Baby's First Plants

Your baby will watch a video featuring a plant and either a doll or a ball. We'll observe your baby's reactions when we reveal one or both objects. This study will help us understand how infants may categorize plants as different from animate agents and inanimate objects.

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Who is this animal?

In this study, your baby will watch a short video filled with cute, stuffed animals and hear names for these animals (like "dax").

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Linking speech sounds to images

In this scheduled video chat your baby will look at colorful shapes and listen to a speaker labeling them. We want to understand how the relationship between images and sounds affect a baby's language learning.

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Does Accent Matter?

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your baby will look at a video of characters with accents. We want to see what babies think about accents and close relationships.

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How are they feeling?

In this study, we look at how you discuss other people's feelings with your family. You, your baby, and another adult in your family will view pictures of children displaying various emotions. You’ll be asked to talk about the feelings of the children either to your baby or to the other adult.

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J'ai joué. Je suis parti.

Votre enfant écoutera de courts passages en regardant un objet à l'écran. Nous voulons savoir quels passages votre enfant préfère selon le type de phrases qui sont présentées.

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Language Beyond the Spectrum

Help us learn how children with autism tell stories and its importance to future language, literacy, and math skills!

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Dónde está la ball?

We are studying bilingual toddlers' ability to identify words while an accented speaker switches between languages! Your child will watch a short video while a speaker directs them to look at different images on the screen either all in English, all in Spanish, or a combination of the two.

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Baby Learning Patterns

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher! We study what patterns babies can learn from their environments.

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Follow Me, Friends!

This study will take place on a video call live with a researcher! We're interested in how babies think about the social preferences of those who imitate one another.

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Labeling abstract concepts

This study looks into babies' ability to learn the names of abstract relations, such as "same" vs. "different."

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Learning about hidden creatures

In the first part of this longitudinal study study (at 14-16 months), we test babies' ability to imagine and name a thing they have never seen. We also measure their memory and attention. When babies are 22-24 months, we repeat the same tests and also teach them new facts about a novel creature.

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Which Way Will Your Baby Go?

How do young children learn to navigate their visual world? Watch short videos of colorful virtual environments designed to test their understanding of how it is possible to move through a space. For example, the difference between an open doorway versus a painting on the wall.

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Tell Me About It Too!

Babies and toddlers communicate right from the start. How do toddlers choose what to say when they can only say one or two words at a time? We will show your child four short cartoons about ordinary activities (e.g., an animal entering, then leaving) and then ask them to tell you what happened.

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Learning words from multiple people

We are interested in how infants learn words when they hear them from multiple people vs. just one person.

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Storytelling in Spanish and English

This is actually a study for mothers to participate in with their babies! You will look at pictures and record yourself telling stories about them to your baby, using both Spanish and English.

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Whose Cookies?

In this study, your child will play a guessing game with some friends, helping them figure out which plate has just the right amount of cookies.

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Teaching and Perspective-Taking

In a scheduled video call with a researcher, your child will (i) answer some questions about what people can see and (ii) show pictures or books to you and to the researcher. We will learn about how children think about others’ perspectives while communicating.

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Journey to the GARDEN Library 3 (Finale!)

You've found the last two map pieces! Journey with Fen and find the GARDEN Library. This is the last of three "Travel Montage" videos that show your child their progress in completing the first eight GARDEN studies and the conclusion to the story!

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Sono arrivato. Ho giocato.

Il bambino ascolterà brevi frase mentre guarda un oggetto sullo schermo. Vogliamo sapere quali passaggi preferisce suo/a figlio/a in base al tipo di frasi che vengono presentate.

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Guess the Pattern on your tablet!

Your child will do a touchscreen task on your tablet, while you use a laptop/desktop to record them on Children Helping Science. The task on the tablet will involve looking at different patterns and making judgments about them.

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What's hiding in the box?

What's hiding in the box? We either show or only describe three objects (animals, fruits, etc.) that are placed in the box and then ask the baby to guess what the fourth object might be.

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Sweet little eavesdroppers (ads)

Did your kids ever say something you never taught them? In this study, we want to better understand whether and when babies learn words from directed versus overheard talk—how does the kind of talk that they hear influence what they learn.

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Who knows what?

In this online study, your child will hear brief stories and play an engaging communication game, allowing us to learn more about children’s knowledge of grammar and understanding of others' minds. Some will be invited for a follow-up.

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Let's learn some alien words!

During the zoom session with a researcher, your child will be introduced to friendly aliens learning our language. Your child will help them learn new words to describe the way the aliens look. You child will listen, watch short videos, and choose between images!

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Happiness: A survey for parents

In this study that doesn't require your baby to be present, you will rate statements about your family, such as how often your baby is "excited" or "laughing" to help us learn about babies' emotions.

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How do children think about categories?

In this study, your child will play a picture-matching game where they match spoken words to images on the screen to help us learn how our category knowledge changes with age.

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Accentuating Attitudes on Accent

In this scheduled video chat with a researcher, your baby will look at pictures of talking bears, and we will learn how babies interpret different accents.

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How many languages do bilingual babies expect others to speak?

In this study, your child will see a speaker from either a familiar race or an unfamiliar race. They will then hear them speak different stories in English and Spanish. We are looking at how many languages toddlers expect others to speak!

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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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Do Babies See Helping as Kindness or Friendship?

In a live video call with a researcher, your baby will watch short videos in which two pairs of animated characters help each other. We will monitor your baby’s looking time to each event to see if they expect the helper to continue being helpful to the same individual in future interactions.

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Does sharing lead to liking?

We are interested in how your baby expect things will be shared. Your baby will watch some short videos of a person sharing food items with others and then reacting positively or negatively to them. How your baby views these videos will help us learn about what they expect about sharing.

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Who do I see?

In this study, your baby will watch a short video filled with faces of different individuals and hear names for these faces (like "dax").

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RISE Study for SPARK

In this study, your baby will see a series of social and nonsocial videos. We will record your baby watching these videos so we can measure how long they look at the different videos.

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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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Can you hear me?

In this study, your child will watch videos showing a pair of objects, and hear a voice directing their attention to one of them. At the same time, your child will hear another voice in the background. We will learn about children’s ability to pay attention when there are two speakers at once!

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Patrones de aprendizaje de bebés

¡Este estudio se realizará en una videollamada, directamente con una investigadora! Estudiamos qué patrones pueden aprender los bebés de su ambiente.

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Facing A New Discovery!

In this study for babies who belong to a racial or ethnic minority within the US, your baby will see pictures of women’s faces of different races, and we will see how your baby attends to the faces.

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Journey to the GARDEN Library 1

You've found the first 3 map pieces! Journey with Fen and get a little bit closer to finding the GARDEN Library. This is the first of three "Travel Montage" videos that show your child their progress in completing the first eight GARDEN studies.

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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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Which object am I talking about?

In this scheduled video call with a researcher, your baby will look at a person expressing a preference for one of two toys, and we will be learning how this preference influences which toy babies look at.

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Look at the Dots!

In this study, your child will see dots appear over time with playful background music. We want to know what babies like to look at, and to see if they look longer at dot sequences that look different than what they might expect!

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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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What's in a Hug?

In this study, your baby will watch a video of friendly characters who hug or dance together. We will measure how your baby pays attention to this video.

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Journey to the GARDEN Library 2

You've found the next 2 map pieces! Journey with Fen and get a little bit closer to finding the GARDEN Library. This is the second of three "Travel Montage" videos that show your child their progress in completing the first eight GARDEN studies.

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Il tu@ piccol@ sa a cosa stai pensando?

In questo studio il tu@ bambin@ guarderà alcuni video che mostrano una persona con una credenza 'vera' o una 'falsa' credenza riguardo a una situazione per un paio di minuti.

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Abstraction for babies

This study looks into babies' ability to learn the names of abstract relations, such as "same" vs. "different."

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Reasoning About Groups

This study investigates whether babies expect group behavior to match information about probabilities. Your baby will watch movies with characters tossing candies into boxes.

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Can babies generate explanations?

In this scheduled video call with a researcher, your baby will watch short videos of events where colorful balls either roll through or bounce off of different shaped walls. We are curious whether they will subsequently look at the wall that can explain the event that they saw!

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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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