Today we went to went to the Early Childhood Cognition Lab at UW for a study that they are doing with babies. I was a bit nervous at first because it took me awhile to find the lab and it was Ely's feeding time. We got to the lab just in time and Ely took his bottle before he got preoccupied with his new surroundings.
The study was very simple. They did a little puppet show with two toys (green frog and red truck toy). They were trying to see if Ely would favor one toy over the other because of positive reinforcement. A person would say "hi", look at both toys, hold up the red toy, smile, and say "WOW". It took 10 minutes and by the end, Ely got very bored. At the very end of the study, they had me hold Ely up to the the toys and see which one he preferred. They had me try it twice. Both times, he first felt the test table, whacked it a couple of times, and went directly to the red toy. He didn't even glance at the other toy. It was pretty amazing to see how positive reinforcement had such influence on a baby.
After the test, the researcher told me that it took only 6 trainer tests before the actual study started. I guess some babies can take up to 14 tests before they knew what the test was about. The minimum is 6 tests and Ely had figured it out by then what the test was about. The researcher said that he was observant and apparently it is a trait that lasts when they grow up. The assistant also commented that Ely starred at the puppets for a long time. :) Ely likes to stare at new things, new faces....he is a curious boy.
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