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Childrens Research Center

Children's Research Center

College of Liberal Arts

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  • About Our Research

    The Children’s Research Center (CRC) was founded in January 1982 to facilitate research on how children develop and learn.

    Within the CRC, there are eleven individual labs currently conducting research on infant and child development. Our research examines a broad range of topics, including the development of cognition and language, parent-child interaction, social stereotypes, and cultural influences on development. Research projects at the CRC are funded primarily through federal grants and private foundations.

    In addition, the CRC provides training to approximately 150 undergraduate students per year. Their close work with both graduate students and faculty on specific research projects prepares them to pursue advanced degrees and professional careers working with children.

    The CRC does not typically take on high school students as research assistants within individual research labs. Find additional information and resources to help high school students gain valuable research experience in this infographic. 

    The CRC loves supporting our incredible families in the Austin community and beyond. We created a project to develop at-home activities to spark joyful, family engagement. You can view or download our activities here.

    Sign up here to participate in our research studies.

  • Get Involved (for Families)

    Since the CRC opened in 1982, over 15,000 infants, children, and parents from diverse backgrounds have volunteered to participate in our research. All of our studies are approved by the UT Institutional Review Board (IRB), which is mandated by the federal government to evaluate all research projects for safety and adherence to strict ethical standards. Children typically enjoy participating in our research and parents report the experience to be interesting and informative. Many agree to participate in more than one study and often recommend the CRC to their friends or neighbors.

    We are currently looking for volunteer participants from birth- to 17-years of age. If you are interested in having your child participate in one of our studies or have any questions, you can call us at (512) 471-6261, email us at crc@utexas.edu or fill out our online form. We will contact you as soon as your child is eligible for one of our research studies to see if you are interested at that time. In the meantime, we appreciate your referrals!

  • Get Involved (for UT Students)

    The CRC provides training to approximately 150 undergraduate students per year. Their close work with both graduate students and faculty on specific research projects prepares them to pursue advanced degrees and professional careers working with children.

    The Children's Research Center (CRC) consists of individual research labs seeking undergraduate research assistants (RAs) on a continuous basis. Most RA positions are filled prior to the start of the upcoming semester. Student research assistants gain hands-on experience working with families and children, along with learning data analysis skills, on a variety of research studies in professional lab settings.  For more information, see the list of CRC labs with active research studies and the instructions for applying for an RA position.

    For students interested in a community outreach & recruitment internship, please view more information here. Although you may gain relevant skills and relationships for the research process, this internship is not a research based opportunity. Rather, aimed at recruiting and promoting the CRC to Austin families. Therefore, it is recommended for Psychology students and those looking for relevant outreach and community engagement career experience. 

    Please note: The CRC does not typically take on non-UT students or high school students as research assistants within individual research labs. Find additional information and resources to help high school students gain valuable research experience in this infographic. 

  • Location & Directions/Ubicación y Direcciónes

    Address/Dirección: 108 E. Dean Keeton Street
    (Please park on Speedway, directly in front of the CRC entrance in the spots marked Reserved F87 Permit Parking)

    Direcciónes y Transporte Público para el CRC en Español.

    We are located in the Seay Psychology building at the corner of Dean Keeton and Speedway at the University of Texas. The entrance to the Children's Research Center is on the west side of Speedway, just north of Dean Keeton. Parking is directly in front of the Children's Research Center entrance. You will receive a parking permit upon your arrival at the center. The CRC is also accessible using public transportation. 

    Public Transportation:

    Children 5 and younger, accompanied by an adult, ride free. Qualified riders can also apply for a reduced fare ID card to receive a half-price fare. To learn more, visit CapMetro.

    Directions on S. Mopac (Loop 1) coming from the north

    Take the 35th Street exit. Turn right on 35th Street and continue to Guadalupe Street. Turn right onto Guadalupe Street and continue to the stoplight at 27th Street and turn left. Continue to the stop sign at Speedway and turn right. Park on the west side of Speedway in the spots marked F87.

    Directions on N. Mopac (Loop 1) coming from the south

    Take the Windsor Road exit. Turn left onto Windsor Road. Windsor Road turns into 24th Street. Take 24th Street to Guadalupe Street and turn left. Continue to the stoplight at 27th street and turn right. Continue to the stop sign at Speedway and turn right. Park on the west side of Speedway in the spots marked F87.

    Directions on I-35 S. coming from the north

    Take Exit 235A University of Texas/MLK/15th Street. Turn right on MLK Blvd. Stay to the right. Immediately veer right onto Red River Street. Continue to the stoplight at Dean Keeton (formerly 26th Street) and turn left. Drive under the walkway overpass to the stoplight on Speedway and turn right. Park on the west side of Speedway in the spots marked F87.

    Directions on I-35 N. coming from the south

    Take Exit 235A University of Texas/MLK/15th Street. Take a left onto MLK Blvd. Immediately veer right onto Red River. Continue to the stoplight at Dean Keeton (formerly 26th Street) and turn left. Drive under the walkway overpass to the stoplight on Speedway and turn right. Park on the west side of Speedway in the spots marked F87.

  • Contact Us

    Phone: (512) 471-6261
    Email: crc@utexas.edu
    Facebook: utchildrensresearchcenter 

    If you're looking to reach a specific lab directly, please see the list of labs with active studies or reach out to crc@utexas.edu for assistance. 

Ongoing Studies

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The Church Lab Ongoing Studies

The Church Lab at UT Austin is inviting families with children finishing 4th and 7th grade to participate in a pre- and post-summer research study. We are looking to better understand how learning interruptions interact with the developing brain and impact skill (e.g., reading, math) performance.The first visit is a pre-summer behavioral visit, during which participants will play some computer games and take some paper tests, and answer questionnaires. If families are eligible and interested, they can come back again for a pre-summer MRI visit in which participants will play computer games and watch part of a movie while inside a MRI scanner. All families are asked to return for 1-2 post-summer lab visits to complete more tests, questionnaires, and a second MRI scan (if they helped with the pre-summer MRI). Participants will be compensated $40-50/visit and parents will receive $30/visit for driving and answering questionnaires about their child. Learn more at https://labs.la.utexas.edu/church-lang/volunteer/, then email us at churchlab@austin.utexas.edu, and/or apply here by filling out our screening survey: http://j.mp/childUT 

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The Woolley Lab Ongoing Studies

We're excited to be back doing what we love – incredible, impactful research, at the Woolley Lab! We have several different studies to choose from. Broadly, all of our studies are investigating children's reasoning about life events. More details about each study can be found on our website.

If your child is 4-11-years-old & you're interested in participating, please contact us at woolleylab@utexas.edu or make an appointment using our Calendly link. 

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The Preston Lab Ongoing Studies

The Preston Lab is seeking research participants ages 6-35 for paid studies exploring how children, adolescents, and adults learn, remember, and make decisions. Come play games, watch movies, and teach us how your brain works, with the opportunity to earn up to $150! Interested? Learn more/apply here: http://redcap.link/prestonlabstudies

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The EvoLearn Lab Ongoing Studies

Reasoning Study

The EvoLearn Lab is currently running the Reasoning Study for 6-13-year-olds about a problem-solving task to see how people work together to solve a problem. In the study, your child would be asked to participate in a game where they will watch videos and figure out an actor’s favorite food. The study takes about 10-15 minutes to complete, and they may complete the study alone or with a partner. Reach out to Jesse Peregrino at legarelab@gmail.com, if you're interested.

Play & Learning Across a Year (PLAY) Project

The EvoLearn Lab is also running The Play & Learning Across a Year (PLAY) Project. We are researchers launching the first large-scale study on what babies do at home! We are inviting one thousand families across the United States with babies (up to 2 years of age) to participate in this exciting study. Experienced researchers will visit your home and record a slice of your daily life. You will be helping scientists to better understand how children learn and develop. 

 

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The Austin Thought Lab Ongoing & Upcoming Studies

How do children learn from storybooks?

  • Ages: 3-5 year olds
  • Description: This study looks at how children learn and generalize novel information from storybooks
  • Length: ~10 min
  • Reward: Toy from our prize chest
  • Where: In-person at the Austin Thought Lab
  • Criteria: Speaks English
  • Sign up: email austinthoughtlab@gmail.com

What do kids choose to learn next?

  • Ages: 4-6 year olds
  • Description: This study looks at how children choose which activities to engage with next. Your child will play a shape game on the computer and will make towers using blocks.
  • Length: ~20 min
  • Reward: Toy from our prize chest
  • Where: In-person at the Austin Thought Lab
  • Criteria: Speaks English
  • Sign up: email austinthoughtlab@gmail.com

*Below study we are pilot testing but should launch soon! What do kids think about other people's experiences?

  • Ages: 4-6 year olds
  • Description:This study looks at how children learn to think about other people’s perspectives, specifically their concepts of pain. We’ll play short games using short stories and rating scales, and answer some questions about what they think the characters are experiencing.
  • Length: ~10 min
  • Reward: Toy from our prize chest
  • Where: In-person at the Austin Thought Lab
  • Criteria: Speaks English
  • Sign up: email austinthoughtlab@gmail.com

 Thank you and please write us at austinthoughtlab@gmail.com if you have any other questions about the studies!

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Accent Study

The Language Development Lab Ongoing Studies

Accent study
Children and adults hold negative biases towards foreign accented
speakers. They often view them as less credible, friendly, knowledgeable or approachable. To better understand what drives this bias we’re asking children to decide who is more credible when the speaker has a foreign accent, their speech is muffled or there are other background noise present. With this study we hope to understand wether accent bias is just a product of cognitive processing difficulties or it also has to do with social
learning and stereotypes associated with non-native English speakers.


Labeling Study
In our labeling study we are looking at how children’s in-group biases (being in the same group as the character in our game) influence their judgments of credibility and reliability.

Parent study
In our bilingual Spanish-English study we’re learning about how parents
talk and interact with their children during the period in which the child is
learning language, and about how those interactions change during the
period in which children are beginning to learn language.


Bilingual Study
In our bilingual study, we’re interested in studying the possible
advantages of bilingualism. Some research suggests that the early ability
to switch between 2 or more languages helps facility executive function as
well as Theory of Mind development in young children. More specifically,
we are interested weather the “linguistic distance” (e.g., switching from
Spanish to English vs. switching from Mandarin to English) between the
languages matters in children’s cognitive decision-making skills.

More About the CRC

The Hakes Library, named for Professor David Hakes, a developmental psycholinguist and chair of the developmental psychology program, is located on the first floor of the CRC. Supported entirely by private donations, the Hakes Library provides up-to-date journals and books in developmental psychology for students at the CRC. Graduate seminars are held in the library, and it is also the site of the developmental area’s seminar series in which speakers from UT and communities across the country present their current research. 

In 2018, the CRC became the first all-green certified center on UT Austin's campus. We were recognized by the Office of Sustainability and featured in the Daily Texan.

In 2017, our name changed from the Children's Research Lab to the Children's Research Center, recognizing us as an official research center. This was exciting news for us as the new name more accurately reflects our mission-driven work, which includes improving early childhood programs, increasing our ability to provide services for families in the community and strengthening our place on the national stage by being a leader in the field of children’s research.

“Our center designation will help to foster collaboration between our areas of research, help us to strategically align our vision for the future, and increase our ability to be more competitive in obtaining funding,” says Amy Booth, former Director of the CRC. “This will enable us to advance our knowledge of how to better serve children and their families and promote their highest level of fulfillment." 

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Location

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Please Feel Free To Contact Us

Phone: (512) 471-6261
Email: crc@utexas.edu
Facebook: utchildrensresearchcenter
Address: 108 E. Dean Keeton Street
(Research participants, please park on Speedway, directly in front of the CRC entrance in the spots marked Reserved F87 Permit Parking)

Direcciónes para el CRC en Español

We are located in the Seay Psychology building at the corner of Dean Keeton and Speedway at the University of Texas. The entrance to the Children's Research Center is on the west side of Speedway, just north of Dean Keeton. Parking is directly in front of the Children's Research Center entrance. You will receive a parking permit upon your arrival at the center. The CRC is also accessible using public transportation. 

Routes on Capital Metro Buses

Children 5 and younger, accompanied by an adult, ride free. Qualified riders can also apply for a reduced fare ID card to receive a half-price fare.

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