Infants' expectations of people's and object's movements

This study if only for US residents. This study is for 4-, 7- and 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. After finding a time that works for you, you will be directed to survey where you can complete our consent form and answer some research relevant questions. During the Zoom session, we’ll show your child some animated videos of shapes or people moving across a screen before stopping behind an occluder in the center of the screen. Then after a brief delay a new animated object or person will appear from behind the occluder and move the rest of the way across the screen. While we show these videos we will be recording your child's looking times. We are curious about what infants expect might be going on behind the central screen.

We are interested in infants' expectations regarding the movement behaviors of people and objects. In this study, one object or person will move from the left to behind an occluder in the center of the screen and a new object or person will start behind the occluder and then move to the right of the screen. We will later remove the occluder and show infants that the people and objects are making contact behind the occluder or not making contact. We are interested in how infants looking times may differ depending on expectations of what is happening behind the occluder. The primary question we aim to answer is whether infants have different expectations of the cause of movement in objects versus people.

30 minutes

You will receive compensation within 2 weeks of participating in this study. You and your child, who is within a valid age range, can only participate in this study once, and must show up at the scheduled time to receive compensation. Your child does not need to finish the study to receive compensation. Participants will receive a $15 Amazon.com e-gift card.