Research Studies
Are you a parent of a toddler between 12 and 36 months of age and want to participate in our research? If so, check out our current research studies.
Some of our studies will require you to visit our lab at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield or Yale University in New Haven. Parking at SHU is free and your parking at Yale will be validated. We will work around your schedule to find appointment times that work best for you and your toddler.
Listening and Looking
Infants and toddlers can distinguish between similarly sounding words like pat and cat. Using non-invasive eye tracking, we assess how your toddler comprehends words as they hear speech in real time. This study is for toddlers 12–36 months old, either typically developing or language delayed. This study can take place at a location most convenient and comfortable for you and your child, including but not limited to your child’s daycare, local library, SHU or Yale. The study is completed in two one-hour sessions.
Spoken Word Recognition
How do infants and toddlers understand the words they hear? How do they distinguish between similar sound words like pat and cat? Using non-invasive techniques, including eye-tracking and EEG, we assess how your toddler comprehends words as they hear speech in real time.
We conduct our online studies through Children Helping Science in partnership with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) to help families participate in research from the comfort of their own homes. For our online studies, you use your home computer and webcam to participate.
Space Travel
This study evaluates the relationship between visual pattern detection and vocabulary skills in toddlers and takes about 10 to 12 minutes. Your toddler will watch videos of silly “aliens” presented either one at a time or in groups. Afterwards, you will be asked to complete two questionnaires about your toddler’s language, thinking and communication skills. Links for the questionnaires will be sent to you through Look-it within three business days after you complete the experiment. Questionnaires can be done anytime within seven days of experiment completion.
Note: You will need a highchair or booster seat for your toddler during the experiment.
Shape Show
This study evaluates the relationship between audio-visual pattern detection and vocabulary skills in toddlers and takes about 10 to 12 minutes. You will complete the study at home with your home computer and webcam. Your toddler will watch some videos of unusual shapes while listening to the names of the shapes. At the end of the study, your toddler will be asked to look at or point to the shapes when they are named. You will be asked to complete two questionnaires about your toddler’s language and communication skills. Links for the questionnaires will be sent to you through Look-it within two business days after you complete the experiment. Questionnaires can be done anytime within seven days of experiment completion.
Note: You will need a highchair or booster seat for your toddler during the experiment.