The education department is on the left and the psychology department is on the right. Underneath is a little breezeway. Here is a better look at the part of the building I will be working in.
The area that I will be working on is actually called The Institute for Human Development. It is here that Professor Campos runs his lab. Walking into the building it seemed pretty normal. The building itself seemed to have been built in the 70's with a very cubical design, so, walking in it did not seem initially intimidating. With only a small sign telling me that I had entered the portion of the building designated for the institute, it seemed I was almost entering an office building, not the formidable lab which I knew I was entering. Then I saw the directory and immediately realized where I stumbled into. Looking at the names of the professors and the high-powered labs that they were running in this ostensibly docile wing made me feel butterflies in my stomach. I was standing on hallowed ground. After deciding to walk away from the impressive directory and towards the room I had a meeting in, I noticed as I was about to get the room I needed to be in that I saw the name of a familiar scholar on the door. I looked at the name tag on the door and saw that I was standing in front of Dr. Allison Gopnik's office! Dr. Gopnik is the author of my most recently purchased book 'The Scientist in the Crib', as well as another book I have looked at 'The Philosophical Baby'. She is also the former President of the Psychology and Philosophy Society. Most excellent. I made a pact with myself that I would, before the end of the summer, get the nerves to knock on her door, introduce myself, and then ask an outstanding question. I moved on and found Dr. Campos's Office right next door.
Although Dr. Campos's door was locked, the room next door had a graduate student who looked like he knew what he was doing. I introduced myself and he informed me that he was one of Dr. Campos's graduate students working on a study dealing with an infant's ability to recognize genuine emotions. Neato. I joined him sitting in another chair in the computer room we were meeting. I looked at the desk and saw a picture of a squirrel. 'That's strange,' I thought, 'I really only know one person who's really into squirrels, enough so to put a picture of one on their desk.' Then it occurred to me that perhaps I was sitting at the desk of Luther graduate Brian Meyer. No way! I leaned back and took a breathe of anticipation realizing where I had actually ended up spending my summer.
A few more students looking to be of my age seeped into the room for our 12:00 meeting. There were seven of us total working in the lab over the summer: five of whom were Berkeley students, one of whom was a student from Stanford, and a one more, well, myself. Eventually, at about 12:15, Dr. Campos's research coordinator came in to give a tour of the facilities. We walked around the floor into various rooms housing the apparatus for the experiments that the lab was currently working on. The picture that I saw of the lab online were coming to life finally seeing the equipment for all the experiments I had been reading about. I saw the moving room box, a running platform, and the famous visual cliff apparatus. It was all cooler than the pictures could possibly make them.
After wandering around the floor for a bit, we all met in a little room full of toys and miniature tables and chairs. We sat down and our research coordinator Paula began explaining to us what it would mean to work in the lab. For the next three weeks we would be reading article published by the lab as well as relevant ones from other universities, we would be learning the in's and out's of research such as coding, collecting participants, etc., as well as training in how to actually use the apparatus for the experiments we would be working on. It sounded like an exciting couple of weeks ahead. After this brief meeting we had some down time before another graduate student from UC San Francisco would be coming in to explain the specific project that we would be working on. I then suggested that we go find a 'tasty eatery' from which to retrieve some food. Testing the waters and seeing confusion, I clarified, a 'food receptacle'. After once again receiving confused looks, and the feeling that I may be overusing the fact that I was a foreigner a little too much too soon, I suggested that we all get something to eat. This notion received much more positive reviews than my previous suggestions. The Berkeley students took the group down to the famous 'Asian Ghetto' a little alleyway filled with generally asian food. Most importantly, it was filled with very cheap generally asian food.
After collectively returning five minutes late to our 1:30 appointment we again all waited inside a cramped little room. We then were informed by Paula of 'Berkeley Time'. Professor generally arrive around 10-15 minutes late to their classes to compensate for the time it takes their students to arrive. This apparently was an accepted practice at the campus with time slots for classes accommodating for this additional time. Soon later, as expected, our graduate student came. She then began to explain to us the project that we would be soon working on.
We found out that we were going to be working with infants who had the genetic disorder Spina bifida, and examining their development of self-propelled locomotion. Spina bifida is a genetic disorder in which some of vertebrae do not develop leaving the spinal chord exposed and unfused. Because of this, fluid from the spine gathers in the head of the infant resulting in what is referred to as Hydrocephalus, or, 'water in brain'. In a very horrifying way, before the disease was understood the suffering infant's head simply expanded with this spinal fluid to a gigantic size and the infant was allowed to expire. Fortunately in the 80's it was discovered that this problem could be fixed with the insertion of a draining tube in the brain to release the unnecessary spinal fluid buildup in the brain preventing the hydrocephalus. Another problem that infants with Spina bifida have is the inability to control their lower extremities. This came at no surprise considering that they are missing part of their spinal chord. This meant that the children had no control over their bladder movements or legs. This posed a huge problem, but with the invention of catheters, doctors gave these individuals a way for their bodies to dispose of waste in a way that kidneys would. Now having solved the two largest medical needs of the disease, hydrocephalus and absent kidney function, the question of psychological ramifications was considered.
The interest of the laboratory is to see what the effects of not having control of lower extremities are on the development of infants. For our visiting graduate students, the practical concern was determining if it was better to wait for infants to develop the ability to move on their own, or if it was better to wait. That is, when babies are learning to move, should people attempt to propel their development, or, should they wait. It was this focus of her study that lead her to Joe Campos's lab. The lab we were working in has done extensive work on the effects of self-propelled locomotion of the psychological development of infants. Now, the reason that infants with Spina bifida were included in her study was because of their incapability to develop self-propelled locomotion. This allowed researchers to ask the question of whether or not the delay of other psychological features, such as object permanence and social referencing, occur because of an infants environmental stimulation, or because of actual self-propelled locomotion. Let me say, this is what I think the study consists of so far. I would not be surprised if my conception of the research drastically changes after spending three weeks nose deep in the literature.
The work that I will be doing will involve examining the typical development of self-propelled locomotion longitudinally. Essentially, I will be asking the question, when I become self mobile, what is actually happening. What are the new things that a baby needs to learn and understand in order for this to happen. This is in contrast to a baby simply being pushed in a stroller, in which case they are obviously mobile, but in a different way. In what way, I do not know, but the answer is very important. For instance, this lab has done an experiment known as the 'Moving Room' experiment. In this study a baby was placed in a box in which all of the walls were covered with dots. Using the dots, the baby was able to perceived the movement of a wall in front of them controlled by an experimenter. This movement gave the appearance that the baby was actually moving forward and backward while sitting in the chair. The measured variable in the experiment was the movement by the baby while this was happening. The baby was sitting in a motion sensitive chair in which their movement could be measured. This movement, referred to as postural compensation, was seen as babies sat in this box. The question the researchers asked was why this movement was occurring. This was not the first time that infant had experienced motion, it probably came to the lab walked in a stroller in which it was able to perceive motion and mobility. Yet, while the baby was strolled to the lab, it did not move forward to compensate for the movement. Why is this? What is different about the experience that the baby is having in the moving box compared to the experience that it is having in its stroller? This, my friends, is part of the question.
Something extraordinary is happening when these infants are sitting inside of the moving wall apparatus, something that also seems to effect their psychological development. When I am referring to other psychological development I am referring to such phenomena as 'object permanence', 'social referencing', and others. For this study, changes in an infants ability to understand the permanence of objects in their environment (ipso facto object permanence) are of particular relevance. It's the classic baby experiment: you cover your face with your hands, wait a moment, and then uncover your face and surprise your child with the sounds of roaring laughter. At a young age it is likely that the infant will not understand that the face behind the hands is indeed still present even though it is only being covered by your hands. The same could be said about a toy being present with the baby and then covered up. At this same age the baby would presume that object to no longer exist because it is out of its visual perception. Another great example of object permanence in infants is with the timeless 'A not B' study. Well, for some reason infants move beyond this developmental barrier and acquire the ability to understand that objects do in fact exist continually, both when visually present and when visually hidden. The interesting part about the development of this psychological trait is that with the onset of self-propelled locomotion comes also an increased ability for the infant to understand the permanence of objects.
Something about moving themselves causes a baby to also understand the problem of object permanence. An important part about development in the minds of this lab is the concept of facility and dynamic systems development. That is, development is not linear, but comprised of many intricately woven psychological developments interacting with ever-changing environmental constraints and opportunities for learning. The point being, the relationship between an infant's understanding of object permanence and it's ability to move itself seems to suggest that these two capacities are related in some manner in an infant's development. The manner in which these capacities are related may be understood, but I do not understand yet (if I'm lucky, no one does, I just haven't gotten through the literature yet). All in all, Dr. Joseph Campos is convinced that something crucial is happening when babies begin to move, so, I need to start asking questions that can help answer what exactly these things are. I've got time to think about it fortunately, Dr. Campos will not be returning to the lab until around June 23rd from his vacation. I'm looking forward to learning about these questions in the next few weeks in preparation for talking with the big man himself.
On a final entireley unrelated note, as I was walking to the library to look up an article I needed to read I encountered a very strange sight. As I was walking to the library I noticed a huge crowd gathered outside of this huge building. Observe the following:
For some reason a large crowd had gathered outside of this building (on the right) blasting loud music and playing games. I was confused. As I approached I looked over at the building and it was the library that I was looking for, since I was new to campus I didn't know what the library looked like. Presuming that crowds don't just gather around big buildings to party for no reason, even though I was in Berkeley and who knows, I asked around and found out that I had stumbled into the celebration for the 09-10' staff appreciation festival. 
So, what I had assumed would be a simple library visit ended up being a trip through a relatively big 'little' festival. In the process I found out not only that the University has receptacle located throughout campus for the free taking of used, but in still good condition, school supplies (which I was about ready to go out an purchase, score!), and that eating FREE California apricots taste the best.I'm hoping that run-ins with festivals like this one can become more of a daily occurrence in the future.
So, a big day at the lab, lots to think about. Good start though, I'm excited to be encountering such gripping epistemological questions. I'll sleep on it. Night.
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