Lab for Child Development at Johns Hopkins University

03/18/2025

This past fall, we had the exciting opportunity to have one of our studies published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences! The findings are the first to demonstrate that young children distinguish between improbable and impossible events, and learn significantly better after impossible occurrences. Results of this study, conducted by former doctoral student who is now an associate professor at the College of New Jersey, Dr. Aimee Stahl, and our own Dr. Feigenson, suggests parents and teachers can create these heightened learning moments for kids!

Check out the video below to learn more!

Children too young to know words like “impossible” and “improbable” nonetheless understand how possibility works, finds new work with two- and three-year-old...

09/24/2024

As we put some more effort into growing our page and improving our social media presence, I want to introduce our Fall 2024 Baby Lab team! 👶🏻 As always, our lab is headed by Dr. Lisa Feigenson and Dr. Justin Halberda. This semester we also have 6 great grad students, 8 wonderful research assistants, and a brand new lab manager!📚Will all these hard workers we have a super team to start the school year strong!💯

We will use this page to share study info, recruitment events, sweet study participants, and more!📸📚🏘️ Feel free to share content as you like and promote us to family/friends who may be interested in participating! ✨We always love to grow our Baby Lab family. Hope to see you around the lab soon! 😊

10/06/2021

Check out our research in the latest issue of the Johns Hopkins Magazine!

A new Johns Hopkins study is the first to show that curious babies become curious toddlers

08/11/2021

Did you know we're now conducting our research ONLINE?
You and your baby or child can participate from the comfort of your own living room! Studies typically last 10-15 minutes, and you will receive an Amazon gift credit as a thank you for your time.
Find out more here: https://labforchilddevelopment.com
Sign up for an easy online appointment here: https://corexmsnswyjhpdsdt99.sjc1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0VZoSHNCD1HVTM2

08/11/2021

Highly curious babies become highly curious toddlers!
Our findings, led by Dr. Jasmin Perez and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, are summarized here in US News & World Report: https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2021-06-29/high-curiosity-in-infancy-carries-through-to-toddler-years

08/11/2021

Babies' random choices determine what they prefer! Check out our research on "choice-induced preference," as reported by NPR and others:
https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/06/28/curious-babies-become-curious-toddlers/

07/23/2020

Our research about babies' understanding of objects and their properties was featured in a recent New York Times article! You can read about it here!

Scientists have long studied play to gain insights into the developing human mind.

10/24/2019

Check out some of our recent findings featured in the Washington Post! A huge thank you to all of our families who participated in our Countbox studies! If you have a kiddo at home who you'd like to have participate in our cool science games give us a call at (410) 516-6068 or fill out our webform here: http://pbs.jhu.edu/laboratory-for-child-development-signup-form/

Babies who are years away from being able to say words like “one” and “two” already have a sense of how to count, according to new research from Johns Hopkins University released Oct. 24.

09/24/2019

We just released our 2019 Newsletter! Check out some of our cool findings and what we've been up to this past year.
https://labforchilddevelopment.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/2019-newsletter-2.pdf

If you're interested to see what fun studies your kiddos are eligible for you can send us an email at hopkins.lcd@gmail.com or if you're new to us you can fill out a form to participate here: https://pbs.jhu.edu/laboratory-for-child-development-signu…/

09/15/2019

So glad to have met so many awesome people in the community! Thanks for stopping by our table! Did you miss us? We’ll be facepainting at the 2020 JHU Spring Fair in April!

09/15/2019

Come get your face painted for free at the Abell Street Fair and hear about some cool science!!

08/31/2019

Are you ever curious about what your baby is thinking about the world? The JHU Lab for Child Development is currently looking for 5 to 30 month old babies to participate in some of our fun child development studies! If you have little ones at home, feel free to sign up to hear about some of our cool studies!
Sign up here: https://pbs.jhu.edu/laboratory-for-child-development-signu…/
Participation involves a one time visit to our lab on the JHU Homewood campus and includes free parking, a prize for your child to take home, and a certificate of completion! Please email us at infant.research@jhu.edu or call us at (410) 516-6068 if you have any questions! You can also see our website for more information:labforchilddevelopment.com