Let's listen to the funny sentences!

For toddlers aged 21 to 24 months whose first language is English

In this study, your child will listen to a series of short passages while looking at a moving object on the screen. We want to know which type of sentences children prefer, based on what they are looking at. We will ask you not to interact with your child while your child is listening, as we want to measure their own reactions to what they hear.

Our research explores how and when children learn various aspects of their first language, particularly when those aspects vary across languages. For example, languages can have different word orders ("the red dog" or "the dog red"). In this study we want to find out if English-speaking children at this age have a preference for sentences such as 'I have left' compared to sentences such as 'I am left', which do not occur in English, but do occur in some other languages such as French and Italian.

15 minutes

Families will receive a $5 Amazon.com gift card. You will receive your gift card within one week of participation. To be eligible for the gift card, your child must be in the age range for this study, you need to provide a verbal consent statement, and we need to see that there is a child with you who is listening to the sentences. Only one gift card per child is available.