This lab, started in Fall 2008, is dedicated to understanding how infants and toddlers two years old and under learn to speak their first language. With the older age groups, we are especially interested in what infants know about the properties of their language, such as which sounds belong together. With the younger ages, we look at what skills infants bring to the task of listening to the langu
age, such as sensitivities to the melodic properties of language, and how these skills influence their ability to learn their first language. In these studies, we play sounds and video for infants. By measuring their interest in what they are seeing and hearing, we can learn about what they understand and perceive about the world around them. We also collect recordings of language that infants hear in different environments and analyze different characteristics of those language environments. We are always looking for volunteers (babies and their parents or guardians) to come into our lab and participate in our studies. A typical visit takes less than 30 minutes, and you will receive a small gift from us for participating, as well as parking or bus fare reimbursement, and an enjoyable experience in our lab. We are currently recruiting infants between the ages of 4 and 12 months of age to participate in our studies. In addition, we are especially interested in recruiting:
- Infants exposed to German or French regularly for a study on vowel discrimination abilities
- Preterm infants (infants born at fewer than 37 weeks) to participate in a study on the effects of gestational age on infant speech perception capabilities
- Adolescent mothers and their infants for a study on the language environments of children born to young moms
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