Baby's Magic Room

For 8 to 11 month olds

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher! Clicking on the “Schedule a time to participate” button will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you. Your baby will watch videos depicting a hidden causal interaction: a hand will move behind a wall and hit a cube that will crumble. After seeing this happen a few times, your baby will watch two new versions of the same event — but this time without the wall. In one version, the hand touches the cube before it crumbles. In the other version, the cube crumbles without being touched.

Babies expect physical events to have causes, but they also distinguish between ordinary objects and agents that can act on their own. Previous research has shown that babies use cues such as self-propelled movement to identify agents. In this study, we investigate whether spontaneous changes in an object's state provide another cue to agency. By measuring how long babies watch different events, we can better understand how babies decide which kinds of objects can act as agents.

15 minutes

Each participant who is in the required age range and participated in the study will receive a $5 gift card from Amazon.com within two weeks after the date on which the study took place.