Oliver the research subject

The University of Minnesota is known world-wide for its decades-long twins study and I have friends who have participated since infancy. I thought having twins would be the only way to contribute to research at the U, but when I received a card in the mail a few weeks after Oliver's birth asking me if I'd like to place his name on a list to be called upon if relevant studies need participants, I happily filled out the card and mailed it back in. The only way I, the one who took the "Rocks for Jocks" and "Physics for Poets" type classes in college to satisfy the math and science distribution requirement, was ever to be able to make any meaningful contribution in the science community would be to donate my body upon death - or offer up my kid as a research subject.

I'd forgotten about the card when I received a phone call in mid-February from a student saying they needed four-month-old participants for a child development study at The Yonas Perception Lab at the Institute of Child Development, which is within the College of Education and Human Development at the U. They were studying infants' abilities to perceive depth using a depth cue called "Height in the Picture Plane." She had already lost me with that quick explanation of the study, so I just asked when and where we should show up.

The experiment was simple and quick - two key variables in a study whose participants have an attention span of maybe ten seconds. Oliver wore a patch over one eye and sat on my lap. I wore goggles blocking my vision so that I wouldn't influence Oliver's reaction as he watched images appear on different spots on a computer screen. He was videotaped so researchers could see what he looked at first and how long it took him to look at an object. I do my best to keep Oliver's screen time more or less non-existent, but when he does catch a glimpse of a TV, he's immediately drawn to the lights and moving images on the screen, so I knew we'd have no problems with his participation.

Oliver had a blast. He was allowed to watch "TV," and he was a total ham in front of the researchers, including Dr. Yonas himself. The window of opportunity between nap time and feeding time is so small for a four-month-old and part of me panicked that we'd arrive just as Oliver was entering a near meltdown, but the timing was perfect and he was just jazzed to be there.

I received a letter this week written to the parents of participants to follow up on the study.

"We found that children as young as four months old are already responding to the depth cues we present them. Five-month-olds are even better at it, as they respond to depth cues even when they see conflicting information. It is intriguing that this ability has emerged so young in a child's infancy! It tells us that the brain is maturing at an astounding rate."

I was never interested in child development until I had a baby. It's exciting to witness a baby sit up by himself or crawl or walk for the first time, but the other changes are either unnoticeable to someone who doesn't spend every day with the baby, or are boring to watch for unless it's your own kid. But I manage to find interest in watching Oliver work on something on something like depth perception as he reaches for a dangling or moving toy.

Dr. Yonas continued with the announcement that the findings would be submitted to a well-known scientific journal called Child Development, and that the results would also be presented to peers in the field at a conference in Naples, Florida. And the nerd in me is going to e-mail the lab and ask if I can have a copy of the study once it's published.