The Alien Language Game

9- to 12-year-olds

This study will take place on a video call, live with a researcher! Clicking on the “Schedule a time to participate” button will send you to an online calendar where you can select a date and time that works for you. In this study, your child will listen to a series of sounds or watch a series of shapes, then be asked to recall what they heard or saw later. Study sessions will be conducted on Skype. To find the Skype link, please book an appointment via Google Calendar and complete the informed consent form in the appointment description.

One of the ways we learn language is by picking up on patterns in what we hear and see. We are testing whether this pattern detection ability works the same for sights and for sounds. Some kids will hear a series of sounds, and some will see a series of shapes at different speeds, and we will compare how well they learn the patterns.

15 minutes

Participants will receive a $5 gift card for Amazon.com for their participation. In order to be eligible for the $5 compensation, your child must be: (1) within the right age range, (2) visible on screen for the duration of the experiment, and (3) can only be compensated for participating once. Compensation may take up to 72 hours to be received, but generally should be received within 24 hours of participation. If you do not receive your compensation in a timely manner, please do not hesitate to reach out.