Current studies
How do parents shape their children’s development?
Who: Children ages 4 to 6 and one of their parents
Time to Complete: 1-hour
Where: GMU, Fairfax campus
Topic: Help us understand how parental beliefs and behaviors influence their children’s executive function and self-regulation skills.
Is that logical?
In this study, we explored young children's logical reasoning and how different contextual cues may affect their reasoning! Data are currently being analyzed, so check back soon for a study update.
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Who: Parents of children ages 0– to 12–years
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Completed studies
What kinds of activities at home support children’s executive function?
Between May and July of 2020, 93 parents and their 3- to 5-year-old children participated in our study to help us learn about the activities children are doing at home during the COVID–19 pandemic and how this might be related to their executive function (self-regulation) skills. This study is now published at Developmental Science!
Click below to read about what we learned, or to watch the video abstract for this study!
How do children and adults respond to faces with and without masks?
In this study, participants viewed images of children’s faces (masked or unmasked), rated their cuteness, and estimated their age. Cuteness ratings and perceived age predicted how interested adults were in caring for children. While wearing a mask did not reduce adult interest in caring for children, they did weaken the relation between perceived cuteness and interest and between perceived age and interest. This study is now published at Scientific Reports!
How do children learn and use deductive reasoning?
In this study, we studied how children come to understand and use deductive reasoning and logic in their thinking across standard and play conditions. Data are currently being analyzed, so check back soon for a study update.
How do children learn to write?
In this study, 3- to 6-year-olds and their families helped us to learn about the learning mechanisms supporting their understanding of how to correctly write letters and numbers! Data are currently being analyzed, so check back soon for a study update.
Make a guess: Does it sink or float?
Between July 2023 and May 2024, 109 parents and their 5- to 7-year-old children participated in our study exploring gender-science stereotypes in children and gender differences in persistence on a science task.
Can you remember the numbers?
In this study, we explored children’s working memory and its relation to language, literacy, and numeracy! Data are currently being analyzed, so check back soon for a study update.
Let’s switch things up!
In this study, we explored children's executive function skills, how they develop with age, and how they are related to other developmental milestones! Data are currently being analyzed, so check back soon for a study update.
Puzzles and Persistence
In this study, we explored how exposure to information affects children’s engagement on a puzzle task! Data are currently being analyzed, so check back soon for a study update.