What do babies know and how do they think? Even babies who are too young to speak are helping Brown researchers answer such questions
Sitting on his mother's lap, John Chace focuses large crystal-blue eyes on two pictures perched on a small stage 18 inches from his face. One picture depicts the head of a 20-something woman with short blond hair; the other a woman of similar age but with longer locks and rounder features. Behind the stage Janice Hammond '00 peeks through a pinhole, noting where and for how long John stares. When the infant's gaze turns elsewhere, Hammond lowers the stage and changes the images.
Nine-month-old John is participating in Brown-based research into visual perception and memory in infants and babies. This was his second and last visit to the Developmental Studies Lab in the Hunter Laboratory of Psychology, where the experiments take place.
Three days earlier, Kristen Moran and 10-month-old Grace made their second and final trip to the Metcalf Infant Research Lab on Waterman Street, where mother and daughter took part in language acquisition research, also in infants and babies. There, Grace, known affectionately as "Racy," sat on her mom's lap across from a research assistant who entertained the baby while words or sentences were projected toward the child from across the small soundproof room. Both adults listened to classical music through headphones to keep them from possibly cueing the little one. In an adjoining room, a second researcher observed the baby over a closed-circuit television system.
"Racy has an incredibly good disposition," said Moran. "She was happy to be sitting there experiencing something new."
Over a year's time, the two infant labs on the Brown campus will host several hundred subjects, scouted through birth notices, from referrals, or via word of mouth. In general, a parent and child will visit a lab no more than twice over a six-month period. The infants range in age from 3 months to slightly older than one year. Visits last about 20 minutes at Metcalf and 45 minutes or so at Hunter.
The families who bring their children to the labs come from a wide arc of communities, from Exeter to Woonsocket to South Attleboro. The labs are well stocked with toys as well as researchers, technicians and students who fawn over the babes. The Hunter lab pays parents $10, while Metcalf study participants receive their choice of a toy. The Hunter lab also tests the visual acuity of the infants, providing a useful piece of information for parents curious about their child's eyesight.
Erin Chace (John's mother) and Moran called the visits eye-opening. Parents want to know what their infants know and when they know it, the moms said.
"All of these parents read the baby books and parenting magazines," said research assistant Laurie Yarzab of the Hunter lab. "Parents tell us they're interested in seeing how research is done in infants and babies. They want to see how the data are collected."
Nancy Allard agreed. "Parents show a great interest in what's being done," said the senior research technician in the Metcalf lab. "The parents and children are great people to meet and spend time with. We appreciate that some drive a significant distance to participate."
Both labs focus on collecting evidence on the present state of knowledge of infants, not on a child's developmental progress. That's why, when parents ask the researchers how their babies are doing, "we can't answer that, as there is no right or wrong," said Yarzab.
"It's interesting to see what babies know," said Hammond, a psychology concentrator and PLME student who plans to become a pediatrician. "You watch how they look at the pictures. You see them thinking. I've also learned a lot about how research works; how you have to run many steps through a very long process to acquire a small piece of information."
James Morgan, the associate professor of cognitive and linguistic science who runs the Metcalf lab, has praise for those who handle day-to-day dealings in the lab with incredible patience and tenderness.
"These folks on the front lines do a great job," he said. "It takes a great deal of hard work. Their role is to help the babies tell us a little bit about what and how they're thinking. I also credit the babies. They come into the lab and they have a job to do."
Chace and Moran said the visits were fun for them and their children. The families, residents of Providence's East Side, said the experiments were a chance to give something back to a community institution.
"I was honored to be asked to be affiliated with a Brown study," said Chace. "I'm living here in the community. If I can help out in any way, I'd like to."
"The University enhances the community," said Moran, who grew up near Brown. "As a resident, I've reaped those benefits. When I was asked to do something for this research, I wanted to do it."
In fact, Moran recently recommended the lab to members of a baby group she participates in with Racy. "I took a bunch of Nancy Allard's business cards and gave them out. This has been a great learning experience, not only for Racy, but for me."