Opening at the Boston Children's Museum
February 9, 2008

A baby's world is filled with cause and effect. Whenever a baby sees one ball strike another, pushes a button to make a toy light up, or bangs his or her fist on a tabletop to hear the noise it makes, he or she is learning something about how the world works. Our goal is to understand how babies observe and explore the world around them, and how they use this evidence to learn and reason about everyday circumstances.

We would like to invite you and your baby to participate in our research studies. If you choose to volunteer, your baby may do some of the following things:

• View live puppet shows or simple video displays involving simple colors and shapes, simple objects (such as cubes and balls), or children’s toys (such as plastic ducks).
• Be given the opportunity to play with simple toys.

We'll look at what attracts your baby's attention and how long he or she looks at the display. Babies tend to look longer at things that are new or surprising. From observing a number of babies' reactions to a particular display, we can get an idea of what babies know about the world.

Studies in infant and childhood development would be impossible without your support! If you have a baby or young child between the ages of 3 months - 6 years old and you would like to have him or her participate in our studies, please contact us to find out more!

Click here to take a tour of the baby lab experience!