Author: Meryl Yu

ECL Heads to Lisbon! Memories and Insights from the ISSBD 2024 Biennial Meeting

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Research Conferences

The Early Cognition Lab presented 14 posters at the 2024 Conference of the International Society for the Study of Behavioural Development. Let’s hear from our team of undergraduates, graduate students and research staff as they reflect and look back on what they learnt.

Petrina Low, Ph.D. Candidate:
“This was my second overseas conference, and there was a lot to learn from ISSBD. It was helpful to experience doing a poster session, which I had not done previously, and it was a different format of sharing our research. I also learnt more about communicating about our research on the spot, as the poster sessions were more spontaneous. I think that this also made it more interactive, which I hope to do more of! This experience has helped me a lot in practicing communicating my research in conversational settings, and I think it would help with future opportunities in science communication.”

Sharon Ting, Project Officer:
“It was my second time attending a conference, but it was equally as memorable as the first. The views and local cuisine in Lisbon (particularly their pastries!) really added to the overall experience.

My favourite talk was by Dr. Rory Devine, who presented his team’s findings on how theory of mind and executive functioning uniquely predict various aspects of children’s early educational outcomes. Having read a lot of Dr. Devine’s work while writing my undergraduate thesis, it was nice to hear him share his research in person. I also really appreciated the diversity of topics and methodologies across the paper symposiums I attended. I’d say my poster sessions went really well – one of the highlights was having a brief but engaging conversation with another researcher who’s working on a similar project. Overall, I had a great time at ISSBD!”

Meryl Yu, Research Associate:
“It was a true honour to be immersed in an environment brimming with so much passion and curiosity! What struck me the most was the sense of academic community and shared purpose that defined the conference space; the meeting was not just about demonstrating individual accomplishments but about contributing to our collective knowledge and the larger discourse surrounding developmental sciences.

The keynote speech by Dr. Charissa Cheah left the greatest impact on me; her current research on ethnic minority cultural stress illuminated that the pandemic did not just exacerbate pre-existing inequalities but unveiled new layers of discrimination that warranted urgent addressing. Her talk re-affirmed my belief that research has to evolve in tandem with shifting global contexts in order to serve the needs of the most vulnerable.”

Carol Chan, URECA Student:
“A highlight and an academic milestone for me was the privilege to share with experts in the field about my study, titled “Maternal Stress and Negative Parenting: The Mediating Role of Stress Reactivity”. This study was a collaborative effort, supported by many lovely mentors from the Early Cognition Lab.

I was truthfully crawling with anxiety at my first international conference. With much encouragement from the other lab members who were on the trip, I worked on refocusing on learning.  I’m reminded again, of my biggest single take-home: “No one can limit you as effectively as you do yourself.”

Chloe Tan, Final-Year Project Student:
“I had the privilege of presenting a poster titled, “A Latent Profile Analysis of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Emotional Behavioural Problems in Early Childhood: Associations with Self-Regulation”. It was part of my Final Year Project (FYP, that I was working on as a final year Psychology graduate at Early Cognition Lab.

One of my greatest takeaways from the conference was learning about the various implications of research findings and how we can apply these findings. The roundtable discussion, “How can we share with parents the research findings they want?” presented by Michael E. Lamb and Julie Bower, sparked many conversations about the importance of communicating relevant research findings to parents through effective and innovative techniques. It reminded me of the value of research and how its impact are far-reaching. This educational milestone has indeed been a great closure to my educational journey in university!”

Featured on Freakonomics Radio Network’s ‘No Stupid Questions’ Podcast

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Media Features

We are excited to announce that our papers on parenting by lying, published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology and Current Directions in Psychological Science, have been featured on the highly popular podcast, ‘No Stupid Questions’.

The empirical paper (Setoh et al., 2020) delves into how exposure to parental lies early in life shapes children’s subsequent lying behaviours as well as psychosocial adjustment. The second paper, a review article (Setoh, Low, & Lee, 2023), ties current research together through providing a theoretical framework to advance the field.

Listen to acclaimed psychologist Dr. Angela Duckworth and tech executive Mike Maughan discuss our research on the latest episode: https://freak.ws/3R4jT9A

Congrats to Petrina Low for Winning the SSS 3-MT Presentation Competition!

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Awards

Petrina Low Hui Xian, a third-year PhD candidate at the Early Cognition Lab, clinched first place at the 3-Minutes-Thesis (3MT) presentation competition held by the NTU School of Social Sciences.

The aim of the 3MT competition is to nurture graduate students’ science communication skills. Specifically, students are challenged to deliver research findings to non-specialist audiences using only one presentation slide.

Presentations were judged on factors such as clarity, stage presence, articulation, engagement, as well as whether the language used was appropriate for a non-specialist audience. 

For winning the top spot, Petrina was awarded with a cash prize and will be representing the School of Social Sciences in the university-wide NTU 3MT in June. Let’s hear from Petrina as she reflects on the experience.

 

 

  • What is your 3MT presentation about?
    My 3MT was on parenting by lying, my thesis topic! I talked about what parental lies were, why parents lie, and what happens to children when parents lie, which are the key components of my research projects so far. 

  •  How do you feel about winning first place?
    I was very surprised and grateful to come in first! I received much help from the lab members who gave very useful feedback for my slide and script, and I could not have done so well without their invaluable help.

  • What was the process leading up to the presentation like? For example, how did you prepare for the presentation?
    When preparing for the presentation, I tried to organise my presentation into about 1 minute per each component I wanted to discuss in the 3MT, and also practiced the script to make sure that I would be within the time limit.

    Our lab members kindly gave me feedback and suggestions for improving the slide, and I also asked my family for their opinions as my test run non-specialist audience on my script. I have to give credit to my sister who does design for helping me improving the visuals of my slide too!

  • How do you plan to apply your success and skills learnt from the presentation to your future endeavours?
    This was a very useful experience in communicating my research in simple and appropriate terms, which will surely come in handy when I want to discuss my research in broader areas. I hope to be able to get more confidence in presenting and communicating my research in the future, and I can use this experience to help other lab members when they prepare for their 3MT too!
Congratulations once again, Petrina!

URECA x ECL AY22/23 – Congratulations for Winning Poster Competition!

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Awards, URECA

This academic year, as part of the URECA program, 6 undergraduate students joined the Early Cognition Lab to embark on their independent research project. We had an amazing time exploring a range of research topics, such as parental disciplinary practices and parental dominance in parent-child conversation. We are thrilled to congratulate 4 of our students, Jerron, La-Mia, Kai, and Myat, for winning at the URECA poster competition. Kudos to their outstanding accomplishment! We spoke to them about their URECA journey.

What was your project about?

La-Mia: My URECA project was on whether child gender could influence parent’s conversational dominance. I coded parent-child conversational transcripts from a picture-book reading task, for parent’s total number of words in proportion to the child’s total, mean length of turns speaking in terms of the number of words spoken each turn, and the number of wh-question’s parents asked their child (questions using wh-words to elicit input e.g., what, where, why, when, and how). I compared each of these dependent variables by child gender, to see if gender had an influence on parent’s conversational dominance. From this project, I hoped to find more insight into when gender patterns of conversing may begin to develop during childhood.

Kai: My URECA project looked into the long-term effects of childhood neglect experience on negative parenting practices. Specifically, I was interested to find out how specific types of neglect could be associated with coercive forms of parenting, such as verbal hostility and physical coercion!

Jerron: My URECA project was about how parental physical discipline related to child anxiety. I decided to focus on physical discipline as it is highly prevalent in Singapore society, yet there has been very little research done on how it affects Singaporean children. I was driven to investigate its relationship with different dimensions of anxiety as we still do not have a clear picture of how physical discipline causes anxiety, and also due to the rising rates of mental illness in Singapore.

Myat: My project explored the trajectories of parenting practices through early and middle childhood. We know intuitively, and perhaps anecdotally, that how our parents parented and disciplined us changed as we grow older. However, there is little empirical research exploring such changes. Even when it is explored, research was often limited to physical discipline. In addition, most previous research focused on mothers and a Western population. Thus, I also wanted to explore whether the trajectories of parenting practices differed between Singaporean mothers and fathers.

Why did you choose to do a URECA Project?

Myat: In the previous summer, I had the opportunity to work in the Early Cognition Lab. Through doing literature reviews, participating in Lab meetings, doing data cleaning and helping in data collection, I was exposed to various steps in the process of doing a research project. This experience not only piqued my interest in the research process, but also furthered my interest in early development, especially in the outcomes of discipline practices. I also wanted explore how the theories and methods I learnt in class could be applied in research, hence, I took on a URECA project.

Jerron: Before I embarked on the URECA Project, I was already certain that I wanted to pursue a career in Clinical Psychology / mental health. However, I was uncertain about the age groups that I would be comfortable working with or specializing in. After taking Prof Peipei’s course in developmental psychology, I gained a newfound interest in how the environments children grow up in can affect their development – which led me to apply for a project at the Early Cognition Lab to experience being involved in child research.

What was your experience during the course of this project?

Kai: It was a very positive experience! I learnt a lot about the research process, and it certainly gave me the foundation to pursue the other projects that I have since taken up. Furthermore, as I had been studying how early years’ experience could affect people, it made me more appreciative and comfortable with the domain of developmental psychology. Additionally, I had a lot of support and encouragement from my supervisor, other lab members, and fellow URECA students.

Myat: I would say that embarking on this project has been really exciting. The project gave me the opportunity to apply what I learn in class to real data, and even explore beyond what I have learnt. Performing statistical analysis on the data and interpreting the results was particularly interesting for me as I could apply the methods I learnt in class but also explore new statistical methods. There were also many times that I felt lost or unsure about certain parts of my project, however, my supervisor, Mioko, and everyone in the lab was there to give great advice and share their thoughts. The process of receiving and giving feedback gave me the opportunity to improve on my project.

What was your biggest takeaway from pursuing the URECA project?

Jerron: My biggest takeaway from URECA would be that spending time and effort in staying organised and consistent is worth it! Throughout the course of my project, I’ve read numerous research papers, generated many statistical outputs and have created many drafts of posters/reports/findings, which has been a little problematic for me when I’ve had to review the progress of my project. For example, I’ve had trouble finding the studies that I had intended to reference in my report, and had wasted loads of time trying to identify which of my statistical outputs was the most up to date. I recommend to anyone that takes URECA that you clearly label and sort all the files you use for research, and to have a detailed and organised reading list of all the relevant papers that you have found, it will save you a LOT of time.

La-Mia: My biggest takeaway from pursuing the URECA project is to always be an eager learner, and to love learning. Having an open mind and proactively seeking feedback will allow you to grow as a student! It’s important to explore different interests throughout university, such as the career pathways your major can offer (e.g., academic research). It will help to attract more fruitful opportunities!

ECL Lab’s Unforgettable Trip to SRCD 2023: Memories, Insights, and Adventures

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Research Conferences

The 2023 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) conference, held in Salt Lake City, was a truly unforgettable experience for the members of the ECL Lab. Join us as each member shares their best memories and experiences during the trip.

Petrina:

I had a fantastic time at SRCD 2023, especially meeting fellow researchers studying similar topics. I learned a lot from the scholars, finding them kind and open to sharing their research. It was wonderful to connect with collaborators and researchers who organized the parental lies symposium, such as Prof Matthew Gingo, Prof Victoria Talwar and her team, and Prof Kang Lee. We discussed our research interests and ongoing projects. I am particularly grateful to connect with Prof Rianne and her students, who shared their exciting projects and engaged in helpful discussions about my research directions.

The poster sessions were my favorite, allowing for in-depth discussions and an engaging look into current developmental psychology directions. These sessions provided detailed and engaging looks into the most current directions in developmental psychology.

I appreciated the sightseeing trip to the zoo and all the cute and entertaining animals. The lab dinners and gatherings were a meaningful part of the trip, as I enjoyed the support shared within the lab. Overall, it was a fulfilling and exciting first experience at SRCD for me, and I look forward to other upcoming experiences with the lab members.

Mioko:

I loved Prof. Matthew Gingo’s talk on children’s perceived legitimacy of parental lies. Gingo’s engaging presentation style and relatable content captivated me, inspiring me to think about how I could convey my research findings effectively. I was surprised that he had thoroughly captivated my attention despite his research topic being out of my expertise, plus the extent I was jetlagged, sleepy, and fatigued during that time. Gingo’s talk also motivated me to think further about how I could convey my research topic and findings in the most exciting and impactful manner.

 Another memorable part of the trip for me was traveling with my labmates. We had challenging experiences: having bad jetlag during the conference or experiencing multiple flight delays and changes on our trip back to Singapore, but we could get through it together.

I found it super lovely when my labmates brought me cheesecake after my symposium talk, showing that small gestures of kindness can be impactful. 

I also found it funny and sweet that another speaker and I were looking at photos and animations of cute animals to calm ourselves down before our talks. I always thought that one of my biggest weaknesses was getting nervous easily, so it was a relief to know other people can get nervous too.

Meryl:

I appreciated the variety and quality of sessions, with “Stopping the Clock: Evidence Suggests Psychosocial Interventions Attenuate Pediatric Biological Ace Acceleration” and “Social Class in Education: Children’s Beliefs About Who is Smart, Hardworking, and Praiseworthy” as my top choices. I was impressed by the very creative and rigorous methodologies and the speakers’ infectious passions.

I was a little apprehensive at first about this trip since it was my first time in the US. Fortunately, after overcoming my initial fear and culture shock, I started enjoying my time there. I found the local people friendly! I would love to come back to explore more about the US.

One of the funniest moments for me was when the team found out that Yena didn’t like cucumbers and teased her about it for the rest of the trip. I also enjoyed the roommate times with Yena and the zoo tour with the lab.

Yena:

My favorite session was on STEM inequity. I admired how Dr. Allison Master synthesized the presented papers and highlighted their common themes. One prominent theme in the session was the importance of belonging in promoting inclusivity for minoritized groups in the STEM field. This made me think about how classes are set up in many formal educational settings and how these subjects are depicted in media. I also liked the Emotion pre-conference experience, where people could form close and small research groups/communities in such a big conference setting.

I believe that the lab formed the best travel buddy group ever. Despite the long hours of travel and some unforeseen circumstances, everyone was cheerful and cared for one another. As one of the newer members in the lab, I appreciated this opportunity to get to know my lab mates better and spend some quality time with them! During the trip, I also reunited with my friends and mentors from my previous school, whom I hadn’t seen in person for a while due to the pandemic. It was a precious experience to catch up with them and see how everyone is in different career stages now. Relatedly, I was able to imagine how exciting it would be to meet up with ECL lab members at future conferences as well.

One of the funniest things for me was how my roommate, Meryl, and I had synchronous jet-lagged sleep schedules, waking up at the same time every morning (around 4:30 am)!

Ying Qing:

 SRCD 2023 was my first in-person academic conference, which was truly an eye-opening experience for me. My favorite part was seeing the lab’s talks and posters happening live. After many practices and revisions, witnessing our research work reaching out to a wider audience was a source of contentment. I was also grateful to be able to receive feedback from others about the research that I have been working on for a considerable amount of time.

The conference allowed me to engage with current research and learn about recent topics in child development research. 

Learning and interacting with researchers working on either similar or diverse topics was an enlightening and insightful experience for me.

I found Salt Lake City beautiful, but I appreciated it better with the supportive and great company I had. I was beyond grateful and fortunate for this opportunity and would like to thank Prof Setoh and all lab members for making this trip possible and amazing (despite several unforgettable delayed flights). 

Sharon:

This was my first SRCD conference as well, and the entire experience was very memorable. It was amazing to see so many researchers come together and share their insights and ideas in a collaborative and constructive environment. My favorite parts of the conference were the insightful exchanges between the presenters and the audience as they built off each others’ ideas! I especially enjoyed the poster sessions as they allowed me to network with other student researchers and learn more about their work. Overall, my experience at the SRCD conference was definitely academically enriching and personally fulfilling!

Minxuan:

I had a marvelous time attending my first SRCD conference. It was an incredible learning opportunity to refresh my psychology research knowledge and explore the latest trends in developmental psychology. I was delighted to meet all the lab members in person, finding them friendly, sweet, and supportive. I enjoyed listening to their talks and posters and felt proud of every one of them. I sincerely thank Prof Setoh and the lab for having me at the conference and welcoming me into the team. 

My favorite talks were “Novel Insights on the Development of Social Group Stereotypes and How to Change Them,” which focused on children’s biased cognition of gender-related concepts and approaches to reduce stereotypes among future generations, and “Stopping the Clock: Evidence Suggests Psychosocial Interventions Attenuate Pediatric Biological Ace Acceleration,” featuring advanced methodologies and insightful biotechnological and developmental psychological findings.

I was also thrilled to reunite with my undergraduate research mentor during the conference, catching up and seeking advice on how to quickly adapt to Ph.D. life. 

The ECL Lab’s trip to SRCD 2023 was an excellent learning opportunity for everyone involved. It was an unforgettable and precious bonding experience for the entire team. Each member was able to gain valuable insights, make new connections, and bring back inspiration to continue working on their research projects. The time spent together in Salt Lake City strengthened the team’s relationships and created lasting memories that will be cherished for years to come. As the ECL Lab continues to grow and evolve, the team looks forward to future conferences and the opportunity to contribute to the field of developmental psychology.

时间成本和人情对幼儿助人行为的影响

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Uncategorised

从小，我们就被教育要乐于助人，在他人有困难的时候应该伸出援手。而同时，社会新闻里那些拒绝向他人伸出援手，在他人需要帮助时冷眼旁观的新闻也屡见不鲜。今天我们将会从儿童身上来追根溯源助人行为背后的科学。

小朋友们会不计后果地热心帮助有需要的人吗？还是会三思而后行，先考量自身利益？他们在什么情况下更有可能为他人提供帮助？又是在哪些情况下会回避他人索要帮助的请求？带着这些问题，让我们来了解一个有趣的，关于学龄前儿童助人行为的实验吧！

如果你对此项目有兴趣，请点击这网址来了解更多!

URECA x ECL AY20/21

Posted on by Meryl Yu in URECA

Here are some thoughts and reflections from our ECL members who have completed the URECA programme!

Celine Tay Shi Qing

Taking on URECA has given me a fulfilling experience – one that has enriched my understanding of research processes. Under the valuable guidance of my mentors, I was able to stretch outside my comfort zone by learning how to integrate computational knowledge into my project. Through this, I am thrilled at the possibility of incorporating such computational methods in future studies. Undergoing URECA has also provided me with ample opportunities to sharpen analytical and writing skills. Given that this project was my first, it was interesting to use statistical software outside of ordinary curriculum. Overall, though the learning curve was steep in the initial stages, URECA was certainly rewarding and allowed me to catch a glimpse of the work that researchers do.

Er Jia Yun

My URECA journey has been a very fulfilling one as I had the opportunity to work closely with my mentors and was involved in the entire research process, from data collection to data analysis and finally, producing a research report. Under the guidance and support of my mentors who are experienced and knowledgeable, I was able to hone my research and writing skills. This experience has also equipped me with various statistical software skills, which I find to be useful and valuable. As I have always been interested in research, this experience has been enjoyable as it revealed to me what it is like to be part of a research lab. I would strongly recommend other like-minded students who are interested in research to take up the URECA programme as it is an eye-opening experience like no other.

Choo Jing Wen Germaine

Although URECA was daunting at the start, it has become one of the most fruitful and enjoyable experiences for me in NTU to date! The team has been incredibly supportive and I have learnt so much from all of them. It was really exciting to participate in data collection and conduct statistical analysis. The lab meetings made me more aware of recent studies and gave us an opportunity to present our posters which provided great feedback for improvement. I would encourage my juniors who are interested in research to take on a URECA project as it has helped me grow in my research skills and my interest in research has definitely grown too!

Koh Xiao Ting Anne

URECA has been a very enriching and eye-opening experience. I have been able to learn and experience more than when being a research assistant in the lab, such as in presenting research papers during lab meetings, conducting testings, research analysis and writing. Our mentors gave us a lot of guidance and support which I am very thankful for, and helped me to slowly gain and improve my research skills. I have learnt a lot more about research through the URECA experience, and am very grateful to have had this opportunity!

Tan Lay Hui

My URECA experience in the ECL lab was a very enriching one due to the guidance and extensive exposure to different stages of research. In particular, I was able to partake in the literature review, data collection, data analysis and conduct experiments in both physical and virtual settings. With the prompt and detailed guidance from my supervisor and co-supervisor, my research capabilities have improved greatly. Although it was overwhelming at times due to the lack of experience in research, the support from my URECA peers and my supervisor has made the research experience more manageable. In my opinion, the URECA programme is essential for anyone who is considering to be a researcher in the future.

 

Parental Lying Makes Headlines at BBC World News and Channel News Asia!

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Uncategorised

Dr. Peipei Setoh discusses the paper’s findings with Rico Hizon at BBC World News TV studio. She details how children, who are told lies by their parents, tell more lies as adults.

Melanie Oliverio and Lance Alexander from CNA938 live radio interviews Dr. Peipei Setoh on the lab’s recent work on parent’s lying behavior and its influence on children’s adulthood lying behavior and maladjustment problems.

 

MFS Learning & Sharing Festival 2019

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Uncategorised

We had an enriching weekend at My First Skool’s Learning and Sharing festival.

We dressed up as Superheroes to reflect the festival’s “Flourishing” theme, to reflect our aspirations to inspire children and parents to be super. We had a great time sharing about our research projects with parents and educators, and giving out stickers and t-shirts to children.

Many festival-goers were very excited to meet our superheroes and our superheroes had just as much fun!

NTUC First Campus General Manager Ms Thian Ai Ling, Minister Desmond Lee, Batman, Prof. Setoh Peipei, Hulk, Superman, and NTUC First Campus CEO Mr. Chan Tee Seng (L-R).

 

URECA x ECL AY18/19

Posted on by Meryl Yu in URECA

Here are some of the musings of our students after completing the URECA programme…

Choosing to take on URECA is definitely one of my best choices during university. It is a one of a kind experience that is unlike other. My mentors have always given me their support and guidance, and helped me to improve my writing and statistical software skills. It is really eye-opening to be part of a research project where I got to brainstorm for the project’s methodology, participate in data collection and coding, create a poster, and write a research paper for my project. I would definitely recommend my juniors to take on URECA to learn more about research and benefit from URECA. –Rachel Chan Si Hui

I am happy to say that my journey through URECA has provided insight into what the life of a researcher really entails. When I first began my journey, I did not know what to expect as I have never done proper research from scratch – from the collection of data, to the analysis of the collected data, to writing a whole research paper on the topic. URECA also allowed me to apply the psychological theories that I learned and ultimately helped me better understand these theories. –Darren Sim Kah Ho

What made URECA an enriching experience was the mentorship that was provided to us. Our mentors were well-versed and had loads of experience in this field and provided a great deal of support and guidance throughout the research process, allowing me to learn the ropes of research with greater ease. Being a part of the lab also allowed me to get to know individuals who are passionate about a similar topic as I am, making this experience much more enjoyable as well. All in all, I feel that URECA is an experience I would recommend to any aspiring researcher as it has provided me with great opportunities to hone the skillsets of a researcher and to experience the demands of the role as a researcher. –Chua Pei Fen Athena

Engaging in URECA extends much further than just being a research assistant. In addition to participant recruitment, conducting surveys and testing, data entry and analysis, we were also given the opportunity to summarise our research findings into a poster, to present our results to other URECA students and professors, and to write a research report that is a culmination of our semester’s worth of research efforts. –Lin Xiao Wen

Right at the start, I remembered how difficult it was to understand the literature and the statistical analysis used. I became anxious when I needed to submit the pre-registration form and present the pilot study results in a poster format. Also, I came to realise that careful thought is required especially when preparing the stimuli or designing the procedure. For instance, I did not expect the task of creating a set of standardised dance moves to be so tricky. Yet, over time, I started to enjoy the problem-solving process and I learnt to see things beyond the surface level. –Ng Wan Zhyi

My first URECA experience was useful in giving me a head start in gaining experience on the writing and time management skills that would eventually be needed for my FYP. From this opportunity, I gained a better understanding of my FYP topic earlier than my peers who did not take up URECA. Overall, I really enjoyed my time with ECL. I think the lab is organised in a way such that there are structures and resources (e.g., research procedure guides for each projects, observation periods) available to supports students who may be new to research. –Ng Chen Ying Heather

My FYP-URECA experience has been unlike any other! It gave me a unique platform to develop my research interests and allowed me to pick up skills in project management. In the past year, I learnt a lot from coordinating with research partners, developing tools and conducting analyses on findings. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the classroom with the student participants. Overall, the FYP-URECA experience helped grow in my confidence and capabilities as a researcher. –Ng Kai Lun Jessica

URECA x ECL AY18/19

Posted on by Meryl Yu in URECA

Each year, as part of the URECA program, the Early Cognition Lab accepts undergraduate students who are passionate about research to take on an independent research project. This year, 7 students joined us and we had a great time exploring diverse research topics. We are very proud to share that 2 of our students, Athena and Jessica, won prizes at the URECA poster competition for their outstanding research performance. We speak to them about their URECA journey.

What was your project about?

Jessica: My project was about the relationship between bilingualism and executive functioning in Singaporean pre-schoolers. I am deeply interested in early cognitive and language development, and working with this lab allowed me the rare opportunity of conducting studies directly with young children.

Athena: My project examined the biases that Chinese and Malay children in Singapore might have about intelligence. I felt that how children and their parents think about intelligence is very significant because children’s self-concepts can affect how they make decisions about their pursuits later on in life. It was also a bonus that the children whom I worked with were very endearing and it was a joy to be able to interact with them!

 

Why did you choose to do a URECA Final Year Project?

Jessica: I had wanted to participate in the URECA poster conference to meet other student researchers who are passionate about research in diverse fields. Hearing from them about their research projects pushed me to think beyond the scope of what I know and opened my eyes to new perspectives concerning childhood language and cognitive development.

 

What was your experience during the course of this project?

Athena: I had a fruitful experience getting involved in each stage of a research project, from recruitment to testing to drawing findings from the data obtained. We learn about various psychology testing methods in class but it is a little harder to grasp how these methods can be applied. It really was a unique experience to formulate experiments to test out theories and obtain the results first-hand. On its own, research could be a very daunting task but I was fortunate to receive close mentorship from the lab members and I learnt a great deal from them.

 

What was your biggest takeaway from pursuing the URECA project?

Athena: Choosing a URECA project based on a topic that I was interested in definitely made this research process a very enriching experience. The biggest takeaway was for me to conduct and see through a research project from start to finish. It is not always a smooth-sailing process but working through the little obstacles made the overall experience very worthwhile at the end of the day.

Jessica: I thoroughly enjoyed my time doing this project and I was very glad to do something so closely aligned to my interests, being in the classroom with the young students. I think that URECA is a great platform for honing your research skills and pursuing this project certainly grew my confidence and capabilities as a researcher.

SRCD Conference 2019: Baltimore, USA

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Research Conferences

This March, the lab was off to take part in the biennial meeting hosted by Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD). We were able to learn about trending developmental research projects, catch up with our international collaborators, and share findings from four of our lab’s research projects.

 

How would you describe this year’s conference?
Michelle: Like other years, the research presented at this year’s biennial meeting for Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) was diverse and inspiring! All I can say is conference high, conference high!

Kristy: Falling into a rut is all too familiar to most academics, and it is sometimes possible to become less cognizant of the novel, interesting aspects of the research. An overseas conference provides the opportunity to refresh the mind and rejuvenate the senses. Conference aside, going abroad broadens your perspective because of the diversity of people, experiences and culture that you would not experience in your restricted social circle back home.

Siqi: I encountered several presentations that made me think, “This is marvellous. I wish I could construct a study like this in the future!” Listening to presentations of these studies truly provided me with fresh perspectives on how to design studies that are as innovative and insightful.

 

Why is the conference experience so valuable?
Michelle: Being able to discuss potential research projects with current and potential collaborators and presenting the Early Cognition Lab’s research on maternal mental-state-talk in Singaporean bilinguals at this premier conference allowed me to grow professionally by expanding my current knowledge and gaining new knowledge.

 

What was it like presenting your research to other researchers?
Kristy: When presenting my posters, having a third-person perspective from people who do not know about my project was truly valuable. I greatly appreciated their affirmation of my research’s significance, which helped greatly to quash doubts that I had about the meaningfulness of what I have been doing in the past year.

Siqi: I felt slightly nervous presenting my poster at as it was my first time presenting my project to others outside of the lab. I was both happy and surprised to find that visitors to my poster showed a great deal of interest about implicit gender bias. Researchers who were parents themselves were intrigued to see that their own implicit biases were related with that of their children’s.

 

What did you take away from attending other talks or poster exhibitions?

Siqi: I saw many novel graphics used to present data at talks. I developed a newfound appreciation for how good visualization of results can make a huge difference to the audience and to readers, ultimately increasing the quality of delivery.

Kristy: I was able to regain a sense of wonder in the field of child development. I really looked forward to attending talks every day, observing researchers from international labs (and drawing comparisons to local researchers), and soaking in the concentrate of ideas and possibilities at the conference.

SRCD Conference 2018: Philadelphia, USA

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Research Conferences

From October 18, 2018 to October 20, 2018, the Society for Research in Child Development, a premier child development research organization, hosted a special topic meeting on character strengths titled, “Promoting Character Development Among Diverse Children and Adolescents: The Roles of Families, Schools, and Out-Of-School-Time Youth Development Programs.”

The Early Cognition Lab’s very own Assistant Professor Setoh Peipei and Postdoctoral Research Fellow Cheng Michelle attended the special topics meeting held in Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. to present the lab’s research on the relationship between Singaporeans’ character strengths and prosocial behavior. In addition to presenting research on Singaporean character, Drs. Setoh and Cheng attended workshops on the latest developments on measuring character strengths and the factors that contribute to effective character education. They also engaged in discussions with prolific researchers in character development and education such as Dr. Marc Bornstein and Dr. Marvin Berkowitz.

MFS Learning & Sharing Festival 2018

Posted on by Meryl Yu in Uncategorised

We took part in the My First Skool (MFS) Learning & Sharing Festival held on 21st September 2018 at the Singapore Expo. At the festival, some 3200 educators and partners of MFS gathered to showcase and share classroom experiences and materials.

The Guest-of-Honour was Minister for Education, Mr Ong Ye Kung. Prof. Setoh received a token of appreciation for Early Cognition Lab’s partnership with My First Skool, alongside other partners of MFS.

At our booth, we displayed our current research projects and had the opportunity to discuss our research with many interested attendees, who provided us with great suggestions and insight to further our research.

Participants also got to try out the eye-tracker, an apparatus that we use at our lab to track participants’ eye movements and gaze.

 

Thank you My First Skool for organizing a wonderful event again, where we had an enriching experience and a great time!