What's counting for babies?

What's counting for babies?

Cognition and Learning Center (CALC) (Rutgers University - New Brunswick)

Who Can Participate

For babies age 17 to 23 months.

What Happens

In this study, your baby will watch fish being pointed at and counted! Sometimes they will see the fish counted correctly (one fish pointed at for each count word), and sometimes they will see the fish counted incorrectly (e.g., the third fish may be pointed to twice, and the fourth fish not pointed to at all). We are interested in how babies react to different ways of counting.

What We're Studying

Babies hear count words as early as a few months of age. But do babies know how to use count words correctly? Specifically, do babies know that when counting, only one count word should be applied to each object? Your baby's reaction to our "counting" videos will tell us what babies understand about counting "rules", and will ultimately help scientists understand where our concept of counting comes from.

Duration

5 minutes

Compensation

We will provide a $5 USD Amazon gift card for eligible participants. We will send you 1 gift card within 1 week of your first eligible participation. To be eligible for compensation we ask that you 1) provide a valid consent video (we will show you how!), 2) your child must be in the age range specified above and, 3) your child must be present during the recorded videos. Your child does not need to finish the entire study in order to be eligible for compensation.

This study is conducted by Jenny Wang (contact: child.research@psych.rutgers.edu)

Would you like to participate in this study?