Nottingham Toddler Lab

Research into Perceptual and Cognitive Development

Current Studies

What studies are taking place at the moment at the Toddler Lab?

We are interested in how toddlers learn about their surroundings and how they come to understand and use language to express their thoughts. Some of the questions we are trying to answer include:

1. How do premature babies develop attention and exectutive processes?

Difficulites with attention and controlling behaviour are sometimes observed in children that have been born very premature. We are assessing the development of attention and executive processes in a group of very premature babies that are now aged between eight and ten years of age and we are comparing their development to children of the same age born at term.

2. Does premature birth affect brain development?

We are investigating how the brains of children that were born very premature compare to those of children that were born at term. We are using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to scan a group of very premature babies and we are comparing their brain development to that of children at the same age who were born at term.

3. Is motor and cognitive development linked?

Motor and cognitive development was thought to take place seperately but recent research suggests that they may be linked. To investigate this, we are tracking the development of motor and cognitive skill in typically developing toddlers and young children.

4. How do children develop motor and cognitive skills following a brain tumour in early childhood?

When a young child has a brain tumour removed they often experience difficulties with motor and cognitive development. We are investigating the nature of these difficulties in children that experienced a brain tumour during the preschool years. We are interested to see if difficulties with motor and cognitive development are related to the nature of the brain tumour experienced and the course of treatment given.

5. How do preschool children develop food preferences?

We are investigating factors that influence the development of food preferences in early childhood. We are hoping to find out which foods preschool children like and dislike, why they like certain foods and not others, and how often they consume different foods. We hope our investigations will help to address current understanding and treatment of childhood obesity.

6. How do preschool children develop generosity?

Young children are commonly believed to be quite self-centred, but recent research suggests this may not be so. We are trying to find out how generour preschool children are by giving them stickers and asking if they would like to give some away. The amount given away is thought to reflect how generous, or altruistic, children are.

November 2008