Center for Young Children (CYC)

Project on Children’s Memory Development and Story Telling (All classrooms - age 3+) – Riggins Research Group- This project investigates how children remember past events in their lives and how they share those events with others. This project involves two separate studies. In the first study, your child will work with a researcher to recall past events associated with a cue word, such as “happy.” This session lasts roughly 10 minutes and will be conducted at the CYC. In the second study, we would ask you to record yourself working with your child to remember specific events they’ve experienced and then securely upload the recording. This session will last about 15-20 minutes and will take place at home, on your schedule. Participation in the second study is not required to participate in the first study.

Project on How Napping Affects Memory (All classrooms - children who nap) - Riggins Research Group - This study investigates whether sleep, specifically napping, boosts children's memory performance. This study occurs in two sessions, spaced one week apart. In both of these sessions, your child will play a memory game with researchers before and after naptime as well as the following morning, after their overnight sleep. On one of these days, your child will nap during naptime, and on the other, your child will stay awake. Each of these memory games will last around 15 minutes.

How Developing Cognitive Control Effects Processing of Passives  (All classrooms - age 3+) - Huang Research Group - This study aims to help us learn the best ways to determine the words that children know. This study includes two sessions of activities, and we will also ask you to complete surveys about your child’s language skills. During the sessions, we will ask your child to (1) watch a video and look at the picture that matches the words stated during the videos (2) point to pictures in a book that are named by the researcher and (3) participate in a play-based activity with the researcher. Children aged 3 to 6 years old are welcome to participate in this project.  

Parent & Child Decision-Making  (All classrooms - age 3+) - Ramani Research Group - This studies primary aim is to examine influences on children’s and adult’s decision-making. The study will involve two sessions of activities for children as well as a short online survey for parents. For children, the first session will entail playing games with a researcher involving looking at pictures and making decisions about them. In the second session, children will play an academic game with a researcher. Children ages 3- to 8-years old are welcomed to participate in this project.