experiment

The researchers at the Causality and Mind Lab at Brown called to ask Aiden to participate in a study.  His information was carried over from the Infant and Toddler Lab, which he outgrew.  I knew that Aiden would be game for an adventure over to "Brown Uno-ver-city" so I signed him up for an afternoon.  We brought lunch over to dad's office (a nice treat!), and then headed over to the lab.  Aiden was very excited to follow the directions in the building - follow the big ramp to the marble foyer and then turn down the big white hallway and finally land at the lab door which had a mat with two fishes on - which he thought was a great last "clue."  Everything is a big hunt lately.

We were a bit early, so Aiden got to play in the waiting room for a bit ahead of time.  During first experiment "game" he was presented with a box of bandaids, they asked him what was in the box, and he enthusiastically said bandaids!  Then the researcher pulled out crayons.  Aiden laughed because that was "so silly!"  Then the researcher asked him a name of one of his friends.  He answered Milo.  Then the research asked what would Milo think was in the box.  Aiden balked, "But Milo isn't here in this lab building, he's at my school."  The research asked what he would think was in the box if he was here, and Aiden said, "Well, Milo would think they were bandaids!"  The researcher debriefed us afterward and told me that most kids under 4 1/2 say their friend would say crayons.  I guess this means that Aiden knows what deceit is and that you can be tricked.  

The other segments he was part of a control group so they were pretty straightforward matching shapes to pictures.  Then they showed him a light and a flashy light and asked him to match them with photos of the insides - one more complicated than the other.  He seemed to just pick the photo closest to the light to match them and didn't consider that the flashy light may be more complicated.  Then the last experiment tested whether he would consider probability when selecting a shape to place on a noisy pedestal.  Some shapes caused the noise and others didn't.  He seemed to just select them in the order they were lined up in front of him.  Afterward Aiden got a prize - a big sheet of kitty stickers!   Then we headed over to his favorite science toy store to play.