Abhi Elayidom, Weeks 1 & 2, Fun and Games

My first two weeks at the Rutgers Cognitive Computational Lab has been an intriguingly special and fun experience.  Throughout this short piece of time, not only did I get hands on experience of what it’s like to be a researcher, but I’ve also gotten time to learn a little bit more about the location of the lab.

 

 

Firstly, I would like to take the time to mention that in the beginning of these two weeks, the thought of going to a city like Newark on my own made me want to cringe and cry at the same time. On my first day, my dad decided to come with me because he wanted to make sure I was ok. He dropped me off in front of Smith Hall (the location of the lab) and I still remember the last thing he told me. With a smile on his face, he told me never to keep my phone in my back pocket because if I did, the next time I would reach for it, it would already be gone. So, that was my first impression of Newark.

As I said bye to my dad and walked into the building, I decided to take a moment to forget everything I had just concluded about Newark and not let the negative conclusions affect my first day at the lab. In fact, I had a fabulous first day in the lab. I met tons of kind and supportive lab members and got a rather detailed explanation of what my time in the lab over the summer would look like.

Throughout these past two weeks, I have pushed myself to be the most outgoing version of myself. I have discovered the local Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, and sushi places around because although I want to broaden my horizons, I still need my daily dose of caffeine and my weekly round of shrimp tempura rolls. I have learned that during this time, the food and coffee that I buy is killing my bank account more than the train tickets that I buy to get to and from Newark every day.

 

 

As for the research part of the past two weeks, I have faced a fair share of both ups and downs. My two main projects are the Seed Project and the Learned Empowerment Project. A fun fact is that psychology studies are often pretty complex and take years to complete. With that being said, there is a lot of heavy duty computer work that comes along with it especially when studying cognitive development in children. The Seed Project conducted by Elizabeth Lapidow focuses on the speech of children and looks to see who children make the most speech errors to and why. The hypothesis as of now is that children make the most errors when speaking with adults because of their belief that adults have the knowledge to correct them and give them knowledgeable advice. So, in this project, a microphone is attached to a child of around 4 years old and later, his or her conversations with the people around are coded and documented on a computer to help draw out conclusions. So, after the sessions with the children take place and the recordings and notes that were taken come back to the lab, I help to transfer all of the conversations into writing version on excel documents. It may seem boring, but a lot of the conversation that goes on is rather interesting and sometimes comical. The other project named the Learned Empowerment project carried out by Elizabeth Bonawitz and Trisha Dehrone helps to see whether a child is affected if they are told that they are stuck in a negative position or situation. By carrying out a bunch of skits and games, we try to figure out whether telling them that they are in a helpless situation lowers their self-motivation and restricts their mind set. In this project, I get to go to preschools and take part in the skits and games with Trisha and 4-6 year olds. Testing days are definitely my favorite days because not only do I get to spend time with children, but I also get a great perspective of what it’s like to be a researcher.

As time is passing by, my opinion of Newark is gradually changing and I’m slowly becoming more comfortable and fond of the city. Not only is it home to the amazing lab that I get to be a part of for the summer, but it is also a place that offers an unlimited amount of opportunities that I have yet to explore.