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Monday 9am - 7pm Tuesday 9am - 7pm Wednesday 9am - 7pm Thursday 9am - 7pm Friday 9am - 7pm Saturday 9am - 7pm Sunday 9am - 7pm

Computational Cognitive Development Lab

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Computational Cognitive Development Lab

We are a lab studying how children learn and what they understand about the world. We live in a world rich with causal structure.

Our lab is at Brown University and we also have researchers at the University of Toronto. Events do not just occur randomly around us, they result from causal relationships – rain falling makes the ground slippery, flipping a switch makes the light turn on, turning a doorknob makes the door open. From learning to flip a light switch to using a remote control, as children grow up a major challenge

they face is uncovering the world’s causal structure, including understanding the causes and consequences of other people’s behaviour. How do children learn these kinds of causal relationships, especially when the world presents them with sparse, ambiguous data or with multiple, conflicting sources of evidence? Are these sophisticated abilities unique to humans, or are they shared with other animals? Our lab aims to answer these questions, using experimental and computational techniques to understand children’s causal and social reasoning abilities. By focusing on social and causal learning, we can address one of the core questions of cognition: How do humans construct sophisticated representations from relatively simple percepts, and how do these cognitive abilities develop?

04/09/2026

Check out our lab's posters and talk at the Cognitive Development Society conference this Friday, April 10th and Saturday, April 11th!

03/26/2026

Brown Developmental Labs will hosting a table at the Pawtucket Brain Fair this upcoming Sunday, March 29th from 10am-2pm at Hope Artiste Village. We will have fun activities and information about our labs! Hope to see you there!

Hosted by Brain Waves Rhode Island

03/20/2026

This past Sunday our lab attended Brown University's annual Brain Fair! We talked with families about our ongoing studies, including some interesting new findings from our sister lab, the Mind & Morality Lab, on children's moral decision-making. We also talked about opportunities for children (and dogs!) to get involved in our research. Thank you so much for having us Brain Waves Rhode Island!

Check out an article about the event by Brown's Daily Herald: https://www.browndailyherald.com/article/2026/03/brown-brain-fair-educates-young-rhode-islanders-on-neuroscience

03/12/2026

Brown Developmental Labs will be hosting a booth at the Brown University Brain Fair this upcoming Sunday, March 15th from 10am-2pm in Sayles Hall. We will have fun activities and information about our labs! CoCoDev's own Dr. Daphna Buchsbaum will be giving a talk during the event as well. Spend your Sunday learning about the brain with us!

Hosted by Waves Rhode Island

02/12/2026

Stop by in-between movie showings to see the Brown Developmental Labs table at the Providence Children's Film Festival this upcoming Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. We will be hosting a table with a fun activity for children and providing information about our research and how to get involved! We will be at The Wheeler School location on Sunday and Monday and at Hope High School on Tuesday.

We are looking forward to seeing you there!

01/30/2026

Let's welcome our new UTRA research assistant, Gaby! She is a sophomore at Brown and is planning on concentrating in Psychology and MCM.

Since tutoring elementary schoolers in the Providence area, Gaby is particularly fascinated by the developmental process children undergo to form their beliefs about the world and how that is subsequently manifested in a school environment. She is especially excited to work in a laboratory setting at CoCo Dev and explore this idea further!

On her days off from the lab, Gaby enjoys rehearsing for acapella, participating in theatre, screenwriting, or getting an iced vanilla oat latte at Blue Room (despite the cold weather)!

10/27/2025

Have a spook-tastic time with Halloween activities! Be sure to stop by our craft table at the Brown St Park Halloween Parade (Brown Street Park) this Friday at 3:30pm to hear about the fun research games we're offering this fall!

10/20/2025

Come see the Computational Cognitive Development Lab at this year's PVD Candy Crawl ()! Stop by our table to hear more about our research games, make a craft, and play a halloween-themed game. Admission to event is free and open to all ages - we look forward to seeing you there!

Follow us on Instagram .lab!

10/10/2025

The Computational Cognitive Development Lab is looking for children aged 6-9 to play an in-person research game! In this study, we investigate children’s understanding of abstract relations (how one variable relates to another). Children must be 6-9 years old and be able to speak and understand English to participate.
The study takes place in-person, and typically takes 15-30 minutes to complete. Participants will receive a small gift in the form of a toy as a ‘thank you’ for participating!
You can sign up by booking an appointment with our researchers at this link: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/appointments/schedules/AcZssZ2qMB8hoRcOkeZEp85jCDEBRJPqZ8aYrnJA_73BwozulaayF1d9S74TSbXo3f69GmYQrhztBs4u or learn more about the study on our website https://sites.brown.edu/cocodevlab/. You can also contact us by calling 401-863-2070 or emailing us at [email protected].

Principal Investigator: Daphna Buchsbaum
Protocol #:2105002985

10/08/2025

The Computational Cognitive Development Lab is looking for children aged 4-5 to play an in-person research game!
In this study, we investigate children’s understanding of functional relations (how inputs relate to outputs). Children must be 4-5 years old and be able to speak and understand English to participate.
The study takes place in-person, and typically takes 15-30 minutes to complete. Participants will receive a small gift in the form of a toy as a ‘thank you’ for participating!
You can sign up by booking an appointment with our researchers at this link: https://calendar.app.google/K8eXUNZSjisJ7KGt7 or learn more about the study on our website: https://sites.brown.edu/cocodevlab/. You can also contact us by calling 401-863-2070 or emailing us at [email protected].

Principal Investigator: Daphna Buchsbaum
Protocol #:2105002985

09/24/2025

Let's welcome our first-year graduate student, Zory! Before coming to Brown, he received his bachelor degree at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Zory is intrigued by how children eventually learn so much about the world so quickly without even realizing they are learning (e.g., concepts that "carve nature at its joints", the specific ways agents are driven by their beliefs and desires, or their native languages). He is particularly interested in the puzzle of why children are sometimes more flexible learners than adults, readily revising their beliefs, yet at other times seem to arbitrarily firmly believe.

Besides research, Zory like to cook, learn figure skating, ride my bike, watch shows, and occasionally do drama-related stuff.

Address

190 Thayer Street
Providence, RI
02912

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 7pm
Tuesday	9am - 7pm
Wednesday	9am - 7pm
Thursday	9am - 7pm
Friday	9am - 7pm
Saturday	9am - 7pm
Sunday	9am - 7pm

Telephone

+14018632070

Website

https://sites.brown.edu/cocodevlab/

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