Language and Learning Lab

The Language and Learning Lab, headed by Dr. Laura Namy, studies how typically developing children learn. We are interested in the cognitive development of infants, toddlers and preschoolers and are particularly interested in how they learn language, use other forms of communication such as gestures, and learn categories. For more detailed information about our studies click here.

Lab Director
Laura L. Namy, Associate Professor of Psychology

Graduate Students
Debbie Sasso, 3rd year student Jennifer Knight, 1st year student

Honors Students
Kelly Chicos
Anna Krueger

Undergraduate Assistants
Jessie Catana
Lauren Clepper
Rebecca Vallas

Our lab is housed in the comfortable, home-like setting of the Child Study Center at the edge of the Emory University campus on North Decatur Rd. For directions click here.

The Child Study Center also houses the Emory Infant Lab, the Fivush Research Lab, and the Brain and Cognitive Development Lab.

We have studies ongoing for children ages 1 to 4 years of age. Families schedule appointments with us Monday through Saturday. Our studies usually involve a single, brief play session. During the play session, which usually lasts about 15 minutes, we show children a series of different toys and simply note how he or she interacts with each toy. Parents remain with their child throughout the entire session. We have babysitters available to play with younger and older siblings in a separate playroom during the study. Parents enjoy the opportunity to play with their children in this context and to observe the study session. Parking is free and convenient, and each participating child receives a small gift.

We are always looking for families that are willing to help us out by participating in our studies. If you have children and are interested in participating in ongoing studies at the Language and Learning lab, please feel free to call us for additional information or to register by phone, 404-727-6636. You will be added to our database and as studies come up for which your child is the right age, we will contact you to try and set up an appointment. Be aware that it may be a few months before you hear from us, depending on what particular ages of children we are studying at any given time.

Through our research at the Language and Learning Lab we hope to increase our understanding of how children learn and particularly the experiences and contexts that are most conducive to learning. Parents are often interested in learning how their individual children perform, relative to other children. However, these are not intelligence tests, and we do not conduct individual assessments. We are interested in how children in general develop and learn. As a result, each child’s behaviors are only useful when pooled with other children of the same age so a general pattern of behavior can emerge. We are happy to provide summaries of the studies in which your child participates. In fact, each summer we send out a newsletter to all the participating families which summarizes our findings over the past year.

Here are links to our past newsletters (Adobe Acrobat required to view).