Studies

We have many studies going on simultaneously, and we often combine more than one study in a single 30-60 minute session. Since our research is primarily play-based, even very young children enjoy it and are happy to participate as long as we want to keep playing.

Here are some of our current and past studies. If you and your child would like to participate in one of them, please visit our Parents page on the left menu to sign up!

Currently Recruiting For:

“The Cradle of Compassion”:
Emotions and the early development of caring behavior (18 – 30 months)

As humans, we are remarkably caring and generous, sharing our time, money, and sometimes even risking our lives to help one another. One of the mysteries of development is when these qualities arise, and how. Although often we think of toddlers as ungenerous (“mine!”) and unhelpful (“no!”), even they will also help and share in some situations. In this study we are asking about the role of emotions in the very earliest instances of helping and sharing.

Children who participate in this study will have several opportunities to help or share some toys with an adult. Sometimes they will read a story or look at some pictures about emotions right before. Will they be more caring afterwards, or less?

“Show Me the Pretty One”:
Development of Body Perception in Young Children (30-60 months)

You have probably seen your children make goofy faces or prance around in front of the mirror. Maybe your children like to dress up in fancy clothes, paint their nails, and wear hats and jewelry. Maybe they like to flex their muscles to show you how big and strong they are. Are these just games, or do they mean something more? When do children begin imagining and thinking about what they look like to others, and when do they begin to care about what they look like?

Children who participate in this study will play a variety of games related to body perception. Can they tell when their body shape is altered in a carnival mirror? What are children’s earliest ideas about their own and others’ bodies and body shapes? Is dressing up just “fun,” or does it make someone “pretty” or “handsome?”

Completed Studies:

“What’s Mine is Mine & What’s Yours is Mine, Too”:
Development of Voluntary Toy Sharing in Toddlers (18-24 months)

Toddlers’ Property Laws: 1) if I like it, it’s mine; 2) if I can take it from you, it’s mine; 3) if I had it a little while ago, it’s mine; 4) if it looks like mine, it is mine; 5) if I saw it first, it’s mine; 6) if it’s broken, it’s yours. Sound familiar? For some toddlers, it really takes a lot for them to share their toys with someone else! Surprisingly, there is very little research on what children must be able to understand in order to share. Do some children not share because they simply don’t want to, or is it because they don’t know that another person wants something of theirs? Or maybe some children are happy to share because they don’t yet understand the idea of ownership.

In this study, children play fun and familiar games with an experimenter. However, the fun for the experimenter ends when she no longer has any toys to play with. What will toddlers do when the only option is to give up one of their own toys?

“The Head Bone’s Connected to the Neck Bone”:
When do Toddlers Represent their Own Body Topography? (18-30 months)

There are many songs and stories dedicated to teaching the different parts of the bodies. Toddlers are usually excited to show adults where various body parts are, such as their eyes, tummy, teeth, or toes. When do toddlers begin to connect these different parts into one “body?” At what age do toddlers begin to have a sense of how their body is laid out?

In this study, children play games with an experimenter to map out different parts of their bodies. If an experimenter locates her elbow, will toddlers realize that they too have an elbow and show where it is? Which familiar body parts will toddlers recognize on themselves, and which still remain a mystery?

"A Series of Unfortunate Events":
Development of Helping in Toddlers (18-30 Months)

Cooperative and prosocial behaviors are an integral part of human society. We care about each other, help each other in need, share resources, and sometimes give up our own comfort for that of others. Where do such abilities come from? How are they transmitted and internalized? One way to investigate these questions is to study children’s earliest behaviors aimed at helping others.

In this study, children observe an experimenter who is having a tough time. Sometimes she’s dropped or misplaced something, sometimes she’s cold or sad. The experimenter will provide children with various kinds of information about her problem and how they can help. Will children know what to do to help her? How much information do they need to intervene? How do such skills change between one and two years of age?

She Got One Too!:
Understanding Other Children's Emotions (12-30 Months)

By 12 months of age, children will often look up at a parent or other trusted adult when they’re confronted by something unusual or unknown. If the adult responds positively, the infant knows that unusual something is okay to play with, but if parents seem to be afraid or disgusted, infants are reluctant to touch or play with the unusual object. When do toddlers begin to use their peers’ emotions about toys to inform their own choice of toys to play with? If another child likes a toy does that make it more attractive? What if another child is afraid of a toy?

Children who participate in this study watch a short video of another child showing emotions toward unfamiliar toys. The children are then given the toys to play with themselves. Which ones do they like or dislike?

Cry,Baby,Cry:
Do Toddlers Respond to Infants' Distress? (12-30 Months)

When you pinch a finger or stub a toe and become visibly upset, does your toddler react to your emotions? During the second year of life children begin to show concern when a familiar adult becomes distressed, and they sometimes try to kiss the “boo-boo” or give the adult a comforting hug. But how do they respond to the distress of other children?

Children who participate in this study will play in the same room with a crying baby (a realistic doll) and on another occasion with a happy-sounding baby. What will they do? We will also ask their accompanying parent or guardian to pretend to pinch a finger and then to show pain and distress. Will toddlers respond the same way to a parent and to another child?

To Share or Not to Share:
When Do Toddlers Respond to Another's Needs? (16-30 Months)

“Mine!” is perhaps the most familiar refrain of one- and two-year olds. Yet at the same time children happily share their food with the dog or a parent. Are young children more likely to share when they don’t have to give something completely up? Interestingly, our chimpanzee relatives don’t share food with each other even when it doesn’t cost them their own food.

In this study children are taught to pull a handle to get a small snack for themselves (e.g., a Cheerio, Goldfish, or raisin). Then they are shown that they can give a snack to themselves and to another person, too, if they pull the other handle. When they are given a choice, will they choose to pull the sharing handle more often or will they pull the two handles randomly, without considering the other person?

Toddlers in Wonderland:
Early Awareness of Body Size (16-30 Months)

Parents often report that their toddlers get stuck trying to fit into small spaces like the space between the sofa and the wall, or that they bump their heads while trying to walk to crawl under a table because they don't realize their own height. Do toddlers do this because they can't yet think about the size of their body in relation to the size of things in the world? Or do they not yet understand size relations in general; for example, do they also try to fit a large doll into a too-small space? How do these developments relate to toddlers' emerging abilities to pretend?

Children who participate in this study play with a selection of Little Tykes and other toys (Cozy Coupe, slide, tunnel), both large and small. They also play with dolls or stuffed animals, pretending to give them rides in trucks or cars, putting them to bed, and so on (yes, boys like to do this, too!). This study also involves a peek-a-boo game with the parents through a tall wall with two doors in it. One is "too small" and one is "just right;" which one will the child choose?

We often observe parents giggling as they watch their child's antics in this study; some children are real surprises!

Toddlers at Work:
Barriers to Progress (16-24 Months)

Imagine you're sitting on a beach towel and your friend asks if he or she could borrow it for a quick dry-off. What would you do? Would you remain seated and try to tug it out from beneath yourself or would you stand up, step off the towel, and hand it over? If you were a young toddler, you would probably do the former. One youngster in our lab recently tried to hand a mat he had been sitting on to the researcher - while he was standing on it!

Why do toddlers do this sort of puzzling thing? Is it because they don't yet recognize their own bodies as weighted objects that can serve as barriers? Or is it because they don't understand the more general idea of any weighted object serving as a barrier?

Children who participate in this study will encounter several puzzling problems and we would like to see how they try to solve them. They might try to pull a train that's weighted down with a heavy brick. Or maybe the train is attached to a blanket that's weighted down with a heavy brick. They might try to push a stroller that's weighted down with our heavy stuffed lion, Sandy. Or maybe the stroller is attached to a blanket that's weighted down with a heavy brick, or the child's own body. They might be asked to hand over the mat they're sitting on, or one that you are sitting on. When do children understand that they must remove the weight, whether it's their own body or a weighted object, to move things around? (Don't worry - we help them move anything that's too heavy for them to lift on their own.)

You Want What?:
Toddlers' Understanding of Desire Communications (12-24 Months)

There are many nonverbal ways to communicate that we want or like something: facial expression, gesture, posture, and vocalizations without words ("Mmmmmm!"). When do toddlers understand these as communications of desire?

Children who participate in this study will watch a researcher reacting to two toys. She will respond positively to one toy (e.g., smile at it) and negatively to the other toy (e.g., frown at it). Then she will ask the child to give her one. At what age will children begin choosing the "desired" toy over the "undesired" toy to give to the researcher?

A number of different kinds of toys will be used, some familiar (e.g., Beanie babies, books) and some unfamiliar (e.g., kitchen utensils, hardware). And a number of different kinds of expressions will be used.