About us

Research

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Publications

Welcome to the Childhood Thinking Laboratory!

child_thinking

About the Laboratory

about

What do we research?

In our lab, we are interested in the social and cognitive development of children. To study this, we conduct studies with children ranging from toddlers to elementary-school-aged children. These studies are designed as games for children and constitute a fun, free and novel activity for kids and their families.

We study many concepts related to cognitive development, such as:

Selective social learning

Children do not absorb everything that everyone teaches them: They are actually quite picky learners and prefer to learn from some people over others. For example, children generally prefer to learn from adults over children; however, for “childish” topics (e.g., toys), they will prefer to learn from other children, who are considered experts in that domain. In the same way, if a preschooler has a question about cars, s/he will most likely choose to ask a mechanic over a cook.  

Illusion of control

Sometimes, people overestimate the control they have over a situation. Take for instance someone who strongly believes they are in control of winning the lottery by choosing specific numbers. They actually have no control over this situation, but still have the feeling that they do. This is called the illusion of control. A child may also have this illusion, thinking for example that it is s/he, and not chance, who is responsible for winning in a coin toss game. The illusion of control can make a child feel overconfident in some situations, and this may affect their learning strategies in some of the situations we study in our research.

Theory of mind

Theory of mind is the ability to understand that other people have their own thoughts and emotions, which can be different from our own. A child who demonstrates theory of mind will understand that even if he feels a certain way or has a certain thought, it does not mean that everyone else in the room feels the same way or has the same thought. All children possess some theory of mind abilities, but this is an ability that typically gets better with age and actually improves a lot during the preschool years. A child’s understanding of other people’s perspective can affect their social learning strategies in some of the situations we study in our research.

Location and hours

We are located on the University of Ottawa campus in the Vanier building (136 Jean-Jacques Lussier), on the sixth floor. Currently, all of our studies are done online over Zoom. We have availabilities for appointments during weekdays, evenings, and weekends. To participate online, email us at child.thinking@uOttawa.ca or fill in our participant intake form.

View our latest newsletter!

Members

Director

Dr. Patricia Brosseau-Liard

She directs the Childhood Thinking Laboratory in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa. Her main area of research pertains to the study of young children's evaluation of other people's knowledge and selective social learning.

Lab Coordinator

Patrice Yazdanya
(613) 562-588 ext. 4474
child.thinking@uottawa.ca

 

Graduate Students
  • Isabelle Cosette
  • Sophie Faubert
  • Aimie-Lee Juteau
  • Kaitline Fournier
  • Stéphanie Quinn
Lab Alumni
  • Florence Aquilina (Volunteer)
  • Matthew Lefebvre (Volunteer)
  • Sara-Emilie Mcintee (Directed research, volunteer)
  • Marie-Pier Millette (Honours)
  • Joana Mukunzi (Lab Coordinator)
  • Marie-Lou Ouellette (Volunteer)
  • Rose Varin (Directed research, volunteer)
For students

Prospective graduate students:

Dr. Brosseau-Liard will be taking new graduate students during the 2025-2026 academic year. Candidates may email her directly with a CV and transcript to express their interest.

Information regarding graduate studies in psychology at the University of Ottawa.

Psychology undergraduates at the University of Ottawa:

Dr. Brosseau-Liard is available to supervise Honours students or Directed Research students during the 2024-2025 academic year. Candidates may email her directly with a CV and transcript to express their interest.

If you are interested in joining our lab team as a volunteer, please email a transcript and CV to: child.thinking@uOttawa.ca

Research Activities

At the moment, we are developing new studies for the Spring/Summer!

Participate

Are you interested in participating in one of our activities or adding your child to our list of potential participants? Please click on the button below to register and a member of our lab will contact you soon.

Publications

Articles

Cossette, I., Fobert, S., Slinger, M. & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2020). Individual differences in children’s preferential learning from accurate speakers: Stable but fragile. Journal of Cognition and Development, 21(3), 348-367. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2020.1727479

Juteau, A., Cossette, I., Millette, M.-P., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019). Individual differences in children’s preference to learn from a confident informant. Frontiers in Psychology,10. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02006

Brosseau-Liard, P., & Poulin-Dubois, D. (2018). Fiabilité et validité de l’Échelle de compréhension sociale des enfants. Psychologie Française. doi: 10.1016/j.psfr.2018.01.003

Brosseau-Liard, P. E., Iannuzziello, A., & Varin, J. (2018). Savvy or haphazard? Comparing preschoolers’ performance across selective learning tasks based on different epistemic indicators. Journal of Cognition and Development, 19, 367-388. doi: 10.1080/15248372.2018.1495219

Brosseau-Liard, P. E. (2017). The Roots of critical thinking: Selective learning strategies in childhood and their implications. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 58(3),263-270. doi: 10.1037/cap0000114

Birch, S., Brosseau-Liard, P.,Haddock, T., & Ghrear, S. (2017). A curse of knowledge in the absence of knowledge? People misattribute their feelings of familiarity when judging how common knowledge is among their peers. Cognition, 166, 447-458. doi: 10.1016/j.cognition.2017.04.015

Birch, S., Li, V., Haddock, T., Ghrear, S., Brosseau-Liard, P., Baimel, A., & Whyte, M. (2017). Perspectives on Perspective Taking: How Children Think About the Minds of Others. Advances in Child Development and Behavior, 52, 185-226.

Poulin-Dubois, D., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2016). The Developmental Origins of Selective Social Learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 25,60-64. doi:10.1177/0963721415613962

Poster presentations presented at peer-reviewed conferences

Varin, R., Cossette, I., Fobert, S.F., Slinger, M., & Brosseau-Liard, P.E. (2019, June). Not completely consistent: Fragile stability of individual differences in children’s preferential learning from accurate informants. Poster presented at the 80th annual Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) National Convention, Halifax, NS.

Fobert, S., Kokenberg-Gallant, L., Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019, May). Stability of individual mind mindedness. Poster presented at the 8th annual Interdisciplinary Conference in Psychology (ICP), Ottawa, ON.

Aquilina, F & Brosseau-Liard, P.. (2019, May) La constance de la confiance comme indicateur de crédibilité chez les enfants de trois ans. Poster presented at the 8th annual Interdisciplinary Conference in Psychology (ICP), Ottawa, ON.

Varin, R., Fobert, S., Cossette, I., Slinger, M. & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019, May). Not completely consistent: Fragile stability of individual differences in children’s preferential learning from accurate informants. Poster presented at the 8th annual Interdisciplinary Conference in Psychology (ICP), Ottawa, ON.

Juteau, A., Cossette, I., Mukunzi, J., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019, March). Evaluating the parallel-form reliability of a task measuring children’s selective learning from more confident individuals. Poster presented at the 2019 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, Baltimore, MD.

McIntee, S., & Brosseau-Liard, P.  (2019, March) The relationship between authoritarian values and preschoolers’ perception of cues of credibility. Poster presented at the 2019 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, Baltimore, MD.

Fobert, S., Cossette, I., Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019, March). Stability of individual differences in preschoolers’ endorsement of accurate informants across selective social learning tasks. Poster presented at the 2019 Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD) Biennial Meeting, Baltimore, MD.

Juteau, A., Cossette, I., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2018, May). Individual differences in learning from various sources of information. Poster presented at Development 2018: A Canadian Conference on Developmental Psychology, St. Catharines, ON.

Fobert, S., Varin, R., Balde, A. & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2018, May). Stability of Individual Differences in Selective Social Learning. Poster presented at the 7th annua Interdisciplinary Conference in Psychology (ICP), Ottawa, ON.

Juteau, A., Slinger, M., Clow, K., Parent, C., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2017, March). Les motivations influençant l’imitation des jeunes enfants. Poster presented at the 39th annual convention of the Société québécoise pour la recherche en psychologie, Montréal, QC.

Jennings, B., St. Pierre, A., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2016, June) Why toddlers imitate: how confidence, motivation to learn, and motivation to affiliate influence imitation rates in young children. Poster presented at the 77th annual Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) National Convention, Victoria, BC.

Varin, J., Iannuzziello, A., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2016, juin) Contributions of theory of mind and executive functioning to preschoolers' selective learning. Poster presented at the 77th annual Canadian Psychological Association (CPA) National Convention, Victoria, BC.

Gauthier Maltais, A., Jennings, B., St. Pierre, A., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2016, April) Qu’est-ce qui motive l’imitation chez les tout-petits? Poster presented at the 38th annual convention of the Société québécois de recherche en psychologie (SQRP), Trois-Rivières, QC.

St. Pierre, A., Jennings, B., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2016, April) L’influence des indicateurs comportementaux d’assurance présents et passés sur l’imitation des jeunes enfants. Poster presented at the 38th annual convention of the Société québécois de recherche en psychologie (SQRP), Trois-Rivières, QC.

Oral presentations at peer-reviewed conferences

Juteau, A., Cossette, I., Fobert, S., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019, May). La stabilité de performance de jeunes enfants à des tâches d’apprentissage sélectif.  Oral presentation at the 8th annual Interdisciplinary Conference in Psychology (ICP), Ottawa, ON.

Poster presentations presented as part of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP)

Kokenberg-Gallant, L., Fobert, S., & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019, March). Une analyse sur l’orientation mentale et l’attachement parent-enfant. Poster presented at the symposium of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), Ottawa, ON.

Aquilina, F. & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2019, March). La constance de la confiance comme indicateur de crédibilité chez les enfants de trois ans. Poster presented at the symposium of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), Ottawa, ON.

Varin, R., Fobert, S., Balde, A. & Brosseau-Liard, P. (2018, March). Children as consistent learners: The role of individual differences in children’s selective learning. Poster presented at the symposium of the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP), Ottawa, ON.