Can You Find a Dax Block?

Primary English-speaking (i.e., children who hear more than 80% English) 3-year-olds. Each child may participate only once.

In this study, your child will view pictures of objects and answer simple questions about their properties. They will also hear some new, made-up words used to describe objects, and will be asked to select a block that best matches what they think the new words mean. For example, your child will look at an image of an airplane and may hear a question such as, “Can you find a dax block?” while viewing blocks that differ in properties, such as having buttons or bow ties. At the end of the study, you will also be asked to complete a survey about your child's language.

Previous research has shown that toddlers can use the objects they see to help figure out the meanings of new words, such as words referring to color, texture, or shape. In this study, we examine how children decide which object quality a new word refers to when multiple properties are available. To do this, children will view pictures of objects, hear new made-up words used to describe them, and choose between blocks that differ in visible qualities, such as having buttons or bow ties. By examining the choices children make, we hope to better understand how young children connect new adjectives with the object properties and how these word-learning strategies develop over time.

15 minutes

To thank you for your participation, you will receive a $5 Amazon gift card (Amazon.com) within 2 weeks of your participation. To be eligible for the gift card, your child must be in the age range for the study, you need to provide a valid consent statement, we need to see that there is a toddler with you during the study, and this needs to be the first time that your toddler is participating in this study.