Current Research

Pretending and Creativity
Your preschooler will play with objects, pretend, and play copying games with an experimenter. We are looking for 3.5 and 4-year-olds for this study. Simone Bijvoet is leading this study.

Can toddlers detect deception?
Your toddler will watch someone either deceive someone, make mistakes, or your child will just play with the experimenter. Your child will then have a chance to find a prize hidden by the experimenters. We are looking for 30- to 36-month-olds for this study. Samantha Barker and Laura Triggs are leading this study.

Can toddlers make up new jokes?
Your toddler will watch the experimenter either make either a series of jokes, or a series of mistakes while playing with toys. Your child will then have a turn to make jokes, or correct mistakes. We are looking for 24- to 30-month-olds for the study. Siobhan Paterson is leading this study.

Can toddlers and preschoolers tell the difference between joking and pretending?
Your toddler or preschooler will either pretend or joke with an experimenter. We want to see how children will respond when the new experimenter plays in a different way, switching to joking when they were previously pretending, or pretending when they were previously joking. We are looking for 2- and 3-year-olds for this study. Tia Martin, Angela Rodgers, and Beatrice Bretherton are leading this study.

How do children learn word?
Your child will watch a video in which puppets label some objects. One puppet is good at the task, the other isn't very good. We want to see if children are more likely to learn from the puppet who knows how to label objects. We are looking for 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds for this study. Jessica Butcher is leading this study.

Do you have a child with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD) and/or Speech & Language Impairment (SLI)?
We are looking at the development of prosody (how your voice goes up and down when you’re speaking) of 5- to 12-year-old children with Speech and Language Impairment (SLI) and/or Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). If your child has SLI and/or DCD and you live in the Stirling, Edinburgh, or Glasgow area and you’d like to participate, please email us at babytoddlerlab@stir.ac.uk. Please also feel free to pass on the message to friends. Eilidh Carey-Gardner is leading this study.