Look Who It Is!

For 4- to 18-month-old infants

REQUIREMENT: In this study, you'll be asked to put a visible mark on your child's face—you can use lipstick, rouge, face paint, or a small sticker/tape to safely leave a clear mark without bothering your child. Please make sure to have one of these tools handy before you participate!

In this study, we're interested in how your child reacts and behaves when they see themselves on a screen! First, your child will see an exciting jumping dot moving around the screen, which is intended to get their attention. Then, your child will see a live webcam feed of themselves, with calm music playing alongside. While the live webcam feed is running, we will record your child's reactions and behaviors in response to seeing themselves. Finally, you will see some questions about your child's experience with seeing themselves in mirrors and on screens.

One of the first things an infant encounters is themselves, but we know only little about the nature and origins of the "self" and how it may change throughout development. One possible indicator of self-awareness is to visually recognize oneself; people regularly spend time in front of mirrors to assess and adjust their appearance. In this study, we aim to broadly explore how infants at the very beginning of their development react and behave when seeing themselves on a screen.

5 minutes

We will send you a $5 Amazon.com gift card within a week. To be eligible for the gift card, (1) your child must be in the age range for this study, (2) you need to submit a valid consent statement, and (3) we need to see that there is a child with you during the experiment. Each child can only participate in this study once.