Georgetown Early Learning Project

The Georgetown Early Learning Project currently researches understanding how children under the age of 2 interact with television. The goal of our current project is to investigate how infants transfer learning from television to the real world and how this ability may change across the second year of life.

From a practical point of view, our research may help guide the development of television programming for infants. The more we know about how babies learn from television, the more likely we are to produce high-quality programs for them. From a theoretical point of view, this research helps us to understand the mechanisms by which babies transfer two-dimensional information to their three-dimensional environment and remember it for later use. This is especially important when you consider that our environment is composed of many other two-dimensional objects, such as pictures or books or the computer screen that you are reading now.

Can I see that again? Rattle and Animal
Has your child ever seen the same video more than once? If so, this increased viewing may have increased their comprehension. Past research has shown that infants learn less from television than from a live demonstration. In this study we doubled the number of times that infants saw a game repeated on TV. Click here for PDF file of The Effect of Repetition on Imitation from Television during Infancy.
To view complete findings on this study please click here

Can I see that again? Puppet Game
This study is based on the same empirical premise as the Rattle and Animal Toy study (see Can I see that again? Rattle and Animal) Click here for PDF file of Age-related changes in deferred imitation from television by 6- to 18-month-olds.
To view complete findings on this study please click here

Cartoon Sound Effects
Does your child like the "funny noises" that are added to children's programs? These noises may have increased your child's comprehension of the video. We learned from a prior study that doubling exposure to the video demonstration for the rattle toy increased 12- and 15-month-olds' ability to imitate from television. Babies, however, were not able to imitate the actions for the puppet game from a video demonstration even when exposure time was doubled. In this study we added sound effects to the puppet video demonstration. Imitation by both age groups of a puppet toy increased when sound effects were added. Click here for PDF file of The influence of electronic sound effects on learning from televised and live models.
To view complete findings on this study please click here

Infant Attention:Baby Mozart and Sesame Street
While there has been much research on television viewing during early childhood, there have been very few studies that have investigated infant attention to television. In this study we were interested in how babies typically view videos with their parents or caregivers. We chose popular infant videos and examined factors that can influence their attention patterns. Click here for PDF file of Infants' Attention and Responsiveness to Television Increases With Prior Exposure and Parental Interaction.
To view complete findings on this study please click here

Learning from computers
In this study 4 year olds and their parents participated in a computer on-line story called Elmo goes to the doctor. They then answered questions. Please see attached a poster presentation at the Society for Research and Child Development in Boston, MA, March 2007
To view complete findings on this study please click here

Poster Presentations at EPA Conference
This April the undergraduate research assistants presented results from three of our ongoing studies at the 75th Annual Meeting of the Eastern Psychological Association.
To view complete findings on this study please click here

The Sequence Game
Parents commonly label objects on television and for some programs, verbal labels are also provided directly via voice-over. The present study investigated whether toddlers' imitation performance from television would be facilitated if verbal labels were presented on television via voice-over or if they were presented by parents who were co-viewing with their toddlers. Sixty-one 2-year oldswere randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups (voice-over video, parent video, parent video no label, parent live) or to a baseline control condition. Toddlers were tested with novel objects after a 24 h delay. Although, all experimental groups imitated significantly more target actions than the baseline control group, imitation was facilitated by novel labels regardless of whether those labels were provided by parents or by voice-over on television. These findings have important implications for toddler learning from television. Click here for PDF file of Reenactment of televised content by 2-year olds: Toddlers use language learned from television to solve a difficult imitation problem.

Touchscreen Study
Infants learn less from a televised demonstration than from a live demonstration, the video deficit effect. The present study employs a novel approach, using touch screen technology to examine 15-month olds' transfer of learning. Infants were randomly assigned either to within-dimension (2D/2D or 3D/3D) or cross-dimension (3D/2D or 2D/3D) conditions. For the within-dimension conditions, an experimenter demonstrated an action by pushing a virtual button on a 2D screen or a real button on a 3D object. Infants were then given the opportunity to imitate using the same screen or object. For the 3D/2D condition, an experimenter demonstrated the action on the 3D object, and infants were given the opportunity to reproduce the action on a 2D touch screen (and vice versa for the 2D/3D condition). Infants produced significantly fewer target actions in the cross-dimension conditions than in the within-dimension conditions. These findings have important implications for infants understanding and learning from 2D images and for their using 2D media as the basis of actions in the real world. Click here for PDF file of Infant imitation from television using novel touch screen technology.