.K.: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
Slaughter, V. (2000). Implementing a lead tutor program in a large first year psychology subject. 34th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society, Canberra, 3 - 7 October 2000. Melbourne: Australian Psychological Society.
Slaughter, V. (2000). Developing a theory of mind in infancy and early childhood. 34th Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society, Canberra, 3 - 7 October 2000. Melbourne: Australian Psychological Society.
Slaughter, V. and Dennis, M. (1999). Cognitive and behavioural components of peer rejection: Relaitonships between sociometric status, prosocial behaviour and theory of mind in preschool children. 11th Australasian Human Development Conference, Sydney Univ., NSW, July, 1999. Sydney Univ., NSW: Aust. Psychological Society.
Slaughter, V. (1999). Teaching Psychology in large classes: An international survey of solutions. Twenty-Fourth International Conference on Improving University Learning and Teaching, Griffith University, 5-8 July, 1999. College Park, Marryland, USA: IUT.
Slaughter, Virginia (1999). Hierarchical tutoring structure for a large first year subject. University of Queensland TEDI Conference, Univ.of Qld, 1-2 Nov, 1999. Brisbane, Australia: The University of Queensland.