Welcome Speech

Perception , Attention and Learning Lab

Department of Psychology

The University of Hong Kong

August Edition , 2010

It was Mother‟s day when I stood in front of the elevator waiting to greet our

first infant participant of the day. Imagine my surprise when the elevator doors

opened, and I saw not only a couple of young parents pushing their adorable 3-

month-old Christy, but also the baby‟s grandparents, plus an aunt and uncle as

well. The whole family had risen up early, driven from the New Territories to

meet us. I was touched they valued our event so much that they went out of their

way to include it in their special day of celebration.

Christy‟s is one of the 44 families like yours that we have met in the past few

months from all over HK. I love to hear stories of how the lab is discovered and

how each family travels to meet us. I continue to be amazed by the way each set of parents talk to

their little treasure in the softest tone a human could possibly make.

The whole PAL Lab and I have felt privileged to get to know so many families. We are proud of

the trust you place with us, which we honor by the care, concern, and professionalism we exhibit

toward each baby participant. We have received a lot of support from many people including you,

and I am ecstatic to share the following good news:

(1) Our research work has been recognized and accepted for presentation at the world‟s third larg-

est regional vision conference (Asian Pacific Conference on Vision) in Taipei 2010 July.

(2) Our research results are accepted for publication at the world famous journal Consciousness

and Cognition.

(3) Our lab has awarded 44 brilliant infants in our Young Scientists Program so far this summer.

Sign up your kid (under 12 month-old) now to partake the experience!

(4) HK Research Grant Council has announced their (wise) decision to fund 0.5 million HKD to

sponsor our projects on attention and learning in 2010-2012.

Dr. Chia-huei Tseng

Assistant Professor, PhD

HKU PAL LAB Newsletter (August Edition)

Members of Lab

Hin-Tai Lam

Research Assistant

Hello, this is Tai. I am the full-time Research Assistant in the lab. I

graduated from HKU in 2008 studying cognitive science. I joined

here in 2009 to help in the research of the lab. Here we study on the

psychology of perception and cognition, the study that wants to an-

swer big questions like “How the mind sees the world?”. In the lab,

we tackle smaller research questions by measuring performance in carefully designed experiments

on computers. We run experiments on vision and attention on computers. By measuring slight

changes in performance, we then construct theories which would eventually shed light on the ulti-

mate question of “How the mind works”.

Anna Ho

Postgraduate Student

„I believe the children are our future, teach them well and let

them lead the way…‟ Every child has his or her unique potentials

but there could be circumstances that limit their full realizations.

After completion of my psychology course, I wish I could be

made an instrument helping children to function optimally and

bringing out their best qualities.

Psychology for the Public

Mitten-Swiping Turns Your Baby into a Better Mind-Reader

Psychologists from the University of Maryland, USA found that a new motor

experience can enhance 3-months old infants to understand adults‟ behaviors.

The researchers let 3-month-old infants wear mitten gloves with Velcro hook

which can catch in the loops attached on toys and hold the toy up. Since 3-

month-olds do not yet have the fine motor skills to grasp objects, this glove

allows them a new ability beyond their age maturity. The infants wearing mit-

ten gloves learned that when they want to pick up the toy, they simply place

their hands above the toy, and the toy would be suck up. Later when these in-

fants see other adults‟ placing their hands above the toys, the infants know it

means the adult want to retrieve the toy. Other infants who did not have the

experience do not understand the intention of the actors. The finding of our

early ability to understand others‟ goal behind an action is surprising, and this cornerstone is im-

portant for the development of other abilities that requires heavy understand of others‟ intention

such as language acquisition. It is also inspiring to know a supplementary exercise like mitten

training can have such profound effect to enhance this ability acquiring!

Anna Lau

Undergraduate Student of the Baptist University

PAL Summer Internship

Psychology for the Public

HKU PAL LAB Newsletter (August Edition)

A Key to Enter BB’s mind

Many mothers or primary care givers find that it is a great challenge to understand

why babies cry or what they actually want, as well as what they know about this

world. Such obstacle of understanding infants is mainly come from the limitation of

languages.

In 1980s, psychologists discovered that infants‟ eye movements and looking time are

windows to their minds. Infants tend to look at something that they prefer, and tend

to look longer when they feel surprised at an event or a phenomenon. Based on this, a

methodology called Violation of Expectation (VOE) was developed, to study various

research questions about very young infants‟ cognitive abilities and their knowledge

of the world. One of them is the concept of object permanence.

Apart from object permanence, we now know from other VOE studies that infants also possess ba-

sic understanding of physics and people. Continuing on the path to uncover the minds of babies,

our lab is currently running VOE studies as well. If you want a firsthand experience of this revolu-

tionary research methodology, do bring your baby to our lab and help us find out how smart babies

really are!

Alex Li

Undergraduate Student of the University of Hong Kong

PAL Summer Internship

What is the PAL Lab Baby Scientist Program?

At the young age of 1 to 12 months, infants have not yet mastered language, therefore their eye

movements and their looking time is a window for us to know what they prefer looking and

whether they are surprised by what they see (by looking longer at an event) to get a sneak peek into

their minds.

In our studies, the infant sits on a parent‟s lap in front of a display and watches some visual figures

or a series of events, while assistants monitor their eye movement and how long the infant looks at

each event. Our procedures are simple and entirely safe, lasting for 30 to 45 minutes, during which

the infant could take multiple breaks from the session to play on a play mat with our lab assistants.

We are always in need of 1 to 12 month-old infants to help us understand how human perceptual

and cognitive abilities develop and mature. An appointment can be made to suit your schedule.

Free parking can be arranged at the HKU parking if needed, and you will receive HK$60 to $90 as

traveling subsidy and a small gift as a token of appreciation. We also award keepsake Certificate of

Young Scientist after infants complete different phases of our studies.

HKU PAL LAB Newsletter (August Edition)

If you would like to bring your baby to participate in our studies, please email us at

hku.pal@gmail.com or visit our webpage at http://www.psychology.hku.hk/pall/ to sign-up. We

would love to hear from you!

Please contact us by the following methods:

Website: http://www.psychology.hku.hk/pall/

E-mail address: hku.pal@gmail.com

Address: Room 628C, 6/F Knowles Building, The University of Hong

Kong

Tel: 28598013 Ms Tsui (9:00-17:00)

Room 628C,

6/F Knowles Building,

Department of Psychology

The University of Hong Kong