She studies language acquisition, children's development of concepts, conceptual changes over time, and the importance of executive functions.
"[11] In 2009, Carey was the first woman to receive the David E. Rumelhart Prize for significant contributions to the theoretical foundation of human cognition.
In her junior year she took classes with George Armitage Miller and Jerome Bruner, and worked during the summer as a research assistant with Peter Wason, who was visiting from University College, London.
At MIT, Carey worked alongside George Miller, Jerome Bruner, and Roger Brown and first met Elizabeth Spelke.
[23][8] They also discussed "extended mapping", the process by which children gradually brought the new concept into alignment with their previous understanding of a conceptual space.
Fast mapping has become a central idea in developmental theories about the learning of words leading to "considerable methodological and theoretical advances".
[5] Carey suggested that children's early understanding of biological concepts like "animal" indicates anthropomorphic thinking or folk theorization in which humans are expected to be prototypical of non-humans.
[31] In it Carey coined the term "Quinian bootstrapping" for a theory of how people build complex concepts out of simple ones.
[37][35] Children's level of executive function predicts their ability to learn an idea that involves conceptual change, such as the biological concept that something is alive.
Research also suggests that training can improve executive function and lead to subsequent gains in children's math, reading, and vocabulary scores.
[37] Surprisingly, researchers have shown that elderly adults make errors in reasoning reminiscent of those made by young children.
[37] Carey is examining the question of how executive functioning impacts adults' ability to express the knowledge they have previously learned.