Detecting and telling apart the emotions shown by the people around us is a crucial skill for our social lives. Changes in facial or vocal expressivity tell us how people feel and help us interact with them. Our project focuses on understanding how the baby brain develops to detect and differentiate between different emotions expressed in the voice. We anticipate a great deal of variation in this ability, so there is no right or wrong. By discovering how babies learn about others’ emotions, we hope to find out how to foster children’s social and emotional wellbeing.
If your baby is 1- to 5-months-old and are interested to take part in the project
please sign-up by filling in the Contact Card
The information you provide will be stored securely and will not be shared with anyone outside our team.
More information: Filling in the form does not mean you consent to participate. We will soon get in touch with more details about the project, and then you can decide whether you would like to schedule a research session at a date and time that suits you.
What does participation in the research involve?
Participating in this project involves one visit, lasting approximately one hour, to the University of York. During the research session, your baby will hear voices of other babies or of adults with different emotional intonations (e.g., happy, sad, angry). In order to record how the brain responds to these sounds, your baby will wear a special hat with sensors embedded in it (like the one shown in the picture).
Safe and secure research for babies: The hat is specifically designed for babies and it is comfortable to wear. The sensors are not harmful. They only capture the weak signal coming from the brain, in a similar way to the sensors present in smart watches for recording the heart activity. You will be with your baby at all times.
Thank you gift: Parents receive £10 to support the trip to the University of York and babies receive a small gift as a token of our appreciation for their help. We also provide free parking in case you decide to travel by car.
In case you would like to find out more before signing up, please contact us at: psychology-dsn-lab@york.ac.uk
We are looking forward to hearing from you!
York Developmental Social Neuroscience lab 