Liam Schmidt ’22, Staff Writer
Social experiments at LVC are continuing despite the challenges of COVID-19.
The Baby Lab, which specializes in studies on infant language acquisition, has adapted readily, shifting its focus this semester in order to continue its research.
“Several studies are on pause for the time being, and that’s fine,” Dr. Rachel Albert, associate professor of psychology and director of the Baby Lab, said. “We want to be maximizing the safety of people, not exposing, especially young children, to anything.”
Although new data collection has been halted momentarily, Albert and her team have resorted to developing new studies and drawing novel conclusions from previous experiments and data files, specifically videos.
“COVID has shut down just about all face-to-face data collection on campus, which is hard, but my lab at least—we have kind of a backlog, and there’s always things you can go back and do,” Albert said.
Connections with other universities have also proven useful as Albert and her team continue their research. For example, Michigan State University has provided access to its data files, which have increased the possibility of further study on infant language acquisition during the pandemic.
Sorting through past data samples is tedious and time-consuming, but researchers at the Baby Lab have been successful in developing new studies and actively contributing to the literature in the field. This semester, they have already submitted work to several conferences.
For Albert, watching the development of her research assistants and taking them to present at these conferences is the most enjoyable aspect of running the Baby Lab.
“That’s the fun part for me, watching a student who just came to me and is like ‘babies are cool and I want to study them’ go to like ‘I can hold my own at these academic conferences, present this research competently, and get into a Ph.D. program,’” she said. “That’s a really cool path to take them through.”
Although most conferences have already transitioned to an online format, Albert looks forward to when they will resume in person and her students can experience the wow factor of presenting academic research.
More information and current research at the Baby Lab can be found here: lvcbabylab.weebly.com. Anyone interested in participating in studies can use the listed form to sign up, although data collection will not resume until after LVC rescinds its no-guest policy.