Do you remember what that object is called?

For babies around 9 months old, which means at most two weeks younger or older than 9 months

In this study, your child will see a series of videos naming new objects and then see two objects on the screen with an audio naming one of them. After that, they will hear a story passage while looking at a checkerboard. Finally, you will be asked to complete a questionnaire on your child's language background and social engagement.

Previous research has shown that infants show increased attention and better learning under some conditions than others. For example, infants learn more about objects when they are cued by a person’s direct gaze than when they are not. We are interested in how different social cues from speakers influence infants' word learning. In this study, we will examine whether children learn better when the person naming new objects is friendly (i.e., with a big smile) and whether this is related to the child's linguistic and social development. We will also look at how long they listen to speech that is infant-directed versus speech that is adult-directed.

We are studying these questions both at particular ages (e.g., 9 months) and also across development. There will be opportunities for your child to participate in other versions of the study at older ages.

5-minute task with baby, 20-minute survey for parent/guardian

$5 gift card for Amazon.com will be emailed within 2 weeks of participating in the study. To receive compensation, your child must be within the specified age range, must be visible in the video recording, and can only participate once per age group with a valid consent statement.