Let's switch things up!

3- to 6-year-old children and their caregivers who are participating in Project GARDEN and are able to understand and answer questions in English. To join Project GARDEN, or to see which study your child can do next, visit childrenhelpingscience.com/garden, click "Start Now", and select your child's name under "Find studies for..."

In this Project GARDEN study, children will complete three tasks. Caregivers should be present to assist with clicking buttons, but should not provide any hints or feedback. First, children will complete a game where they match images along different dimensions. Next, they will play a pointing game where they point to images in response to a prompt. Last, they will play a game where they repeat sequences of numbers that they hear, but in backwards order.

This study focuses on "executive function" skills, which are cognitive skills that help us self-regulate, solve problems and achieve goals, particularly in the face of habits, desires, and natural tendencies. The purpose of this study is to measure children's executive function skills, how they develop with age, and how they are related to other developmental milestones during this period. Previous research indicates that executive function skills develop dramatically in early childhood and are related to academic skills. But there is much we still do not know. The current project will explore relations between executive functions and various aspects of social, numerical, and verbal reasoning. It will also investigate how specific conceptual knowledge might influence performance.

15 minutes

$5 USD Amazon.com gift cards (usable on the U.S. website only). You will be emailed your gift card within 7 business days of participating in the study. To receive compensation, you must 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.