Lookit

The single most amazing computational engine known to mankind is your child’s mind–help find out how it works!

We’re hoping to learn more about how babies and children learn by enlisting the help of their most dedicated and curious observers: their own parents!

By participating in a quick online activity with your child and submitting a webcam recording of his/her responses, you can contribute to our collective understanding of the fascinating phenomenon of children’s learning.

We’re currently recruiting participants for the study ‘Your baby the physicist,’ where we’re trying to build detailed profiles of individual babies’ understanding of physical principles like gravity and inertia. We especially need families who are interested in completing multiple sessions (up to 15) within a few months, since this allows us to get much more precise estimates of their abilities. Children ages 4-12 months are eligible to participate.

Traditionally, developmental studies happen in a quiet room in a university lab. By moving studies online, we’re hoping to…

…Make it easier for you to take part in research, especially for families without a stay-at-home parent

…Work with more kids when needed–right now a limiting factor in designing studies is the time it takes to recruit participants

…Draw conclusions from a more representative population of families–not just those who live near a university and are able to visit the lab during the day

…Make it easier for families to continue participating in longitudinal studies, which may involve multiple testing sessions separated by months or years

…Observe more natural behavior because children are at home rather than in an unfamiliar place

…Create a system for learning about special populations–for instance, children with specific developmental disorders

…Make the procedures we use in doing research more transparent, and make it easier to replicate our findings

…Communicate with families about the research we’re doing and what we can learn from it