The tasks in our studies are designed to be fun and engaging games that assess language and other cognitive skills. Children may play games at a computer, or face-to-face games involving stories, blocks, shapes, and pictures. In many of our studies, we use eye tracking technology to measure where children are looking on a computer screen while they play a game involving pictures and stories. This technology simply involves asking your child to wear a small sticker on their forehead as they watch a video. In other studies, we may measure your child's brainwaves in response to language. This involves wearing a specially designed elastic cap containing sensors that record the activity in your child's brain. All procedures we use in our lab are safe, non-intrusive, and painless. We will always completely explain what is involved in any specific study before you agree to set up an appointment to visit our lab. Many families tell us that their children really enjoy their visit!
Before the study begins, we will explain the study to you and ask you to fill out some paperwork and an informed consent form that tells you about the study. We will answer any questions you or your child may have. We will then move to another room to complete the age-appropriate tasks of the study. Depending on the age of your child and the study, you will either accompany your child during the experimental tasks, or have the option of observing from another room.
Most studies only involve one or two visits to the lab that last 30-90 minutes. We try to schedule on weekdays between 9am and 7pm. Some early morning and weekend times are also available.
Our lab is located in Lyles-Porter Hall on the Purdue Campus.
Parking is free and convenient, in the Harrison Parking Garage, which is directly attached to our building.
Absolutely! We have highly trained research assistants who can babysit in our playroom while their sibling or friend participates.
Each child gets to choose a book or a toy as a thanks for participating. Many of our studies also provide monetary compensation.
Dr. Arielle Borovsky, an assistant professor in the Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Department at Purdue University, is the principal investigator of our research. Highly trained experimenters are involved in conducting the studies.
We take privacy very seriously. We never share your contact information with other researchers without your permission, and every child is assigned a code, so that their name is never linked to their data. Only qualified researchers in our lab have access to our files. When we publish our results in scientific journals, we only share anonymized, de-identified data so other researchers can ensure our results are valid.
Our goal is to make a difference in children’s lives, and help every child succeed by carrying out high-impact research on early language learning. To increase the impact of our work, we share our results in scientific conferences and publications, with the families who take part, and with clinicians who work with children who struggle to learn language.
