CDL Study Completed Spring/Summer 2024:
Investigating Children’s Peer Communicative Skills in Naturalistic and Structured Tasks
Claire Bergey, a postdoctoral scholar in Psychology and part of the Social Interaction Lab, is initiating a study of children’s interactions during playtime. This is a 12-week observational study in which children’s experiences during free play are recorded using cameras attached to vests. The study aims to characterize how children learn to use language in conversation with peers. Families also have the opportunity to participate in observational recordings at home.
All CDL parents in the Otter and Bunny rooms will need to fill out consent forms opting in or opting out of the Preschool Peer Communication Study. Families who chose to participate will also fill out a demographics form.
If you have any questions related to either the Preschool Peer Communication Study or the additional Home Communication Study, please contact the Lab Manager, Yuliya Zubak, at yzubak@wisc.edu.
Principal Investigator
Robert Hawkins, is an Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Department of Psychology and Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, where he directs the Social Interaction Lab and will be supervising the Preschool Peer Communication Study and the Home Communication Study.
To obtain further information about the study, we encourage you to watch this 10-minute informational video provided by the Research Team tailor specifically for CDL Parents.
You can find the Slide Presentation from the video HERE.
CDL Study Completed Summer 2023:
The Impact of Lighting and Background Noise on the Behaviors of Students with Sensory Sensitivities or Autism
Scholar: 
Rudy Dieudonne, PhD Candidate, department of Design Studies, School of Human Ecology, UW-Madison
Approach: Dieudonne worked with the CDL’s Research and Teaching team to design his doctoral study looking at how changes in classroom lighting and noise impact the physiology and behavior of young children with and without sensory sensitivities and/or diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). His interdisciplinary study draws on the fields of design, child development, physiology, and early childhood education.
Rudy partnered with the CDL to recruit many CDL preschoolers (3-6 years), families, and teachers to participate in his study. He worked with community partners to recruit older children (6-8 years) and children with a diagnosis of ASD. All study visits occurred in the Frances & Elliot Lehman Family Research Center in the School of Human Ecology. As Rudy adjusted the lighting and noise levels in the research lab, he monitored the children’s heart rates, stress responses, and behaviors. Dieudonne’s research found that these lighting and noise changes impacted the physiological and behavioral responses of the children with sensory sensitivities and/or ASD significantly more than those of the control group. Dieudonne’s presentation of this research earned him both the First Place and the People Choice Award for UW Madison’s highly competitive Three Minute Thesis competition for 2024. Click here to read more about Rudy Dieudonne’s research and his commitment for designing adaptable classrooms, and to watch his award-winning Three Minute Thesis presentation.
Previous Studies Conducted at & Supported by the CDL
*Please note that some of the more historical studies listed below may not have been completed at the CDL, as we cannot know for certain. However, they remain listed as we know it was faculty in relevant departments that put out such work.
| Year | Title | Authors | DOI/URL |
| 2023-2024 | The Impact of Lighting and Background Noise on the Behaviors of Students with Sensory Sensitivities or Autism | Rudy Dieudonne | https://humanecology.wisc.edu/improving-early-childhood-classrooms-fuels-phd-student-rudy-dieudonne/ |
| 2022 | SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory pathogens are detected in continuous air samples from congregate settings | Ramuta, M.D. et al. | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-32406-w |
| 2021 | What obese and healthy weight preschoolers believe and know about food | Schultz, C.M. & Danford, C.A. | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.101000 |
| 2021 | The impact of touchscreen interactivity on US toddlers’ selective attention and learning from digital media | Kirkorian, H.L. Choi, K, Yoo, S. Y., & Etta, R.A. | https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2021.1944888 |
| 2021 | Attending less and forgetting more: Dynamics of simultaneous, massed, and spaced presentations in science concept learning | Vlach, H. Kaul, M., Hosch, A., & Lazaroff, E. | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jarmac.2021.10.007 |
| 2020 | Overconfidence Among Young Decision-Makers: Assessing the Effectiveness of a Video Intervention and the Role of Gender, Age, Feedback, and Repetition | Piehlmaier, D. | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-61078-z
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| 2020 | Investigating Cumulative Exposures among 3- to 4-Year-Old Children Using Wearable Ultrafine Particle Sensors and Language Environment Devices: A Pilot and Feasibility Study | Schultz, A. A. et al. | https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145259 |
| 2019 | Children’s Learning from Interactive eBooks: Irrelevant Features are Not Necessarily Worse than Relevant Ones | Etta, R.A., & Kirkorian, H. L. | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02733 |
| 2019 | Cognitively-Based Compassion Training for parents reduces cortisol in infants and young children | Poehlmann-Tynan, J. et al. | https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21831
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| 2018
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When the Sun Sings Science, Are Children Left in the Dark? Representations of Science in Children’s Television and Their Effects on Children’s Learning | Bonus, J.A., & Mares, M. | https://doi.org/10.1093/hcr/hqy009 |
| 2016
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How we categorize objects is related to how we remember them: The shape bias as a memory bias | Vlach, H. | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2016.06.013 |
| 2016
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When Seeing Is Better than Doing: Preschoolers’ Transfer of STEM Skills Using Touchscreen Games | Schroeder, E. L., & Kirkorian, H.L. | https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01377 |
| 2016
|
A Pilot Study of Contemplative Practices with Economically Disadvantaged Preschoolers: Children’s Empathic and Self-Regulatory Behaviors | Poehlmann-Tynan, J. et al. | https://doi.org/10.1007/s12671-015-0426-3 |
| 2016
|
Toddlers’ Word Learning from Contingent and Noncontingent Video on Touch Screens | Kirkorian, H.L., Choi, K., & Pempek, T. A. | https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.12508 |
| 2016 | Touch or Watch to Learn? Toddlers’ Object Retrieval Using Contingent and Noncontingent Video | Choi, K. & Kirkorian, H. L. | https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797616636110 |
| 2014
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“Vámonos means go, but that’s made up for the show”: Reality confusions and learning from educational TV. | Mares, M. & Sivakumar, G. | https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038041 |
| 2011
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Functional assessment and positive support strategies for promoting resilience: Effects on teachers and high-risk children | Stoiber, K.C. & Gettinger, M. | https://doi.org/10.1002/pits.20587 |
| 2011 | Collectible toys and decisions to share: I will gift you one to expand my set | McAlister, A.R., Cornwell, T.B, & Cornain, E.K.
|
https://doi.org/10.1348/026151010X526353 |
| 2011
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Do children and adults learn forward and inverse conditional probabilities together? | Kalish, C. | https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7wn2t8d9 |
| 1995 | Links between Communication Patterns in Mother-Child, Father-Child, and Child-Peer Interactions and Children’s Social Status | Black, B. & Logan, A. | https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1995.tb00869.x |
| 1992 | Negotiating Social Pretend Play: Communication Differences Related to Social Status and Sex | Black, B. | https://www.jstor.org/stable/23087382
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| 1990 | Social status and patterns of communication in acquainted and unacquainted preschool children | Black, B. & Hazen, N.L. | https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.26.3.379 |
| 1989 | Interactive Pretense: Social and Symbolic Skills in Preschool Play Groups | Black, B. | https://www.jstor.org/stable/23086392
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| 1987 | Computers in Early Childhood Education | Donohue, W. A., Borgh, K., & Jackson, W. P. | https://doi.org/10.1080/02568548709594918
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| 1984 | Another look at children’s comprehension of television | Pingree, S. et al. | https://doi.org/10.1177/009365084011004002 |
| 1964 | Near-Accidents and Minor Mishaps in the Nursery School. Factors related to Their Frequency | Federer, S.S. & Dawe, H.C. | https://www.jstor.org/stable/42717154
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