"What happens when I bring my baby to the lab?" This page gives parents a step-by-step walkthrough of what happens when they bring their child to our lab for an experiment. From setting up a visit to the experiment itself this page goes through a typical visit to the lab.

We get information on new babies in the Centre County area from the "Birth Announcements" section of the Centre Daily Times. We also get information from parents who visit the How to Participate section of this website. We take down information on the child's name and age and send out an introduction letter explaining our lab's studies. We give the parents a call asking if they would like to have their son or daughter come in for a visit. We schedule around parents' schedules and are open for visits any day and at any time! A typical visit usually takes no more than 30-40 minutes.

On the phone, we set up the date and time of the visit; then, we send a confirmation letter with this information as well as directions and a map to the lab. If you are participating in an imaging study, we will ask you to come to the Social & Life Sciences Imaging Center (SLIC) in 120 Chandlee Laboratory. If you are participating in a behavioral study, we will ask you to come to 220 Moore Building. In our confirmation letter, we also enclose a questionnaire to get a snap-shot of what the past week was like for the parents and the baby in terms of sleeping, eating, etc. A day or so before the visit we give a call just to make sure everything is still okay to come in.

Coming to the Lab & Parking
Parents will receive directions to the lab in the letters sent to them.

Before the experiment gets under way there's a bit of paperwork to go over. The research assistant will explain the study to be done, what will happen, and then ask the parent to sign our consent form. Also, we take a picture of the baby in order to give them a personalized Infant Scientist Degree. After the paperwork and picture are out of the way (this typically takes less than 10 minutes), the experiment can get started!

Preparation

Before starting the experiment we will give you a brief eye exam, then we will ask you to have a seat in a comfortable chair while we measure the head of the subject. These measurements will help us determine the size of the EEG net (for high density studies) or the spacing of the electrodes (low density study). Both the EEG net and the electrodes sit comfortably on the participant's head. If the participant is a baby, s/he will sit in the parent's lap, and one research assistant will play with the baby while the other research assistant puts the EEG net or the electrodes on the baby's head

Experiments on Vision
We are currently running several types of experiments to explore the development of visual perception (see What We Do for details on each study). The baby will be with the parent the whole time during the experiment; usually, the baby will be on the parent's lap or in some other safe environment (all of our studies are safe and non-invasive). We want parents to feel confident that they can ask to stop the experiment, should they see a need to stop.  We don't want unhappy babies! The experiment itself usually lasts 20 minutes or less. After the experiment, the subject is escorted to the waiting area where the electrodes are removed and the scalp is cleaned.

Along with the experiment, we offer a free visual acuity screening. We have the parent sit the baby on their lap, and we present a series of cards with black and white stripes on them. The width is graded from about one inch thick to the thickness of a pencil lead.  We present the cards until we can determine the baby cannot see the stripes anymore. The result is presented on a scale that resembles the Healthy Baby scales for height and weight. It takes about 5 minutes to do this screening. This screening gives us just one more piece of information about the development of perception in infants.

Debriefing & Experiment Wrap-up
Once the experiment is over we explain to the parent anything not covered in the initial paperwork and give some debriefing forms with additional information about the study.

We have several gifts that we give parents in addition to the Infant Scientist Degree to thank them for coming in, including towels, t-shirts, and magnets!

Before parents leave we also try to set up a time for a second visit to the lab. Ideally, we like to have two sets of data for each baby to give us more accurate results, as babies' mood and performance can change daily. This second visit is much quicker and is typically set up for the week after, again, at a time of the parents' choice.

That's all there is to it! Our experiments are safe and fun for babies, and times are worked out according to what's best for parents. We want parents and babies to be happy with their experience with our lab, and we do everything we can to make sure that happens! If you have any additional questions about our studies or what happens on a visit, don't hesitate to send us an email (rog1@psu.edu) or give us a call (814-863-3116).

If you would like to have your child participate in our studies, please sign-up using the online form in our How to Participate section or feel free to email or call us.