Kids Study
Some regions of the brain seem to be hardwired from birth, while others are shaped by your experiences well into adulthood. We are recruiting children between the ages of four and six to investigate how visual regions of the brain develop as children begin school and see new things. We use three safe and non-invasive technologies — mobile eye-tracking, MRI, and fMRI. Participants are compensated at a rate of $30 per hour for both in-person and at-home study participation. You can find more detailed information in the FAQs, or feel free to %20stanfordperception [at] stanford.edu (contact us).
Participation Timeline
Submit an interest form
Once we receive your form, we'll be in contact with you to schedule a phone screening to tell you more about the study and determine if you and your child are eligible to participate.
Training Session
Time commitment: 2 hours
If you are eligible to participate, you will first be invited to Stanford for a two-hour-long training session. This session is an opportunity to ask any further questions you have and involves meeting the research team, completing a mock-scan to prepare for the real MRI, calibrating the eyetracking glasses, and completing some viewing tasks. You will be sent home with mobile eye-tracking glasses.
At-home mobile eyetracking
Time commitment: An hour per day for one week
Your child will wear the mobile eye-tracking glasses provided to record their visual environment for at least 1 hour per day for a week.
2-3 fMRI sessions
Time commitment: 2 hours per session
We will invite your child to participate in two or more MRI sessions. For each session, your child will be in the MRI scanner for an hour to an hour and a half. During the MRI scan, your child will play games and watch videos inside the scanner.
Can my child participate?
To participate, your child must be 4-6 years old, fluent/able to communicate in English, and have normal/corrected vision. Since the MRI scanner makes noises and is a confined space, we also require that your child is not sensitive to noise and/or claustrophobic.
What times do you have available for scheduling?
Your child is welcome to come to the lab outside of school hours or on the weekends. We will work with you to accommodate your schedule!
Where can I park?
We have Q-designated parking spaces near our building that are reserved for research participants. To get to these parking spots, navigate to 20 Palm Drive, Stanford, CA 94305.
What does the MRI scanner do? Does it have radiation?
MRI stands for magnetic resonance imaging, and the machine uses a magnetic field to take photos of your baby's brain. The MRI scanner does not use any radiation and does not have any known risks.
The magnet inside the scanner is always on, so we require participants to take off any metal before they enter the scanning room. We use a metal detector wand to ensure that participants are safe to enter.
Participants can only enter the scanning room if accompanied by a researcher.
What do the mobile eyetracking glasses do?
Mobile eye-tracking glasses are wearable devices equipped with cameras and sensors that record where the wearer is looking, their gaze behavior, and pupil size in real-time while moving. The glasses we provide are kid-friendly and are worn like a pair of regular eyeglasses.