Participate in our online studies!

We have ongoing studies conducted over Zoom! You can view the studies and what age ranges we are looking for below. If you are interested in a study that your child is the right age for you can sign up by clicking the link and selecting an appointment that works for you. You can sign up for as many studies as your child is eligible for! If we do not have any studies available for your child's current age but you would like to participate in the future, please fill out this form.

If you're local to San Diego, check out our in-person studies, too!

Check how old your child is in months using the age calculator below.

Ages: 8 and 9 month olds

Finding nice guys

People are often broadly kind, helping not just friends but strangers as well. Do babies learn which people are generally nice in this way? In this 15 minute study, your child will see one character help and another character hinder multiple social partners. We will then use gaze tracking to ask: When a new character shows up and needs help, will babies expect the helpful character to keep helping?
*This study requires a laptop or desktop computer*

Ages: 10 to 13 months old

Social and physical surprises

Babies pay more attention to surprising events, and this helps them learn. We are investigating if babies apply this early form of curiosity in a similar way to both social and physical surprises. In this 15-minute study over Zoom, your baby will see some events that present a surprising emotion and other events that present a physical magic trick (a floating object). We will use gaze tracking to test if babies' level of interest in one surprise is similar to their interest in the other. This study will help us understand how babies learn about both the physical and social world.
*This study requires a laptop or desktop computer*

Ages: 14 and 15 month olds

Learning about friendship strength

Babies have relationships of different strengths. Their strongest relationships are with their caregivers, but they also often have relationships with other adults and children. Here we ask if babies recognize that other people also have stronger and weaker relationships. In a 15-minute session over Zoom, your infant will watch videos in which one character helps others get out of reach objects. Sometimes there is more than one needy character, and the helper has to choose who to help. We will use gaze tracking to ask: Do babies use patterns of helping to learn who a character has the strongest relationship with? This study will help us understand how babies learn about helping and social relationships.

*This study requires a laptop or desktop computer*

Ages: 14 to 16 months old

Who helps who?

Social relationships shape who we help and share with. Do babies learn these patterns when watching others? In a 15-minute study over Zoom, your baby will watch two pairs of characters, with one member of each pair helping the other member of the pair. We will use gaze tracking to ask: In a new situation, will babies expect these social pairings to persist?

*This study requires a laptop or desktop computer*

Sign Up for Future Studies!

Ages: 3 months to 8 years

Our lab is always looking for baby and child scientists to participate in our studies! If your child is not currently the right age for our present studies, you can sign up to be contacted when we have a study for them.

No appointment times work? If there are no open appointment slots that work for you please email us at socallab@ucsd.edu and we can find a time and day that works for you!

Child not in our age ranges? If you and your child are interested in participating in our studies, but we do not have any studies available for your child's age, please fill out this form. We will contact you when we have a new study for them!

Is now not a good time, but you want us to contact you later? Provide your name and email below and we'll send you an email in a month to give you more information about our ongoing studies.

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