Does your baby see a group as one?

For 6 to 16 month-olds.

In this study, your baby will sit in your lap and watch a series of short videos showing colorful shapes moving in and out from behind a screen. There will be blue and purple shapes shown one after the other. They will move towards either a blue or red object on the left and right side of the screen. Some videos show the two groups of shapes that each seem to want the same thing, some show two groups that each seem to want something different. You will have an important job during the study: for some videos, you will pay attention to when your baby is watching the screen vs. looking away, and will press the space bar when your baby looks away for three seconds. After the study, we will ask you a few questions about your baby's social experiences (for example, information about siblings and daycare).

We are interested in how babies group things together based on shared goals. For example, if two groups of shapes both want the same object, will your baby expect them to act like one big group — or will they still expect two separate groups? Your baby's looking behavior will help us understand how they organize and make sense of the people and things around them.

15 minutes

You will be compensated with a $5 Amazon.com e-gift-card that you will receive over email within 1-2 weeks of participating in the study. To be eligible for this gift-card, you must submit a valid consent form, your child must be visible during the study, and your child must be in the correct age range for this study. Each child can only recieve a single gift-card.