Esther Thelen

21.9k total citations · 5 hit papers
120 papers, 13.3k citations indexed

About

Esther Thelen is a scholar working on Developmental and Educational Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience and Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health. According to data from OpenAlex, Esther Thelen has authored 120 papers receiving a total of 13.3k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 78 papers in Developmental and Educational Psychology, 36 papers in Cognitive Neuroscience and 25 papers in Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health. Recurrent topics in Esther Thelen's work include Child and Animal Learning Development (48 papers), Children's Physical and Motor Development (35 papers) and Motor Control and Adaptation (24 papers). Esther Thelen is often cited by papers focused on Child and Animal Learning Development (48 papers), Children's Physical and Motor Development (35 papers) and Motor Control and Adaptation (24 papers). Esther Thelen collaborates with scholars based in United States, Germany and Canada. Esther Thelen's co-authors include Linda B. Smith, Daniela Corbetta, John P. Spencer, Donna M. Fisher, Beverly D. Ulrich, Alan Fogel, Gregor Schöner, Kathi Kamm, Ronald F. Zernicke and Christian Scheier and has published in prestigious journals such as Science, Psychological Review and American Psychologist.

In The Last Decade

Esther Thelen

115 papers receiving 12.2k citations

Hit Papers

5 papers align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action

1994 2.0k citations Esther Thelen, Linda B. Smith The MIT Press eBooks profile →
Development as a dynamic system

2003 618 citations Linda B. Smith, Esther Thelen Trends in Cognitive Sciences profile →
The dynamics of embodiment: A field theory of infant perseverative reaching

2001 614 citations Esther Thelen, Linda B. Smith et al. profile →
Motor development: A new synthesis.

1995 516 citations Esther Thelen American Psychologist profile →
Autonomous Mental Development by Robots and Animals

2001 371 citations Esther Thelen et al. profile →

Peers

Countries citing papers authored by Esther Thelen

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Esther Thelen's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Esther Thelen with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Esther Thelen more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Esther Thelen

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Esther Thelen. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Esther Thelen. The network helps show where Esther Thelen may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Esther Thelen

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Esther Thelen. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Esther Thelen based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Esther Thelen. Esther Thelen is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

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20 of 20 papers shown

#	Work	Indexed citations
1	Cue salience and infant perseverative reaching: tests of the dynamic field theory 2008 ·Developmental Science ·Melissa W. Clearfield, (unknown), Linda B. Smith, Frederick J. Diedrich, Esther Thelen	30
2	The Developmental Roots of the Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off. 2005 ·Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance ·Frank T. J. M. Zaal, Esther Thelen	26
3	Development as a dynamic system breakdown → 2003 ·Trends in Cognitive Sciences ·Linda B. Smith, Esther Thelen	618
4	Three-Month-Old Infants Can Select Specific Leg Motor Solutions 2002 ·Motor Control ·Rosa M. Angulo-Kinzler, Beverly D. Ulrich, Esther Thelen	65
5	Grounded in the World: Developmental Origins of the Embodied Mind 2000 ·Infancy ·Esther Thelen	193
6	Many Roads Lead to Rome: Locomotion and Dynamics 2000 ·Infancy ·Esther Thelen	12
7	Knowing in the context of acting: The task dynamics of the A-not-B error. 1999 ·Psychological Review ·(unknown), Esther Thelen, (unknown), Dewey McLin	254
8	Development of reaching during the first year: Role of movement speed. 1996 ·Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance ·Esther Thelen, Daniela Corbetta, John P. Spencer	233
9	A Method for Identifying the Initiation of Reaching Movements in Natural Prehension 1995 ·Journal of Motor Behavior ·Daniela Corbetta, Esther Thelen	27
10	Motor development: A new synthesis. breakdown → 1995 ·American Psychologist ·Esther Thelen	516
11	Exploration and Selection in the Early Acquisition of Skill 1994 ·International review of neurobiology ·Esther Thelen, Daniela Corbetta	41
12	Adaptive Dynamics of the Leg Movement Patterns of Human Infants: II. Treadmill Stepping in Infants and Adults 1994 ·Journal of Motor Behavior ·Beverly D. Ulrich, Klaus Schneider, Jody L. Jensen, Ronald F. Zernicke, Esther Thelen	23
13	A dynamic systems approach to development: Applications. 1993 ·The MIT Press eBooks ·Linda B. Smith, Esther Thelen	167
14	The Transition to Reaching: Mapping Intention and Intrinsic Dynamics 1993 ·Child Development ·Esther Thelen, Daniela Corbetta, Kathi Kamm, John P. Spencer, Klaus Schneider, Ronald F. Zernicke	323
15	Hidden Skills: A Dynamic Systems Analysis of Treadmill Stepping during the First Year 1991 ·Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development ·Esther Thelen, Beverly D. Ulrich, Peter H. Wolff	429
16	Understanding Movement Control in Infants Through the Analysis of Limb Intersegmental Dynamics 1990 ·Journal of Motor Behavior ·Klaus Schneider, Ronald F. Zernicke, Beverly D. Ulrich, (unknown), Esther Thelen	89
17	Systems and Development 1989 ·Megan R. Gunnar, Esther Thelen	105
18	The (re)discovery of motor development: Learning new things from an old field. 1989 ·Developmental Psychology ·Esther Thelen	5
19	From Spontaneous to Instrumental Behavior: Kinematic Analysis of Movement Changes during Very Early Learning 1983 ·Child Development ·Esther Thelen, Donna M. Fisher	44
20	The Organization of Spontaneous Leg Movements in Newborn Infants 1983 ·Journal of Motor Behavior ·Esther Thelen, Donna M. Fisher	171

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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