Where is my Ball?

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your child will be assigned to a group and then listen to a short story, which will help us explore how a child's perception of their group membership plays a role in influencing the understanding of others' minds.

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What language should they speak in?

In this scheduled Zoom call, your child will be introduced to different places with rules on language use and asked to judge whether it is okay or not okay if a person does not understand the language spoken around them

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Which town has the formal rule?

In this study, your child will watch short videos of cute characters that live in different towns. In each story, towns aren't allowed to do this thing called "daxing". The towns are different in some ways, like by how big the towns are and how dangerous the towns are.

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I-Spy in the Basket!

In the study, your child will interact with a live researcher and two friendly animal characters, Mr. Cat and Miss Bunny, on screen. Your child will see some images. Then Miss Bunny will describe one of them, and Mr. Cat will ask your child to evaluate whether Miss Bunny said it right.

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Can You Tell What Your Toddler Understands?

Help us learn how well parents understand what their 2-year-olds understand! In this online study, parents and children complete short language activities and questionnaires from home using a touchscreen device. Participation takes about 45 minutes at your convenience.

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“yes, and..” (how conjunctions shape kids’ answers)

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your child will watch two short stories about Froggy and Ducky as they go through a series of events, and we will learn how children answer “Do you know…?” questions to see whether they give yes/no answers or add more detail.

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Your Face is the Clue!

We are interested in whether children can use facial expressions to communicate with social partners. In this activity, your child will learn about and interact with different puppets.

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Autism Development Study

Help us learn how language, storytelling, social understanding, and thinking skills support the development of children with and without autism through fun virtual activities and games!

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More Food or Better Food?

Help us learn about how children understand social relationships based on sharing in a in a one-time live video call with a researcher!

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Let's Learn a New Word about the Mind!

During the study, your child will hear a new word through a story about two bears, accompanied by picture illustrations. Then, we will show them pairs of videos and sentences and ask them to pick the ones related to the word.

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But I want to do it!

Your child will hear two short stories about a boy and his mom and answer simple questions about what the characters did, wanted, and felt. Some questions will ask your child to answer aloud in English. This will help us learn how children think about everyday family situations.

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I see me, I see you: Recognizing emotions in others

This study takes about 90 minutes total, half for a survey you complete and half for a scheduled video chat with you, your child and a researcher. We will learn about how preschoolers with autism understand emotion as they see them on other people’s faces and what tools can help their understanding.

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Let's Find The Stars!

In this study, your child will play a card game! We are interested in learning about how young children respond to surprising and unsurprising outcomes in this card game.

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Why Do Children Play?

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your child will watch cartoons of other kids playing, and we will learn about early social development.

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Deciding which proportion is bigger!

In a scheduled zoom call, your child will be asked to compare proportions in the form of different colored shapes (like different kinds of rectangles).

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Think or Tell: Thinking or Sharing Unusual Ideas

Schedule a Zoom meeting, read through a few short stories, and chat with a researcher! We are studying how children think about people who believe things that are not true. Specifically, whether they differentiate between believing something and sharing it with others.

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Nina is a firefly!

In this scheduled video call with a researcher, your child will play a game with Lala and Didi, two "silly" puppets. Lala and Didi will each say a creative statement about the researcher's friends, shown in a picture book, and your child will be asked who said it better!

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What do you and your partner think about raising a child with autism?

In this study, co-parents of children with autism spectrum disorder will complete a survey examining perspectives (specifically attitudes), social support, and metal health, and we will learn about how parental agreement affects well-being.

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How Parents Think About Young Children

In this study, you will complete surveys about how you interpret and respond to everyday situations involving your child. We are interested in how patterns of thinking relate to child well-being. Surveys take 45-50 mins.

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A peer’s playmate choices

In this video call with a researcher, your child will see photos of a group of children and be asked for their thoughts on the playmate choices made by one of the children.

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Bilingual little listeners: ¿Qué imagen es?

Raising a bilingual little one? In two scheduled video calls with a researcher, your child will play word games (in English and Spanish) and one color/animal thinking game on your iPad or tablet. Parents will also complete two short surveys online about their child's language and development.

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Re-engagement Study for Puppies

This study is for you (the adult) and your dog! For about 9 months (starting at 3 or 4 months old, and until 12 months), you will video record yourselves as you complete a simple procedure and then share your video with our research team. This will help us learn about how dogs cooperate with people.

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Social Groups and Learning Norms

In this live study with a researcher on Zoom, your child will see different stories about characters interacting with one another, and we will learn about children’s understanding of norms (what is right and wrong).

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Power in Parent-Child Relationships

During this Zoom study, a researcher will introduce your child to parents and their kids who are disagreeing over what to have for dinner. We are curious if children consider kids' bossy demands as grounds for questioning the power in parent-child relationships.

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When Is It Okay to Help and Share?

Help us learn what children think about everyday moral dilemmas involving helping and sharing! In a Zoom interview, a researcher will show your child stories about everyday opportunities to help and share, and then ask them what they think.

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One or More?

In this study you can start right now, your child will listen to stories that use singular and plural pronouns. Your child will choose which picture they think matches with the story that they hear. We are trying to learn how kids think about how singular and plural pronouns can be used.

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Helping Chloe the Cat talk about colorful objects

Help our friend Chloe the Cat learn to talk! On a video chat with a researcher, your child will judge descriptions of pictures made by our toy friend, Chloe the Cat. Your child's responses will help us understand how children understand words and sentences about quantities.

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Helpful Friends

In this Zoom study, your child will watch different scenarios where characters help a friend. We are interested in learning what your child thinks about the helpfulness of the character's actions.

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Rusty Makes a Goal!

This study will take place on a scheduled video call on Zoom, live with a researcher. Your child will watch animated videos of a cartoon character Rusty who is trying his best at playing soccer, and answer simple questions about the soccer game.

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Where do people go on the ladder?

What do children think about people who speak different languages? In this study, your child will be introduced to people who hear different languages and hear them talk. Help us learn about children’s ideas about languages and accents.

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Household Labor and the Future

This study consists of a live video chat and survey and may require a second visit. The study is for you, another co-parent you live with (if applicable), and your child. You and your child will be asked questions about chores, careers, and media your child is exposed to.

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How do children understand sentences?

In this video chat, we are studying how children understand sentences that may have multiple meanings by playing a picture-matching game with a puppet.

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Can you choose the bear she wants?

In this study, your child will look at arrays of objects and try to decide which one a character wants from what they say. We will learn how children use emphasis and adjectives to figure out meaning.

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Folklore Stories and Gender Stereotypes

Help us learn how shared reading shapes children’s ideas about gender roles. Today, your child will answer questions about toys and activities for boys and girls (10 minutes). Next week, you’ll read a folktale with your child, they will answer questions, and you will complete a survey (40 minutes).

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Why Do Zarpies Do That?

In this study, your child will meet the Zarpies: cartoon characters who live far away and do unusual things. Your child hears a short clip about each one, then answers questions about what they think by clicking picture buttons or responding aloud.

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Heroes and Villains: Moral Judgments of Characters Loss

During a video call, your child will share their views on heroes and villains. This study explores how a character's morality influences children’s understanding of death and characters' emotional reactions to loss.

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Help Our Friends by Using Context Clues!

In this study, your child will be presented with verbs, new words, and pictures of objects that they see in everyday life. We will ask your child to point to an image, and ask parents to select their choice. This way, we can see how verbs may help kids learn new words!

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Aprendiendo Nombres de Juguetes Nuevos

In this study, your child will look at pictures of unfamiliar toy objects and hear them named in English and Spanish while we track their eye movements. You will also be asked to participate in a short structured conversation, via phone call or Zoom, about your child’s language exposure.

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Para quem o menino está apontando?

Seu filho ou filha verá fotos de personagens de desenhos animados interagindo entre si e aprenderemos sobre a interpretação que as crianças fazem dessas interações.

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Let’s decorate easter eggs!

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your child will learn about two machines in an Easter egg decorating factory and predict what eggs will look like after passing through both. This helps us understand when children can reason about two-step operations.

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How Do Kids With Autism See Faces?

Your child will see two faces on the screen. The top parts of the faces will either be the same or different. Your child will be asked to decide whether the top halves of the faces are the same or different. This study will help us better understand the development of face perception in kids.

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Find the Caregiver!

In this study, your child will hear stories about someone who needs help, select which of two characters is more likely to respond, and answer questions about love and who is in charge. Help us learn how children understand caregiving relationships.

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Why did the Mom ask what was on the roof?

The study is about how children learn to answer questions - like why, where, when, how - after a story. In this study your child will see some short pictured stories, and will be encouraged to speak the answer to a question at the end of some of them.

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Commitment Study for Adult Dogs

This study is for you (adult/parent) and your dog! In this study, you will video record yourselves as you complete a procedure on 4 different days and then share your videos with our research team. This will help us learn about whether dogs understand commitments like humans do.

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Discover the rule!

In this study, your child will play a music box game where some quantities make a box play music and others don't. We are interested in what kind of quantitative information children pay attention to when figuring out what will make the box play music!

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Children's Word Learning Strategies

Which strategy is the most effective to learn words in a second language? To help us answer this question, please join us for a scheduled 30-minute Google Meets call where your child will learn basic words in Spanish and play word games.

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Verb Variation

We are seeking 4, 5, and 6-year-old participants! In this study, the child will watch short child-friendly videos and answer questions about what they hear!

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Tell Me Why!

We are interested in understanding how children answer questions about the natural world when they do not have access to a model

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"Glasses" and "Glasses" can mean different things!

Many words have multiple meanings. The word "glasses" can mean both eye glasses and drinking glasses, and "cap" can refer to both a baseball cap and a marker cap. We're curious about whether kids can recognize multiple meanings. This study involves a survey portion (for parents) at the end.

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Feminist Parenting of Young Children

Feminist parents will fill out an online survey about teaching their child about gender. Some participants will be mailed a book to read to their child, audio-recording themselves doing so.

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Can You Find a Dax Block?

In this online study, your child will look at familiar objects, hear new, made-up words, and select objects that match the words they heard. We will learn how children understand the meanings of new words.

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Guess the Pattern to Get Bunny Home!

Your child will make guesses on where they think a star will go next! It is preferred that your child uses a tablet for the game while your session is recorded through your laptop on CHS, but this study can be done on a laptop only if that is not possible.

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What is that toy called?

In this Zoom session, you and your child will watch videos of a robot and a human labelling different toys and objects. Next, your child will be shown pictures of a robot and a person and be asked whether something mechanical (gears) or something biological (a heart) belongs inside.

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Is My Friend Happy?

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your child will listen to some scenarios and answer some questions about what factors influence children’s understanding of happiness, specifically examining how children perceive the impact of social material possessions on happiness.

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Which Way Should We Go?

In this scheduled video call with a researcher, your child will play a short computer game similar to Pac-Man, and we will learn how children set goals and collaborate with others!

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Road Trip with Friends! 4.0

In this study, your child will go on a virtual road trip and help some friends along the way! This is a new version of "Road Trip with Friends" - if eligible, your child can participate even if you've done some previous version of this study (you will see child eligibility on the screen)!

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Is this tree ZORPY?

Help us learn about how children learn the meanings of adjectives! In this study, your child will watch videos of short conversations where people use made-up words. Your child will then guess what some of the words mean.

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Toy Showing Study for Adult Dogs

This study is for two adults and your dog you both live with! In this study, you will video record yourselves as you complete a procedure on 4 different days and then share your videos with our research team. This will help us learn about how dogs communicate with people.

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What's My Friend Doing?

Help us understand how children learn verbs by watching another child’s actions! Children will participate in a scheduled Zoom session with a researcher. During the session, they will watch a video and be asked to match new verbs to the actions of another child.

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Getting Stuck and Unstuck When Solving Puzzles

In this anonymous study you can do on your own time, you will read stories about characters solving puzzles to help us learn how children expect characters to act when they get stuck.

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GARDEN Library Grand Opening 2 (Finale)!

For families who have completed the first eight Project GARDEN studies and are ready to start participating in GARDEN Phase 2. This is a short video introducing the new Phase 2 story with Fen! Fen needs your child's help getting the library ready for visitors!

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Does social connection help children think about others' minds?

In a scheduled video call with a researcher, your child will answer some questions about pictures and videos. We will learn about how children think about the role of social relevance in perspective-taking.

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Learning About Novel Animals

In this live video call with a researcher, your child will see and hear information about pairs of novel animals. After seeing each pair of animals, your child will be asked to answer some questions about what they have learned about the animals.

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Listen and Find Panoo!

Your child (2 or 3 years old) will be playing a hide-and-seek game with characters on screen over zoom.

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Who do You Want to Learn New Words From?

In this study, your child will learn some new words, but have the choice to learn from either a child or an adult. Help us learn how children decide who to learn from when discovering new toys and tools!

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Can You Catch the Ball?

In this study, your child will watch balls fall into bins and place cushions where they think the ball might land. We want to learn how children make choices when outcomes are certain or uncertain.

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Which One is Dax?

In this study, your child will see familiar objects with different characteristics. Your child will hear people talk about these objects, one of which will be described with a made-up adjective. We will ask your child to point at the object that has that made-up adjective's property.

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Which Food Do They Like More?

Help us learn about how children understand social relationships based on sharing in a live video call with a researcher!

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Sharing and Caring

During this Zoom study, a researcher will read your child a few short stories about sharing. We ask if children are more likely to expect others to share with friends, and if how much someone values their possessions matters in these decisions.

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GARDEN Library Grand Opening 1!

For families who have completed the first eight Project GARDEN studies and are ready to start participating in GARDEN Phase 2. This is a short video introducing the new Phase 2 story with Fen! Fen needs your child's help getting the library ready for visitors!

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Conversations on Household Labor Between Children and Their Parents

This study is for you and your child. In this scheduled Zoom call, you and your child will be asked to discuss two short videos, and your child will then be asked to divide chores between two hypothetical parents.

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Who's Keeping Track?

Your child will hear stories about two characters who repeat an action that was previously done to them, but express their intention in different ways. After each story, they’ll be asked questions about their judgments of each character to learn about how children judge expressions of reciprocity.

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Lets be Little Judges!

Your child will listen to eight illustrated stories about two characters and their cookies, then use bars and move cookies to show what they think. Help us learn how children think about fault, carelessness, and responsibility. Complete at home on your own device.

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Which one of these is like this one?

This study takes place over Zoom with a researcher and lasts about 30 to 45 minutes. Your child will see pictures and play a matching game, deciding which things go together and why. Parents will complete brief surveys, including vocabulary checklists about their child’s word knowledge.

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Ready, Set, Think!

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your child will complete activities where they respond to pictures and follow simple rules or instructions, helping us learn how children use memory and attention in everyday situations.

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Can you remember shapes?

In this study, your child will be shown a video of a stream of shapes, and we will ask your child questions based on what they remember from the video. This is to help us explore the learning process of children.

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What can you remember? Memory of Numbers, Pictures, and Stories

In this study, your child will be asked to recall the details of stories!

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Would you ask a Chatbot for Parenting Advice?

Complete a survey about your views on using AI for parenting advice, with the option to review a parenting guide and share feedback over Zoom.

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Who should get the cookies?

In this study, your child will listen to short illustrated stories about two characters and their cookies, then help decide what should happen next! Help us learn how children think about fairness and responsibility.

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Who Should We Invite to Our Playdate? For Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

For children with an autism spectrum diagnosis (ASD)! In this study, your child will see friendly animal puppets who promise to show cool toys. Sometimes they keep their promises, sometimes they don't! We want to know: does the reason matter?

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Bonding: A survey for parents

You will see statements about your child and your relationship with your child. You will rate how much you agree with each statement on a scale from "strongly disagree" to "strongly agree." We will learn how to improve ways of measuring how parents and children bond.

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What will they do on the treasure hunt?

In this scheduled video call with a researcher, your child will listen to two stories about cartoon characters on a treasure hunt to help us understand how kids think about when and who to help.

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