Musical Surprises !

For 8- to 9- year olds

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher. Click on the "Schedule a time to participate" button and it will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you. With the live researcher, your child will play a game and listen to some musical melodies. Please note that a desktop or laptop computer is required to participate - phones or tablets will not work for this study.

Most adults can tell when they hear a "wrong note" in a song - even if they have never had music lessons! We learn musical patterns - like which notes are "right" or "wrong" - implicitly over time by hearing music in our everyday lives. In this project, we want to find out whether we can investigate children’s musical expectations by asking them to rate "surprise" using emoji faces. This line of research will help us understand how learning takes place implicitly in our everyday lives.

30-minute session

As a thank you, we will send you a Jr. Scientist Certificate with your child’s name. All participating families will receive a $5 e-gift card to Amazon.com provided via email. In order to be eligible for compensation, the child participating in the study needs to be in the age range, the child needs to be visible and the main participant during the video chat, and participation must be done on a desktop or laptop computer (NOT a phone or tablet).