Sweet little eavesdroppers

for 18, 24 and 30 month-old babies learning US English

In this study, your kid will watch a 3-minute video in which they will see pairs of objects on the screen while hearing the names of those objects. Afterwards, you will fill in a 7-minute survey asking about which words your kid knows, where your kid usually hear them, and whether your kid is interested in them. You will help us find out how children's word knowledge is related to word frequency in different contexts.

Have you ever heard your baby use a word that you don't remember teaching them? Children are active learners who are good at picking up new words from both the people talking to them ("direct talk") and by listening in on the conversations around them ("overhearable talk"). This study aims to figure out 1). whether children know words that mostly appear in overhearable talk, and 2). the development of children's knowledge of words with different frequency distribution (i.e. mostly appear in direct talk vs. mostly appear in overhearable talk).

10 minutes

Within a week after you complete this study, we will email you a $5 Amazon gift card (for Amazon.com). To be eligible for the gift card: 1) your child must be in the age range for this study, 2) you need to submit a valid consent statement, and 3) we need to see that there is a child with you. You may only participate once per eligible child.