The UBC Infant Studies Centre is looking for parents to participate with their baby in the exciting South Asian languagedevelopment study.
“We are a research centre at the University of British Columbia (UBC) directed by Dr. Janet F. Werker. Dr. Werker is a University Killam Professor and Canada Research Chair – she has been studying how babies acquire language for more than 20 years andis recognized internationally for her renowned work in Developmental Psychology. This important research is only possible with the support of amazing local families like yours who volunteer to sign up with their infants to participate in our studies!
“For this exciting new study, we are investigating how babies learn South Asian languages, like Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Pahto, Tamil and Telugu. We are specifically interested in South Asian languages, which contain a unique set of speech sounds not found in other languages. Families speaking one or more of these languages with babies between 4- and 13-months-old are cordially invited to participate, which would involve a one-time visit to our centre on UBC campus.Your baby would sit on your lap and watch a brief video (6 minutes) of a woman making speech sounds; we would measure where your baby looks and for how long during certain parts of the video.
“After the study, your baby would be awarded an honorary UBC degree certificate and given a cute infant scientist t-shirt! We provide free, reserved parking spots right nearby our building, or, if you decide to come by transit, we will provide transit passes. Parents who have visited our Centre in the past find this experience both enriching and incredibly fun! All our studies are approved by UBC’s Behavioural Research Ethics Board and your personal information would remain confidential.”
The Centre is a part of the UBC Early Development Research Group, a collaboration of six different research centres studying different aspects of child development. Even if your baby does not meet the criteria of the South Asian language study described above, they still welcome all parents to sign up and participate in one of the various studies they offer.
If this sounds like something you would be interested in, please visit our website to signup: https://infantstudies.psych.ubc.ca/southasian/. If you have any questions whatsoever, please feel free to give us a call at 604-822-6408 or send us an email at [email protected].
