Language And Development Lab

At the Language and Development lab, we are currently running a number of studies with young children between 24-months and 8-years of age. Below are brief descriptions of some of the studies we are working on.

Toddlers and Young Children:
Adjective Study
Age: 2- to 3-year-olds
In this study, we are interested in exploring children’s understanding of spatial adjectives like big, small, tall and short. Children will be presented with an array of novel objects (e.g., wooden dolls) and will be taught a funny name for them (e.g., “These are pimwits!”). They will then be asked which of the members of the array are tall (e.g., “Is this a tall pimwit?”). This study examines how children’s application of words like big and tall varies according to the average heights of objects presented in the array.

Quantifier Study
Age: 2- to 5-year-olds
This study explores children's comprehension of quantifier words like ‘some,’ ‘all,’ and ‘none.’ Children will be presented with several groups of plastic fruit and asked to put a certain amount of the fruit on a plate. This task also taps into the relationship between children's comprehension of quantifiers and of number words.

Word Learning Study
Age: 2- to 3-year-olds
We are interested in how children learn number words. In this study, children will be shown sets of small toys (e.g., cars, frogs, etc.), and will observe certain properties of these sets being transformed. Children will then be asked about the quantity of the set (e.g., “How many frogs?” or “Can you point to the plate with 6 frogs?”). We are especially interested in finding out how children understand changes in number and quantity, and how this is reflected in their use of number words.

'Only' Study
Age: 4-year-olds
Our research asks questions about children’s use of words that represent quantity. In this study, we want to find out how children understand words such as ‘only’ and ‘some,’ which denote certain quantities within a set of items. Children will be shown pictures of a configuration of objects or animals, and will be asked yes/no questions about the quantity of things. We hope to develop a better understanding of 4-year-olds’ comprehension of the properties of sets and subsets, as represented by special words like ‘some’ and 'only'.

Number Estimation Study
Age: 5- to 7-year-olds
This study investigates children's ability to estimate numbers. Children will be given a sheet of paper with a blank line, on which one end represents "0," and the other end, "100." Children will be asked to mark where numbers such as "54," or "76," belong on the number line. We are particularly interested in looking into the strategies children will use in making these kinds of estimations.

Adults:
Our lab also studies language development and understanding in adult participants. The majority of these studies focus on the same aspects of language that study in infants and young children.

Recent Findings:
Over the past year, our lab has focused on children’s developing language, and understanding of number. With the help of dedicated parents, daycares and schools, we have gathered the following findings that we are excited to share with you!

Adjectives: In this study, we showed children an array of novel objects (wooden dolls) and taught a funny name for them (“These are pimwits!”). Then we asked the children to find the “tall pimwits” or the “short pimwits”. We found that although children begin to understand the word “tall” at this age, many 3-year-olds do not yet understand “short”. When asked to find the short pimwits, they often deny that the very shortest things are short. However, when we make these same objects skinnier, so that the ratio of their height to their width is greater, many more children now call them “short”. We are currently trying to understand why these geometric cues play a role, and how children overcome this early stage of knowledge.

Counting: Children are able to count to ten, and often beyond this, before they understand the meaning of specific numbers. In one of our recent studies, we investigated children's comprehension of quantifier words like “some,” “all,” and “none,” and the relationship between their understanding of these quantifiers, and number words such as “one,” “two,” etc. We gave 2- and 3-year-olds several groups of plastic fruit, and asked them to put certain amounts of the fruit in a container. We found that children who do not yet know the meaning of specific numbers are also less likely to understand the meanings of quantifiers, regardless of their age. Also, many children do not fully understand how counting works until after the age of 4!

Names: How does your name affect how you think about yourself? Do children expect people who have the same name to act alike? For this study, we presented 4-year-olds with cartoon pictures of people who either looked alike, or who had the same name, and we asked children which was more likely to predict behavior (e.g. “Is this girl named Elizabeth messy like this girl named Sally, or is she neat like this girl named Elizabeth?”) Our initial findings suggest that children are more likely to attribute common characteristics to people who have the same name. We are currently planning further studies on this topic.!

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