We are currently exploring the origin and development of children's social cognition. We are interested in learning how children, adults, as well as animals understand and learn from one another's behaviours. Focus is placed on investigating the relationship between social learning and causal reasoning, and how social information and direct observation can be combined when making judgements regarding the causal nature of the environment around us. 

Our studies are structured as short (5-15min), interactive games that are designed to be engaging and interesting to the young children that participate. Examples of some of our studies are detailed below.

Investigation of Beliefs about a Causal System
Children learn causal relationships on a daily basis, such as pressing the power button to turn on a TV or washing hands to remove dirt. In this study, we are interested in investigating how 4- and 5-year-olds’ beliefs about a causal system influence their exploration of that system. We introduce children to a machine that plays music when certain blocks are placed on top. Children watch as an experimenter places two different blocks individually on the machine, where one block activates the machine and the other does not. They are then given the opportunity to play with the blocks and the machine to see how they attempt to make the machine play music.

Investigation of Information Evaluation
The information children receive from others is a valuable source to help them learn about the world around them. However, children need to assess the quality of the information they receive. We are exploring how children evaluate the source of information and information quality. and they were not able to evaluate the difference in quality. To do this, we present children with a video, which introduces the child to multiple jars and multiple people. When the video is over, the child is asked which jar they think the on-film experimenter picked. In doing so, we hope to identify the cognitive functions that develop in children to allow them to evaluate information as adults do.

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