Peter Kaplan, Ph.D.

Peter Kaplan headshot
Professor • Psychology Department Chair
Bachelor's in Psychology Program

Mailing Address:
Department of Psychology 
Campus Box 173, PO Box 173364 
Denver, CO 80217-3364

Physical Location:
North Classroom Building
1200 Larimer Street
Room 5002H (5th floor)

Office Hours:
By appointment

Expertise Areas:
Infant Learning, Postpartum Depression, Conditioning and Learning, Experimental Psychology

A.B., 1978, Rutgers College
Ph.D., 1982, Indiana University

Peter Kaplan, Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychology, joined the CU-Denver faculty in 1984. His research has focused on basic learning processes in non-human animals and human infants. He is currently the director of the Infant Learning Laboratory where he studies the effects of postpartum depression on infant learning and cognitive development.

Kaplan, P. S., Danko, C. M., Everhart, K. D., Diaz, A., Asherin, R. M., Vogeli, J. M., & Fekri, S. (2014). Maternal depression and expressive communication in one-year-old infants. Infant Behavior & Development, 37, 398-405.

Porritt, L. L., Zinser, M. C., Bachorowski, J.-A., & Kaplan, P. S. (2014). Depression diagnoses and fundamental-frequency based acoustic cues in maternal infant- directed speech. Language Learning & Development, 10, 51-67.

Kaplan, P. S., Danko, C. M., Kalinka, C. J., & Cejka, A. M. (2012). A developmental decline in the learning-promoting effects of maternal infant-directed speech for infants of mothers with chronically elevated symptoms of depression. Infant Behavior & Development, 35, 369-379.

Kaplan, P. S., Danko, C. M., Diaz, A., & Kalinka, C. J. (2011). An associative learning deficit in one-year-old infants of depressed mothers: Role of depression duration. Infant Behavior & Development, 34, 35-44.

Kaplan, P. S., Danko, C. M., & Diaz, A. (2010). A privileged status for male infant-directed speech in infants of depressed mothers? Role of father involvement. Infancy, 15, 151-175.

PSYC 1000: Introductory Psychology I
PSYC 3222: Principles of Learning
PSYC 4164: Psychology of Perception