Childrens Research Center
Children's Research Center
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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, the general instructions for applying for an RA position (varies by lab), and general resources and more job/volunteer listings for those seeking research positions.
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: utchildrensresearchcenterIf 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
The Developing Intelligence Lab
The Developing Intelligence Lab is recruiting children aged 12-24 months for lab studies. Please contact us at chenyulab@austin.utexas.edu or call (512)893-5433 if you and your little one is interested in participating!
HOME study
The Developing Intelligence Lab is inviting families with children 12 to 24 months of age to participate in a research study on how children learn from social interactions! In this study, you and your child will come into the lab and participate in different activities, such as reading books and playing with toys, while wearing lightweight eye-tracking devices that allow us to record your eye movements.
Please fill out our recruitment form via the QR code above or email us at chenyulab@austin.utexas.edu if you're interested!
Play & Learning Across a Year (PLAY) Project
We're interested in babies' natural, everyday experiences in their home and we're inviting families with babies up to 2 years of age to participate! A researcher will be visiting you and your child in your home to record what an hour in your child's life looks like. You can learn more about the study at anhourinthelife.org.
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The Imagination & Cognition Lab 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.
The Imagination & Cognition Lab is currently running three studies:
- AI: Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly sophisticated and pervasive in children’s (and adult’s) lives. How do children conceive of AI? Do they note AI’s human-like capacities, and anthropomorphize? Or do they note AI’s superhuman capacities, and treat AI like extraordinary beings? In this 20-minute study, we ask children (ages 4-10) questions about what they believe humans, God, and Artificial Intelligence can and cannot do. Offered in-person & Zoom. Compensation includes a small toy from our prize box.*
- AnecDoc: When children are presented with two conflicting narratives, which do they endorse? This study investigates how children conceptualize and interpret differing anecdotal information. In this 20-minute study, children (ages 6-10) will be presented with brief stories which introduce possible explanations for a child’s symptoms, and will then be asked questions about these stories. Come let your child play doctor for the day! Offered in-person. Compensation includes a small toy from our prize box.*
- Bheem: How do our beliefs about ourselves shape our reality? This 15-20 minute study investigates how children’s (ages 6-9) beliefs and perceptions of strength can affect their behavior and reasoning. Each child will play a game moving weighted balls (ranging from 2-10 lbs) to see how many they can carry. They will then be read stories about other children playing the game and asked to answer some questions. Compensation includes a small toy from our prize box.*
- KnickKnack: Children’s books are a staple in classrooms and homes, and often intend to teach children about a moral to inspire prosocial behavior. This 30-minute, in-person study explores how children (ages 8-10) learn morals from storybooks. In this study, children are presented with a storybook and will be asked to answer some questions about it afterward. Compensation includes a small toy from our prize box, entrance into a $25 gift card drawing, and a free book of choice to take home.*
- Overtime: This study explores how child athletes’ beliefs in sports rituals impact their decision-making in various game-like scenarios, and how the perception of these rituals affects both their performance and their thinking surrounding that performance. In this 25-minute study, we ask child athletes (ages 6-12) questions about the sport they play, their beliefs surrounding sports rituals, and their decision-making as it stems from those beliefs. Each child is also read a few stories about other children who play sports similar to them, after which they answer additional questions. Compensation includes a small toy from our prize box.*
See more information on the Imagination & Cognition Lab website or make a study appointment here.
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The Preston Lab
The Preston Lab Ongoing Studies
The Preston Lab has various ongoing studies for ages 5-12 with varying compensation up to $25/hour. Ages 13-17, we have an exciting new opportunity coming soon to get involved with our lab, with compensation up to $25/hour + bonus payments! If you would like to learn more about participating with our lab, please visit our lab website or email our team at prestonlab@gmail.com.
Accent Study
The Language Development Lab Ongoing Studies
Current studies in the Language Development Lab explore a variety of questions related to children’s language learning:
The Bilingual Study (bilingual children, 4 to 7 years) explores the possibility that bilingual children have more advanced cognitive skills in some areas compared to monolingual children.
The Accent Processing Study (4 to 6 years) examines how children understand speech produced by speakers with unfamiliar accents.
Three studies (4 to 9 years) explore how children evaluate people’s language based on their accent (the Accent Study), physical appearance (the Belief Study) or group membership (the Labeling Study).
After completing any of these studies, children select a toy as a gift for participating.
In the Parent Study, Spanish-speaking and Spanish-English bilingual parents of children 0-3 years are interviewed about language and other topics. Participants receive a gift card.
To participate in any of these studies, or for more information, please email us at ut.language.development.lab@gmail.com To learn more about our research, visit https://labs.la.utexas.edu/echols/
The Daily Activity Lab
“BABY Connect - Building Bonds with Your Baby through Everyday Connections"
The purpose of the study is to learn more about how babies learn and grow in their everyday life. We also want to learn if we can build new tools to automatically detect everyday mother and infant activities from sensor data. In the future, we’d like to use these tools to help support new parents. Participants will complete three sessions, including one home recording session to record and share 24 hours of everyday interactions using small wearable devices. Participants can earn up to $175.
We are recruiting women who are pregnant or mothers who have an infant 6 months of age or younger.
For more information, call or text 512-655-3166 or email dailyactivitieslab@gmail.com
Studies from CRC Affiliates
ChiLDS Lab
NIRS Word Learning Study
The ChiLDS Lab at UT invites you to participate in a research study investigating how children learn new words and the mechanisms that support successful language acquisition. To do this, we are inviting children between 24 to 36 months to help us! Children will watch a video where we teach them new words. We will track your child’s looking behavior using a small camera under the screen. We will also track your child’s brain activity using fNIRS (functional near-infrared spectroscopy), which uses small red lights to track changes in oxygen levels; this technology is completely safe and non-invasive. Children will also complete research tasks (that are set-up as “games”) with researchers! In one task, they'll help researchers place stickers on animals on a sheet. In another task, children will observe researchers play with the puppet then they'll get a chance to copy what they did on another puppet. Lastly, they’ll also get to watch a Bluey episode. The visit should take about an hour to an hour and a half. Families will also receive questionnaires so we can learn more about their child’s demographics, language exposure, behavior, and vocabulary. We can be reached at childslab@prc.utexas.edu or (512) 677-9245, or fill out our interested parent form here. Ultimately, we want to learn more about what helps children become successful word learners!
UT Clinical Neuroscience Lab
The UT Clinical Neuroscience Lab is looking for participants in the FEASible Study.
To be eligible for the study, you must be :
• A woman between the ages of 18-40
• Interested in using a smartwatch & other sensing devices
• Living in Central Texas
• Willing to work with us for one month
• Participants are compensated for their time
• This study is approved by the University of Texas IRB
For more information, please contact Dr. Tania Ramos Santiago (research coordinator) at taniaramos@utexas.edu or the UT Clinical Neuroscience Lab at (512) 471-7926.
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."
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.