Each year, many students join the Early Cognition Lab for the URECA programme. Our students pursue an exciting variety of projects uncovering the socio-cognition of children from their pre-school to primary school years. We are proud to announce that one of our URECA research students, Wendi, clinched the first prize for the URECA AY17/18 poster competition! We spoke to Wendi about her project and her experience.
What was your URECA project about? My research project is on children’s concept of justice and specifically on children’s resource distribution in a third party moral transgression.
Why did you choose to do this project and to work in this lab? I decided to work in this lab to gain experience working with children as I haven’t had the opportunity to do so despite my interest. I chose this research project as it focused on children’s ability to punish antisocial adults, which was not something we got to learn in class. I was also keen to explore the use of implicit measures, where instead of relying on children’s verbal testimony, children’s behaviour could be measured based on their responses in a resource distribution task.
What was your experience through the course of this project? Being new to research, fulfilling the URECA programme deliverables seemed intimidating at first but they turned out to be manageable thanks to the close guidance given in the lab and from Kristy, a doctoral student and my research team leader. Being part of a close-knit research team also provided a sense of comradery, which made the experience fun and less daunting.
Do you have any words of encouragement for people who want to pursue a URECA project? Pursuing a URECA project requires commitment but it gave me a huge sense of accomplishment, being able to do a research project independently. It also provides a sneak preview to what the Final Year Project would be like and builds the foundation for research report writing. It can be challenging but it is a great opportunity for anyone interested in research because you get a first-hand experience here!