We broadly investigate developmental issues related to human learning, among infants and children. The research domains include perceptual, cognitive, and motoric processes. We are especially interested in infant’s social and cognitive development in the area of face perception, the perception of objects, and language development.
How do babies understand the world around them? How do babies learn from faces and objects? How do babies learn language? At Edge Hill University (EHU) Baby Lab, we conduct studies to answer these questions.
We use a variety of methods including behavioural observations and eye-tracking. In a typical study, your child will be sitting on your knees watching either a video or a puppet show. We record their looking times (which includes looking away as well).
What usually happens when my child and I are invited?
You will be contacted by one of the research team (with enhanced DBS disclosure) and invited to participate in one of the ongoing studies (either online or in person).
We have on-campus facilities available to accommodate you and your child’s needs, including:
on-campus parking
baby changing units
feeding area
kitchenette
Current infant and child studies
Infant studies
We have two face perception studies (cross-sectional and longitudinal). For these studies we are recruiting both 4-month-old and 9-month-old infants.
If you’re interested or would like to know more, drop us an email:
In the cross-sectional study, we are interested in babies who are either 4-month-old or 9-month-old. If you have a soon to be 4-month-old or a soon to be 9-month-old infant, you will be eligible in participating in this study.
In the longitudinal study, we are interested in babies who can visit us twice. The first is when they are 4 months and the second is when they are 9 months. If you have a soon to be 4-month-old, you will be eligible in participating in this study.
What does it involve?
You and your baby will be invited to Edge Hill BabyLab when they are of the right age. The method we use is very straightforward. Your baby will sit on your knee and will be shown some pictures of faces on a television screen for about 10min. A great deal can be discovered about your baby through observation and making a note of looking times and boredom and interest rates. An eye-tracker will be used so we can make an accurate record of exactly where, and how often your baby looks.
What can I participate in?
If you have a soon to be 4-month-old infant, you will be eligible in participating in both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies.
If you have a soon to be 9-month-old infant, you will be eligible in participating in just the cross-sectional study.
Is this research funded?
We are funded by both the British Academy and EHU Research Investment Fund. Therefore, you will be reimbursed £10 for taking your time to visit us and be gifted a book as a thank you.
Child studies
We currently have no child studies available. Keep up to date and follow us on social media:
How infants perceive faces of different categories
We recruited 4-month-old and 9-month-old infants to take part in a study about how infants perceive faces of different categories.
What does it involve?
You and your baby will be invited to Edge Hill Babylab when he/she is of the right age. The method we use is very straightforward. Your baby will sit on your knee and will be shown some pictures of faces on a television screen for about 10min. A great deal can be discovered about your baby through observation and making a note of looking times and boredom and interest rates. An eye-tracker will be used so we can make an accurate record of exactly where, and how often your baby looks.
Effects of mask wearing on emotion recognition
We recruited children ages 3-11 to take part in a study about the effects of mask wearing on emotion recognition.
What happens during the study?
Your child will be asked to guess the emotions of faces, some of which will be face coverings. An eye tracker will also record what the child is looking at and for how long.
Why?
Similar research suggests that because it may be harder to read emotional expressions when people are wearing masks. However, some children have shown that they have adapted well over the course of the pandemic, and have become better at reading emotional expression using more information from the eyes.
Motor development in children
Dr Martin McPhillips focuses on the motor development of children and young adults with a range of developmental difficulties, including dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, deafness, autism and developmental coordination disorder. Some of the work is lab-based, while other work is field-based with an emphasis on developing motor interventions for children and adults with learning and/or social and emotional problems.
From this work, the ‘Primary Movement’ intervention programme has been devised, which is now used in many schools across the UK, Ireland and Western Australia.
Research ethics
Our research is approved by the Ethics Committee at Edge Hill University. Data are confidential and anonymised where appropriate. You can ask for your data to be removed at any time. If there are any queries or concerns regarding this, please contact our EHU Baby Lab Team.
Meet the team
Dr Diana Tham
Director of EHU BabyLab, Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology
Diana is a Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology and a mother to a vibrant two-year-old toddler. Her research focus is on perceptual, social, and cognitive development. She is particularly interested in whether the environment we are exposed to shapes the way we think about and understand our world. The work that we do at Edge Hill Babylab explores this idea by investigating how babies learn about faces and objects. She has more than 12 years of experience working with babies and is passionate to show the world what they can do from a very young age.
Dr Rebecca Frost
Senior Lecturer in Psychology
Rebecca is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology, with expertise in cognition and child development. Her research investigates the cognitive mechanisms that support language acquisition and examines the way that these develop in children. She is particularly interested in the way that learners draw on patterns of information in the world around them during learning. She is also interested in the way that learning is supported by sleep. Rebecca obtained her PhD from Lancaster University in 2014 and worked as a Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (Netherlands) before joining Edge Hill University in 2021.
Charlotte Rothwell
Research Projects Coordinator
Charlotte is the Research Projects Coordinator at Edge Hill BabyLab. She is conducting research with Diana to discover how babies learn about faces at different developmental stages. She is also currently completing her PhD at Lancaster University, investigating language development in autistic and neurotypical children. Charlotte is interested in language and cognitive development, especially how our environment shapes how children understand and learn about the world around them. She has worked in BabyLab since being an undergraduate student, so has lots of experience working with babies and children of different ages. In her spare time, she likes to spend time with her nieces and nephews, and go walking with her family.
Alex Thomson
Dissertation student
Alex is a third year Psychology student currently conducting a dissertation project under the supervision of Diana. She is interested in studying the developmental differences of how children recognise and process basic human emotions and how this may have been affected through the means of wearing face coverings during the pandemic. Her main areas of interest include clinical and developmental psychology, and next year she is hoping to study a master’s degree in clinical psychology at Newcastle University. Outside of university, Alex enjoys spending time with her two sisters and niece.
Ingrid Morley
Student intern
Ingrid is a second year Educational Psychology student at Edge Hill University, who is enthusiastic about learning more about Developmental Psychology and how babies and young infants develop, both cognitively and socially. She is excited to be gaining experience through such a relevant opportunity. Previously, Ingrid has done varied work experience with children in a primary school as well as in the children’s holiday club for which she currently still works. Outside of university, Ingrid enjoys swimming and baking in her spare time and enjoys returning to her home in Guernsey to spend time with her nieces and nephews.
Jess Oldfield
Student intern
Jess is a second year BSc Psychology student. Her main areas of interest are developmental and forensic psychology. Jess has a variety of experience working with children of all ages, ranging from preschooler’s to 11-year-old Brownies. Upon completing this internship, Jess hopes to gain insight and valuable experience to enhance her skills ahead of her aspirations for the future. Outside of her studies, she enjoys spending time outdoors walking her dog, Betty, and working out at the gym.
What do I do if I am interested?
We are always looking for children to participate in our studies. We generally recruit babies from 0 – 2 years old to be placed in our database. If you are interested in helping us, please register your baby here and we will contact you if your baby is eligible for one of our studies.
EHU Baby Lab is located in the Psychology Department (2nd floor of Law and Psychology Building – Observation Suite, room: LP 2.28) of Edge Hill University. This is building number 7 on the campus map.
