Memory: This is a memory development study seeking 8 month olds. The purpose of the study is to examine the role sequential information has on the development of declarative memory in infancy. This study is a six session study, and has a 4 week at home component part to the study. Thus, the timeline of this study is roughly 7 weeks long. Results of this study carry large implications not only on how memory systems develop, but how forms of parent-infant interactions may be more beneficial developmentally than others.
Real Event Segmentation Study: This study is an Event Related Potential (ERP) study for 10-11 month olds that looks at how infants break down actions. The entire study takes at most one hour, during which they are asked to put a little cap on that measures the natural electricity that the brain gives off and then to watch a movie which lasts about 10 minutes. If you would like to have your child participate or would like to get more information about the study, please contact the DN lab either by email or phone.
Interactive Touch Screen Media: The Interactive Touch Screen Media study looks at how infants engage with a touch screen tablet. We are particularly interested in looking at joint attention—how much an infant follows a point or an eye gaze when sitting in front of an experimenter and another object. We are looking to work with infants who are 12 months old to participate in a short, one-time session in our lab. The infants will have the opportunity to play with a touch screen tablet as well as with plush toys.
Media Imitation: The goal of this study is to examine how different forms of social or nonsocial interaction affect imitation. More specifically, we want to look at children with autism in comparison to typically developing children and how different media affect their abilities to learn. The study is comprised of children interacting with the same experimenter either via direct talking, video chatting, or watching a pre-recorded video.
Lie Telling Behavior and Theory of Mind:Theory of mind, or the ability to understand other people’s mental states, begins to develop in preschool-aged children and has been related to lie-telling behaviors. This current experiment looks at theory of mind as a predictor for lie-telling behaviors and the effects of adult lies on preschool-aged children. It consists of a white lie (depending on the condition) from the experimenter, a temptation resistance paradigm (guessing game in which the child has an opportunity to “win” by peeking at a toy when asked not to, then asked about his/her transgression), and a theory of mind assessment. The session lasts approximately 30 minutes.
Lie Telling Behavior: This study is conducted in one session (approximately 30 minutes-1 hour) during which we are interested in the context of which children lie in order to promote honesty. We try to get children to play a guessing game, in which 3 toys are presented to them with an audio cue and they’ll have to guess what toy it is. This is usually an enjoyable experience for both the child and parent.