To conduct the studies, we rely on the unselfish help of babies and their parents who volunteer their time to either come to the Centre or allow us to come their home to participate.

When coming to the Centre, once the babies and parents arrive, the baby is laid down in a specialized crib underneath a computer monitor that displays interesting and colourful pictures. The pictures vary depending on the particular study, but are typically striped, bullseye, checkerboard and other similar patterns. Some studies may also use abstract or letter patterns and even faces. A camera, also located above the infant, records the baby's eye movements via an infrared mirror as he or she looks at the pictures.

In these studies we are interested in when and how fast the baby makes an eye movement in relation to when the picture is presented on the monitor. Depending on the type of pictures we present and the sequence of pictures, these eye movements tell us what type of information babys are interested in looking at and how they think about this information. This also tells us how brain development proceeds.

When we come the home, we have your baby play a fun game in which they kick to make an overhead crib mobile move. We then simply record how much they kick and whether their kick rates change over multiple visits as we change the mobile or after various delays (usually between 1 and 7 days) between visits. In these studies, we are interested in discovering what infants remember and for how long.  As babies play this game, they learn that their kicking is making the mobile move so they kick more.  When we come back after the delay, if they recognize the mobile and remember what they learned, then they will continue to kick at a high rate.  If they do not recognize or have forgotten what they learned, then their kick rate goes back down.  These studies help us understand what information babies are learning and remembering.  They also tell us how early experiences can potentially come in to play later in development.