Research
Parents and their children can participate in any of the studies currently running in the ECDC.
Our research would not be possible without the generous support of parents with children and students who take part in our projects. If you are interested in participating with your child in our upcoming studies, please enter your details below, and we will be in touch with you when a study becomes available within the age of your child.
Register your interest to be contacted for future research studies.
(Birth - 2 weeks): Imitation in Infancy
Name of Researcher: Sumeet Farwaha
Age of children required: Birth – 2 weeks
Description of study: Human life is characterised by imitation. We copy those around us constantly, both consciously and unconsciously, to connect with others and to learn from them. Yet the developmental status of imitation is one of the most enduring controversies of modern psychology: Is imitation an innate ability, or is it a skill earned early in life? We aim to address this question by examining the emergence of imitation in infants during their first year of life. During this 9-month long research project, infants will be visited at their home by an experimenter within the first two weeks of birth, and then every second month up to 9 months of age (five visits in total).
Additional information: Each home visit will take approximately 45 minutes to complete, and you will be with your child at all times. If you and your child would like to participate, or you have any further questions, please email Sumeet (s.farwaha@uq.edu.au).
Register to participate here
(18-months-old): Recognising correct and incorrect counting
Name of Researcher: Kate Macklin
Age of children required: 18-months-old
Description of study: This study investigates monolingual and bilingual children’s abilities to learn abstract counting principles, which is regarded as a central element of their cognitive development. For this study, we are specifically interested in the principle of ‘one-to-one correspondence’, where children learn that one number tag can only be applied to one item in a group of items. Children will watch a short video of counting events in an extinct foreign language, with the session recorded. This study addresses exciting new questions about the cognitive abilities of typically developing children and help us better understand how monolingual and bilingual children may differ in their acquisition of abstract counting principles.
Additional information: This study takes approximately 20 minutes to complete, and you will be with your child at all times. If you and your child would like to participate, or you have any further questions, please email Kate (kate.macklin@uq.net.au).
2 x Siblings (2.5 - 8 years): LD Mother's Talk
Name of Researcher: Charlotte Casey
Age of children required: 2 x Siblings (2.5 - 8 years)
Description of study: In this study we are interested in how mothers talk to different children within the same family when one sibling experiences a delay in developing language. During early childhood children begin to learn how others think, feel, and act.We know conversations between mothers and their children are important for helping children to learn about others. Participation will involve a single, one hour visit to the Early Cognitive Development Centre at The University of Queensland, St Lucia.
During this visit, each child will complete a measure of vocabulary understanding and expressive vocabulary knowledge, and a fun play-based social thinking task with toy characters. Each child will also be asked to engage in a book reading activity with their mother. Mothers and children will be video- and audio-recorded during these tasks.
Eligibility
Families that include the following:
- One child aged 2.5 – 8 years old diagnosed with Developmental Language Disorder (DLD)
- One child aged 2.5 – 8 years old who is typically developing
Participant Benefits
Families will receive a $20 gift voucher.
Register your interest
Please email charlotte.casey@uq.edu.au or register to participate here
(3years 6months and 5years 11months): Play Time
Name of Researchers: Callyn Farrell, Aisling Mulvihill, Eliot Davies, Nirupama Balaji
Age of children required: 3years 6months and 5years 11months
Description of study: Parent and child conversations are associated with children’s developing social understanding. In this study we are interested in understanding how different play contexts and toys affect the amount and content of conversation between mothers’ and their children.
During this session you and your child will complete a storytelling and a play activity. Your child will also complete an assessment of vocabulary understanding, play-based social thinking activities, and will be asked questions about themselves. During this time, you will also be asked to complete questionnaire-based tasks on a computer.
Additional Information: This visit will take place at Early Cognitive Development Centre at The University of Queensland for approximately one hour. You will be required to remain with your child throughout this time. Parking will be available.
Please email c.farrell@uq.edu.au or register your interest here
(3 - 7 years): Sibling influence on development of children with autism spectrum disorder
Additional information: If there are any further questions about this study please email Kendall Wall (k.wall@uqconnect.edu.au)
(4 - 9 years): Tool Innovation
Name of Researcher: Zoe Ockerby
Age of children required: 4 – 9 years
Description of study: This study investigates how young children make decisions about and interact with useful tools. Recognising that a tool is useful is an important part of the innovation process, and one that adults are clearly capable. However, less clear is when children recognise the utility of tools, and hence when they are capable of innovation. This current work aims to better understand when children develop this capacity and its results will shed light on how children interact with useful objects and will provide the basis for further research to us understand how and when children innovate tools to solve problems.
Additional information: This study takes approximately 40 minutes to complete, and you will be with your child at all times. If you and your child would like to participate, or you have any further questions, please email Zoe (zoe.ockerby@uq.net.au)
(6 years): Scissors Paper Rock
Name of researchers: Sumeet Farwaha and Zada Parker
Age of children required: 6 years
Description of the study: Automatic Imitation refers to the tendency to unconsciously imitate others. Previous research has explored this phenomenon using a computer-based task known as the automatic imitation task, however, there has been limited research on automatic imitation in children. Additionally, it is still unknown whether this tendency to imitate is truly involuntary. Therefore, this study aims to investigate age-related differences in automatic imitation using a naturalistic, strategic setting. This study will also address whether automatic imitation can be inhibited when it is counter-productive to the goal at hand. Participation will involve a single visit to the Early Cognitive Development Centre at The University of Queensland, St Lucia.
Additional information: During this visit, each child will play a fun game of Rock Paper Scissors and will have the chance to win a prize. Children will be video-recorded during this game. If you and your child would like to participate, or you have any further questions, please email Zada (z.parker@uq.net.au).
Register to participate here
(7 - 11 years): Sense of Agency
Name of Researcher: Sumeet Farwaha
Age of children required: 7 - 11 years
Description of study: The sense of agency refers to the feeling of control an individual feels over their actions and the outcomes of those actions. This process plays an important role in our ability to distinguish actions that we perform ourselves from those that others control. A significant amount of existing work on implicit sense of agency has focused on adults, with very few studies examining this phenomenon in children and adolescents. This is surprising, as it has been shown that there is a significant amount of development that occurs during early development in brain regions linked to the sense of agency. As such, the current study aims to investigate the developmental trajectory of sense of agency in children aged 7 to 11 years of age using a fun computer game. Participation will involve a single visit to the Early Cognitive Development Centre at The University of Queensland, St Lucia.
Additional information: This study takes approximately 15 minutes to complete, and you will be with your child at all times. If you and your child would like to participate, or you have any further questions, please email Sumeet (s.farwaha@uq.edu.au).
Register to participate here
