CLF Behavioral visits
CLF visits consist of a simple eye-tracking procedure in the eye-tracking room and three tasks in the CLF room: two to gauge point comprehension and one for word comprehension.
Last updated
CLF visits consist of a simple eye-tracking procedure in the eye-tracking room and three tasks in the CLF room: two to gauge point comprehension and one for word comprehension.
Last updated
Data: github repo
Videos and participant information: Fas-Phyc-PEB-Lab/experimental_projects/CLF
WebCDI: "Connecting Early Social Skills to Robust Comprehension Knowledge in Infancy"
IRB/consent: IRB23-0717 ("R01"): Connecting Early Social Skills to Robust Comprehension Knowledge in Infancy
After consent forms have been filled out and family seems ready to move on from the waiting room, lead them to the CLF room.
SPREADSHEETS TO UPDATE AFTER VISIT
clf_pilot/olivia_clf/data/CLF_task_exclusions_present
sheet = order
(add subject number and order of tasks - derived from current studies and conditions sheet)
sheets for each task
n_trials = number of trials they sat through even if they didn't respond
complete = "y" if they were given more than 5, "n" if they were given less
reason = why they did less than 5 trials: 'unknown'/'fussy/bored'/'parental_interference' or NA if complete
include = "y" if complete = "y", "n" if other reasons like lots of parental interference
did_task = "y" if they did it, "n" if not
official_include can be "y" or "n" or left blank
sheet = eligibility
from now on all participants should be eligible, (was initially created to remove bilinguals), so put "y" for all columns, unless for any reason you find out they are ineligible e.g. hearing/language exposure, in which case still "y" for pointing tasks, but "n" for langugae tasks
sheet = gender
not the end of the world if forgotten but easier to add it each visit than going into participant_data sheet and copying them all over
clf_pilot/olivia_clf/data/accurate_cs_ages.xlsx
fill in all columns
feltANDeyetracking_participants.xlsx
if for any reason subject does both felt and ET, add RN and subject number here
remember to push the repo after updates!!
Description:
This task assesses infants’ point following—their ability to follow the experimenter’s point towards an object in the room. In this first task, the experimenter sits opposite the infant on the floor. There are four stuffed animals placed up on the walls in the experiment room: one each on either side (180°) of the infants’ position on the floor, and two towards the back of the room, just visible over the experimenter’s shoulders from the infant’s perspective. Once the infant and experimenter are settled on the ground in front of each other, the experimenter establishes direct eye contact with the infant, audibly gasps, and points at the designated animal, follows their point with their own gaze, and then looks back at the infant to see if the infant follows the point. In half of the trials, the experimenter points first to one of the front animals, then the back animal on the opposite half of the room, and vice versa on the other half of the trials.
Rough Script:
"Alright, we will be playing three different games in this room today! The first one is very quick. I'll have you place [BABY] on this blue X and you can sit right behind them in that chair. I will be sitting right in front of [BABY] on the other blue X."
Sit down in front of [BABY]. Alternating between trials—4, 2 or 1,3—make direct eye contact with [BABY] before saying "[BABY], look!" and point out the designated animal. Follow your own point with your gaze, then look back at [BABY] to see if they follow your point. Point out the second designated animal using the same procedure.
"Great! That is the end of the first game. For the other two games, you can either sit on this chair with [BABY] on your lap, of you can sit beside [BABY] in this highchair if you prefer– whichever you think will be the most comfortable and calming for [BABY]. Either way, [BABY] will sit in the middle of the table, and I will sit directly across from them."
Description:
Two square frames on a black wood slab with stretchy fabric serve as hiding places. The frames are made from four slabs of 5x5 wood, essentially creating a box on its side with no base such that it is see-through. The inner base and sides of the frame are lined with felt to reduce noise as a result of hiding toys. The stretchy fabric is attached to the base of each frame—when it is pulled up and over the top slab of the frame, the contents of the frame are hidden. The fabric is easily removable to reveal the inside of the frame. The wooden slab which holds the frames is positioned such that their openings are angled towards the infant so the infant can see each frame clearly but can only reach one side at a time. Hidden from the infants’ view is a box full of small, brightly colored toys for infants to find hidden in the frame throughout the procedure.
In this task, the infants’ caregiver holds the infant on their lap across a small table from the experimenter. The experimenter shows a series of small toys to the infant before hiding the toy in one of the two frames and giving the infant a chance to search for the toy. To establish the premise of this game, in the first trial round, the experimenter shows the infant the first toy physically and verbally. They then inform the infant, “I’m going to hide it now!” in one of the two frames, without the fabric present to hide the contents of the frame. The experimenter then brings the toy out of the infants’ view under the table and shuffles the toy back and forth between their hands to mimic mixing it up, then, with palms up and the toy clearly displayed in one hand, brings the toy back up into view and places it obviously in one of the open frames. The infant then gets the chance to search for the ‘hidden’ toy and play with it for a few seconds before returning it. There is another identical trial using the frame on the other side to force the infant to use both sides to prevent bias towards one side.
In the next trial round, the experimenter uses the fabric to conceal the view of the inside of the frames so that the infant cannot see the contents inside. Repeating the same procedure, the experimenter shows the toy off for a few seconds, hides from view again, and shuffles between their hands. Then, with palms up and the toy clearly displayed in one of their hands, they bring the toy back up into view and place it obviously in the now concealed box. The infant should be able to see the experimenter place the toy in the box. The experimenter pushes the frames across the table within reach of the infant, and the infant gets the chance to search for the toy again. The infant gets 20 seconds to search for the toy; if after 20 seconds they do not search, the experimenter helps them remove one of the cloths so they can see into the frame and eventually find the toy. This trial round is replicated similarly in the opposite frame before going into the main 8 trials of the experiment.
In the main experiment trials, the experimenter repeats the same procedure up until the hiding stage. This time, following the randomized hiding order as indicated by the coding sheet, the experimenter places the toy on the correct side and conceals both hands so the infant cannot tell which hand it is in. They quickly hide the toy, keeping eye contact with the infant, then push the frames back to the infants’ side of the table. Using the opposite hand of the side of the table the toy is hidden on, the experimenter clearly points across their body, directly to the frame which has the toy in it. Keeping their arm clearly pointing to the correct frame, the experimenter gives the infant 20 seconds to start their search, and ends the trial by helping search if no action is taken by the infant in 20 seconds. This repeats for 8 total trials. The choice of the infant is coded in real time by the experimenter or an assistant—correct search, incorrect search, simultaneous search, or no search. A correct search could imply infants’ comprehension for the pointing gesture; a link between the physical gesture of the experimenter and the intended information behind it (Behne et al., 2005, 2012). Any other action (incorrect, simultaneous, or none) implies a lapse in understanding of the point as an informational gesture (Behne et al., 2005, 2012). In addition, three cameras record the entire process at different angles for further choice clarification if necessary.
Rough Script:
We're going to be hiding and playing with some toys next! Baby will have the chance to search for some toys, and though it may be tempting to help, we want [BABY] to look by themselves. I will start with a few easier rounds, then it will get a bit harder."
Set up the box in the center of the table, pushed closer to the experimenter side and with the boxes open, with no cloth concealing the inside. For the first round, choose a toy to play with and then show [BABY].
"We're going to play with this toy first! Look how cool!"
Show the [BABY] the toy and adlib. Give them a second to look at the toy.
"Alright, I'm going to hide it now!"
Bring the toy down below the table, shuffle it back and forth between your hands to mimic mixing it up, then, with palms up and the toy clearly displayed in one of your hands, bring the toy back up into view and place it obviously in the open box. Make eye contact with [BABY], not toy/box, so as not to hint at which side it is on.
"Where's the toy?"
Push the boxes towards [BABY] so they can reach both boxes and 'search' for the hidden toy. Once they find the toy, let them play with it for a few seconds and congratulate them. Show them the next toy you are going to hide in exchange for the previous toy. Pull the boxes back towards you, and place the cloths on each box to hide the inside of the box.
"We're going to play with this new toy now! Look how cool!"
Ask for the old toy back, and enlist the parents’ help if baby is reluctant to hand it back to you.
"Alright, I'm going to hide it now!"
Repeat the same procedure, showing the toy off for a few seconds, then hide from view again, shuffle between hands, and with palms up and toy clearly displayed in one of your hands, bring the toy back up into view and place it obviously in the now concealed box. They should be able to see you place the toy in the box.
"Where's the toy?"
Push the boxes towards [BABY] again, close enough so they can reach each box and the fabric concealing them. Make eye contact with [BABY] so as not to hint at which side it is on. Give them 20s to search for the toy, ad libbing as they search with positive reinforcement. If after 20 seconds they do not do anything, help them remove one of the cloths so they can see into the box and eventually find the toy.
"Good job! You found it!"
Show them the next toy you are going to hide in exchange for the previous toy. Pull the boxes back towards you, and replace the cloths on each box to hide the inside of the box. If [BABY] searched on both trial runs, enter the main experiment stage. If not, redo some practice trials.
"Alright, that was great practice! We're going to make it just a little bit harder and this will be the main part of the experiment!"
Repeat the same procedure up until the hiding stage. This time, following the randomized hiding order as indicated by the coding sheet, place the toy in the correct hand, and conceal both hands so [BABY] cannot tell which hand it is in. Quickly hide the toy, keeping eye contact with [BABY], then push the boxes back to [BABY]'s side of the table. Using the opposite hand of the side of the table the toy is hidden on, point across your body, directly to the box which has the toy in it.
"Where's the toy?"
Hold eye contact with [BABY], and keep your hand pointed at which box it is in. Give them 20s to start searching for the toy, help them search if they make no effort in 20s. Ad lib as they search. Repeat this procedure for the duration of the experiment as outlined in the coding sheet.
Description:
A plastic white tray is lined with three different colors of felt: blue, white, and pink. Six familiar objects are depicted in felt: car, baby, banana, stroller, milk, and sock. A bright blue bag is used to store and retrieve felt objects from the infant throughout the procedure.
In our version of this method, infants are shown two familiar objects depicted on felt. Similarly to the looking-while-listening task, there are a few warm-up trials to establish the game: one object on the tray with a matching target word (e.g. pacifier, “where’s the pacifier?”). After the three warm-up trials with one object, infants are shown two felt objects and are asked to grab one of the two (e.g. stroller and banana, “which is the banana?”). For each trial, the infant hears the target name three times: once before showing the felt object, once while displaying the object, and one last time while presenting the felt tray within reach of the infant to make a choice. This task forces a decision, a binary measure that is more straightforward than proportion of looking time, though there are a few possible responses, like in the gesture comprehension task: correct choice, incorrect choice, simultaneous choice, no choice.
Rough Script:
"For this next game, we will stay in these positions. We're going to be looking at some felt objects and test which words [BABY] knows! Some words [BABY] might know and some they might not, which is okay—we want to test which words [BABY] understands at this time. So again, we ask that you don’t point or repeat the question after me. When we find a new object, we get to fill up our blue gift bag!"
Remove the boxes from the previous game and grab the felt tray. Using the three warm-up objects as indicated by the coding sheet, do three rounds to show [BABY] how to play the game. Grab the first object and place it in the center panel, down low on the board so [BABY] can reach it. Before you show them, tell [BABY] what you are going to be showing first.
"Okay, first we're going to see the pacifier!"
Pick up the board facing [BABY] and hold it up so they can see it clearly. Hold it up for a few seconds so they can look at it.
"Where's the pacifier?"
Push the board towards [BABY] so they can reach it now, and repeat the object one more time.
"Where's the pacifier?"
Give them 20s to grab the object and look at it for a few seconds. Then, bring up the blue bag and place it (on its side so the baby can reach the opening) in front of the baby. Ask,
“Can you put that in here?”
(not using the word, since on future trials they could pick up the wrong object) and point to the bag to get the object back. Repeat this process for the next two warm-up objects.
Following the coding sheet, you will present a series of objects together, either on the left or right side of the felt board. The same two objects will always be paired. Ensure that you are consistent with the sides of the board you are using; objects will alternate between being on your left or right.
The procedure is the same: put both objects on the board, tell [BABY] which object they will be looking for, show them the board for a few seconds, repeat the object, push board towards [BABY], and repeat the object one last time. Regardless of which object they choose, positively reinforce their choice. Indicate on the coding sheet their first touch and final choice. If the [BABY] doesn't touch the objects at all after the first three trials and first real round, stop the experiment early.
If they’re screaming/crying/stop searching for more than two trials in the middle
If parent asks to stop