Parent-infant Learning Dynamics During Early Shared Book Reading
Phase: NA
Conditions: Individual, Category, and No-label Conditions
Sponsor: University of Florida

Protocol #:  202000756                                                                                                       Page 1 of 10 
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University of Florida IRB-01 
Parent-infant learning dynamics during early shared book 
reading 
Brain, Cognition and Development Lab 
Dr. Lisa Scott, Dr. Andreas Keil 
 

Protocol #:  202000756                                                                                                       Page 2 of 10 
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1. Background: 
 
• Shared book reading during the first year of life has been found to have broad 
developmental benefits for language (Fletcher & Reese, 2005; Karrass & 
Braungart-Rieker, 2005; Sénéchal & Young, 2008), socio-emotional 
development (Bus et al. 1997; Xie, et al., 2018), and cognitive abilities (Scott 
& Monesson, 2009; 2010; Scott, 2011; Pickron et al., 2018; Murray & Egan, 
2014). 
• Previous research suggests that infants exhibit increased attention and 
perceptual learning and show more specialized brain responses after parents 
read them books with specifically labeled (individual-level) names for faces or 
objects from 6- to 9-months of age (Pickron et al., 2018; Scott & Monesson, 
2009; 2010; Scott, 2011). However, books with generic category labels or no 
labels have shown no benefit to infant learning under 9 months old. 
• One mechanism that may contribute to infant learning from individual-level 
labels during shared book reading is joint attention. Joint attention is a 
foundational skill that develops during the first year of life and is important for 
social learning and language development (e.g, Brooks & Meltzoff, 2005; 
Tomasello & Farrar, 1986; Mundy et al., 2007). 
• The goal of the present investigation is to determine the extent to which 
increased parent-infant joint attention during shared book reading and across 
different labeling conditions leads to increases in infant visual selective 
attention and parent-infant neural synchrony in 6-, 9-, and 12-month-old 
infants. 
    
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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References Associated with Background Information: 
 
 Brooks, R., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2005). The development of gaze following and its relation 
to language. Developmental Science, 8(6), 535–543. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7687.2005.00445.x 
Bus, A. G., Belsky, J., van Ijzendoom, M. H., & Crnic, K. (1997). Attachment and book 
reading patterns: A study of mothers, fathers, and their toddlers. Early Childhood 
Research Quarterly, 12(1), 81–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-
2006(97)90044-2 
Fletcher, K. L., & Reese, E. (2005). Picture book reading with young children: A 
conceptual framework. Developmental Review, 25(1), 64–103. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2004.08.009 
Karrass, J., & Braungart-Rieker, J. M. (2005). Effects of shared parent–infant book 
reading on early language acquisition. Journal of Applied Developmental 
Psychology, 26(2), 133–148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2004.12.003 
Mundy, P., & Newell, L. (2007). Attention, Joint Attention, and Social Cognition. Current 
Directions in Psychological Science, 16(5), 269–274. 
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00518.x 
Murray, A., & Egan, S. M. (2014). Does reading to infants benefit their cognitive 
development at 9-monthsold? An investigation using a large birth cohort survey. 
Child Language Teaching and Therapy, 30(3), 303–315. 
https://doi.org/10.1177/0265659013513813 
Pickron, C. B., Iyer, A., Fava, E., & Scott, L. S. (2018). Learning to Individuate: The 
Specificity of Labels Differentially Impacts Infant Visual Attention. Child 
Development, 89(3), 698–710. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13004 
Scott, L. S. (2011). Mechanisms Underlying the Emergence of Object Representations 
during Infancy. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23(10), 2935–2944. 
https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn_a_00019 
Scott, L. S., & Monesson, A. (2009). The Origin of Biases in Face Perception. 
Psychological Science, 20(6), 676–680. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-
9280.2009.02348.x 
Scott, L. S., & Monesson, A. (2010). Experience-dependent neural specialization during 
infancy. Neuropsychologia, 48(6), 1857–1861. 
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.02.008 
Sénéchal, M., & Young, L. (2008). The Effect of Family Literacy Interventions on 
Children’s Acquisition of Reading From Kindergarten to Grade 3: A Meta-Analytic 
Review. Review of Educational Research, 78(4), 880–907. 
https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308320319 
Tomasello, M., & Farrar, M. J. (1986). Joint Attention and Early Language. Child 
Development, 57(6), 1454–1463. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130423 
Xie, Q.-W., Chan, C., Ji, Q., & Chan, C. (2018). Psychosocial Effects of Parent-Child 
Book Reading Interventions: A Meta-analysis. Pediatrics, 141(4), e20172675. 
https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-2675 
 
 

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2. Specific Aims: 
 
• Using both eye-tracking and EEG methods, the goal of the present 
investigation is to (1) determine the extent to which infant and parent visual 
attentional coupling during shared book reading predicts later: a) infant 
selective attention and b) infant and parent neural coupling. Specific aim (2) is 
to determine the extent to which books with individually-named characters 
(e.g., “Boris”, “Fiona”) increases parent-infant joint attention and infant 
selective attention relative to books with generic labels (e.g., “Bear”, “Bear”) 
or no labels and whether attention differs by age. 
 
3. Research Plan / Study Description: 
 
• A parent of the participant will first be asked to complete short questionnaires 
before coming into the lab. Often infants have a limited attention span so we 
have parents fill out the questionnaire consent form and online Qualtrics 
questionnaire prior to coming in to the lab so we can expedite their time spent in 
the lab. This keeps the infant content and not fussy so ultimately, we can get 
better data when the experiment begins. This questionnaire is designed to 
provide us with demographic information about who has participated in our 
studies. These questionnaires include questions regarding their child’s gender, 
race and ethnicity as well as questions about the demographics of their family 
(see attached Child and Parent Demographic questionnaires). This information is 
voluntary and confidential to the extent provided by law. 
 
• Day 1: Parents will read a book to their infants in a small in-lab playroom, as they 
would at home. Prior to reading, infants and their parent will be fitted with a 
Positive Science head mounted eye-tracker. In addition, both audio and video 
recordings of the book reading session will be collected using a table-mounted 
camera. Books with six different characters, one on each of 6 pages will be used 
during shared book reading. Two of the characters will be labeled with individual 
level names (e.g.,“Boris”, “Anis”), two will be labeled with the same category-level 
name (e.g.,“Cow”) and two will not be labeled. Parents will be seated on the floor 
with their infant or next to their infant in a high chair. See figure below for 
outcome measures and time frame for experiments.  
 
• Day 2: The participants will return a second day to complete the EEG portion of 
the experiment. The infant and parent participants will view pictures of faces 
and/or objects presented with or without sounds while their brain electrical 
activity (EEG) is recorded in the lab. Here, we employ a “flicker” task and 
recordings of steady-state visual evoked potentials (ssVEPs) as an index of 
infant visual selective attention. We will examine the ssVEP power evoked by two 
overlapping visual objects to quantify the degree of visual attention devoted to 
learned characters relative to novel characters across labeling conditions. Infants 
and parents will view ten 6-second trials of two overlapping familiar (from the 

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book) and unfamiliar characters including the following: 1) Individual-labels: 
familiar vs. unfamiliar; 2) Category/generic labels: familiar vs. unfamiliar; 3) No 
labels: familiar vs. unfamiliar 
 
• Day 2: For a second EEG recording, we will measure both parent and infant 
EEG. This time we will be looking for EEG synchrony between the parent and 
infant by using a similar ssVEP frequency tagging task as above, now using a 
phase-locking index. 
• To record brain electrical activity, a net with recording sensors is placed on the 
infant’s head. In order to help the electrodes accurately measure the infant’s 
brain activity, we will soak this sensor net in an electrolyte solution. The solution 
contains distilled water, potassium chloride (salt), and baby shampoo.  Recording 
EEG simply picks up the brain activity that is naturally emitted from the scalp and 
is non-invasive. If the infant does not like wearing the net or is too tired to 
complete all of these tasks, the family may be asked to return to the laboratory 
for an additional visit.  
• Outcome measures and time frame: 
 
• During the study, the parent will be present and near the infant at all times during 
each session.  If the infant fusses or cries and does not wish to look at the 
pictures and/or read the book, we will take breaks or stop the test.  If, at any point 
or for any reason, the participant family wishes to stop the test they may advise 
us to stop 
• Tasks will be consistent across all ages of participants. Infants and parents will 
complete the same EEG and eye-tracking tasks. 
 
4. Describe the Informed Consent Process.  
  
• Upon arrival at the laboratory, participant families are greeted by the 
experimenter and the study methods and procedure are explained to the 
parent(s). The consent form is explained to the parent(s) by the experimenter. 
The parent is then given time to read over the consent forms and ask any 

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questions that they might have. Once all questions have been answered, the 
participant’s parent and the researcher will sign the infant and parent consent 
form and the participant family will be offered a copy. All participants will be 
reminded that they can stop participating at any time and that several breaks will 
be offered. The potential risk of identification of participants will be explained to 
parents and parents will be given the option to have their video data excluded for 
data sharing purposes.  
 
5. Describe the Data You Will Collect: 
 
• Adult and infant participants will participate in a study involving eye-tracking and 
electrophysiological methods. Data will include: questionnaire data, 
electrophysiological data (EEG recordings), video and audio recordings of parent 
and infant behaviors, and visual fixation eye-tracking data from both parent and 
infant. For the questionnaires, demographic information including race, ethnicity 
and gender will be collected. All data (e.g., computerized files of recordings and 
responses, demographic information) will be kept confidential to the extent 
provided by law and will be maintained confidentially on a password protected 
and encrypted computer in a locked room.  
 
 
6. How the Sample Size is Determined: 
 
• Power, effect-sizes, and retention rates from Scott’s previous EEG investigations 
were used to estimate samples sizes. we conducted two power analyses using 
G*Power (Faul, Erdfelder, Buchner, & Lang, 2009).  
 
• First, assuming a repeated-measures ANOVA with within-subject factors of 
character label (individual label, generic label, control) and between-subject 
factors of age(6-, 9-, 12-months) and a medium effect size of d = 0.3 and power 
of .80 each group should consist of at least 39 participants. Second, for 
regression analyses, the power analysis was focused on whether parent infant 
joint attention scores predicted infant learning (as measured by ssVEP power). 
  
• With a medium effect size of f2 = .15 (Cohen, 1988) and power of .80, the 
sample should include 55 subjects.  
 
• Given that we plan to collapse across age for this analysis, our estimated sample 
size of 60 per age group should be sufficient. In addition, we expect a 70% 
retention rate based on previous cross-sectional infant EEG investigations 
conducted in Scott’s laboratory and so recruiting 60 per age groups should allow 
for both analyses to be well powered. 
 
 
References Associated with Sample Size Information: 

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Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical Power Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed). 
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers. 
 
Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Buchner, A., & Lang, A.-G. (2009). Statistical power analyses 
using G*Power 3.1:Tests for correlation and regression analyses. Behavior 
Research Methods, 41(4), 1149–1160. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.41.4.1149 
 
 
7. Please List all Locations Where the Research Will Take Place: 
  
• All the research will take place in the Brain, Cognition, and Development 
Laboratory, located in the Psychology building at The University of Florida.  
945 Center Drive, Gainesville, Florida 32611 
 
8. Describe How Participant(s) Will Be Recruited:  
 
• We will advertise on UF websites (Scott’s Lab and the Department of Psychology 
Websites) and in local newspapers.  
 
• Flyers and brochures will be posted in approved locations in local daycares, 
hospitals, clinics, birthing centers, libraries, churches, and family centers.  
• Scott’s lab group will recruit by setting up informational tables and child-friendly 
actives (brain coloring) at local libraries, museums, and events.  
 
• Scott’s lab will work with local community groups, including the Ounce of 
Prevention Fund of Florida, Florida Health Babies of Alachua County, and the 
Southwest Advocacy Group (Gainesville, FL), to recruit additional families from 
unrepresented groups. We will post fliers and brochures, have information tables 
at community events, and work with community group staff to identify additional 
recruitment avenues. We will contact these local groups and when they have a 
community event, we will set up a table where we hand out our brochures and 
flyers and ask people if they would like to be contacted to participate in our 
research. We will have the people who are interested fill out the BCD Lab Database 
Contact Permission Form, which provides their consent to put them into the 
database so we can contact them about our study. 
 
• Recruitment will also occur via word of mouth and parents who participate will be 
asked to let their friends know about our research.    
  
• The BCD Lab Infant Database (IRB#: IRB201601509) will be used to contact 
families who have already expressed interest in research participation and whose 
children are the appropriate age for this study.  
 

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• We will not begin recruiting or running subjects for this study until the University 
of Florida has reinstated in-person human research because of COVID-19. Once 
the university states that we are clear to begin running participants, we will 
continue our disinfection and cleaning after every participant comes into the lab 
and continue to wash our hands before and after experimentation. 
 
Maximum Number of Participants (to be approached with consent): 360 
total, including 180 infants and 180 adult parents - 60 dyads at each 
age (6-, 9-, and 12-months) 
          Amount of Compensation: $20 plus a small toy (worth $5), $10 after each 
session and the small toy is given at the end of the second session. 
Age Range of Participants: Infants 5.5-12.5 months old, Parents 18-65 years 
Exclusion/ Inclusion Criteria:  
• Infants will be included if they are typically developing and between 5.5 and 12.5 
months of age, as well as their caregiver. 
• Infants who were born more that 14 days premature are excluded. 
• Infants who with a history of neurological or visual deficits are excluded. 
• Infants with a history of seizures or a disorder that includes risk of seizures are 
excluded. 
• Infants with a parent that has a history of seizures of a disorder that includes risk 
of seizures are excluded. 
• Parents with a history of seizures or a disorder that includes risk of seizures are 
excluded. 
 

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9. Possible Discomforts and Risks: 
 
• Only minimal risk inherent in standard clinical procedures for recording EEG in 
humans and using eye-tracking methods are involved in the proposed studies. All 
electrical equipment involved is approved for clinical research use and has been 
installed with attention to proper grounding. The electrode application procedures 
have not resulted in any known significant damage to skin.  The only possible 
discomforts are sensitivity or allergic reaction to the saline solution (itchiness: 
occurs very rarely <1%), pink marks on the skin after the snug-fitting net is 
removed, and a small amount of conducting solution remaining in the hair until 
rinsed.  
 
• Due to the length of some of the EEG and eye-tracking sessions (approximately 
45 minutes to 1-hour total for infant participants), there is a risk of participant 
fatigue. However, we offer several breaks during each session, participants are 
closely monitored, and participation in any one component of the experiment 
takes between 5-15 minutes. If infants become consistently fussy, we will end the 
testing session. 
 
• Due to the flickering nature of the stimuli there is a potential risk for individuals 
with Photo Sensitive Epilepsy (PSE). PSE is a form of epilepsy in which seizures 
are triggered by visual stimuli that form patterns in time or space, such as 
flashing lights, bold, regular patterns, or regular moving patterns. If anyone in the 
participant’s immediate family has a history of seizures or PSE, this may be an 
applicable potential risk. To reduce the risk of seizures, we will ask all 
participants whether or not they have a history of PSE and we will not test those 
who report having such medical history. 
 
• Psychological risks are also minimal since no pressure or stress is applied at any 
time.  Participants will be given several breaks and are free to discontinue 
participation at any time.  
 
• Confidentiality will be protected by publishing results in group form only and by 
storing data apart from any personal information.  Data is coded according to 
arbitrarily assigned subject numbers and stored on password protected and 
encrypted computers in a locked lab. During the course of this investigation, only 
approved laboratory research staff have access to this data. The data files also 
contain information about the subject’s gender, age, and race.  The subject’s 
name is recorded to ensure appropriate compensation (payment or credit), but 
kept separately from the data in a secured area. 
 
• Videos of behavior and all data will be uploaded to Databrary, although de-
identified, this may increase the risk of identification of individual participants. 
The potential risk of identification of participants will be explained to parents and 
parents will be given the option to exclude their video data. Data and stimuli 
products from this study will be made available without cost through Databrary. 
Databrary (databrary.org) funded by NSF and NICHD, is a web-based, secure 

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library for developmental research stimuli, videos and data. This is approved as a 
Data Use Agreement with the University of Florida (AGR00006970). All uploaded 
data will be de-identified prior to upload and participants must consent to their 
data being included. Study-specific code used to process and analyze the data 
will be available via GitHub. 
 
De-identified eye-tracking video data of infants and parents will be available to 
authorized Databrary Researchers. Although data will be de-identified, images of 
infants and their parents may be included in the video data. Parents of 
participants will be informed that making the video available on Databrary 
increases the risk that they or their infants may be identified even though there 
are no names associated with any files. Parents will be informed of this risk and 
will have the option of excluding their videos at any time. Videos uploaded to 
Databrary will be viewable and downloadable to authorized users who have been 
granted secure access. Only researchers with Principal Investigator status from 
institutions with Institutional Review Boards or similar review entities, or 
researchers affiliated with Principal Investigators, will be authorized for access. 
As part of the registration process, users must agree to the conditions of use 
governing access to the public release data, including restrictions against 
attempting to identify study participants, destruction of the data after analyses are 
completed, reporting responsibilities, restrictions on redistribution of the data to 
third parties, and proper acknowledgement of the data resource. Registered 
users of Databrary receive user support, as well as information related to errors 
in the data, future releases, workshops, and publication lists.  
 
Data in Databrary will be preserved indefinitely in a secure data storage facility at 
New York University (NYU). The facility is managed by the university's 
Information Technology Services department. Central IT staff handle storage, 
network, and backup systems. NYU maintains a mirror copy and does routine 
tape backups, both stored off site. Data and metadata stored in Databrary are 
subject to the security policies and best practices implemented by NYU. For 
more information about these policies and services, please visit NYU ITS 
Computer & Network Security at http://www.nyu.edu/its/security/. Contact PD/PI: 
Scott, Lisa  
 
• There are no other known or suspected risks to participants beyond the risks 
encountered in daily living. 
10. Possible Benefits: 
 
• There are no direct benefits to the participant.  
 
11. Conflict of Interest: 
 
• There are no conflicts of interest.