Can You Catch the Ball?

4-year-olds

In this study, your child will watch balls fall through obstacles into bins and place cushions where they think the ball might land. Sometimes the ball has one clear path and sometimes it could land in several places, letting us see how children make choices when outcomes are certain or uncertain.

We want to understand how children reason about events they cannot directly observe yet. When a ball could land in one place or several possible places, do children spread cushions across possible outcomes, choose the place they feel most sure about, or take a risk? This helps us learn how young children imagine future possibilities and make decisions under uncertainty.

20 minutes

We will email a $5 Amazon.com gift card within two weeks of participation for eligible participants. To be eligible, your child must be in the study age range (4 years old), and you must submit a valid consent statement in which we can see that a child is with you. Your child does not need to finish the entire study to be eligible for compensation.