We are always looking for young volunteers to come in and take part in our fun studies. If you would like to volunteer with your child please click here to complete our registration form. All our research is aimed at understanding more about how vision develops in infancy and childhood. Below are some of the studies we currently have running in the lab.

New Vision Tests

We are developing new vision tests specifically for infants and young children. These tests use new technology to measure how well children can see, and will allow clinicians at Moorfields Eye Hospital to find out whether new therapies for childhood eye disease are effective. To develop our tests we first need to see many infants and children with healthy vision. In one type of test, an 'eye tracker' based test, an infant looks at targets on a computer screen while the 'eye tracker', which is a device like a camera, monitors where they are looking. To see an example information sheet for this study, please click here.

Bouncing Balls Study

We are interested in measuring the development of touch and hearing as well as vision. Our aim is to understand how these develop when vision is absent or poor. This can help us to identify methods that can be used to study development of non-visual abilities in children whose vision is not developing normally. The Bouncing Balls study consists of a game divided into levels, during which we ask your child to touch an object and/or listen to the sound the object makes. We then ask your child to compare the two objects. After each completed level your child receives a sticker and has the chance to do some colouring-in before the next level.

PacMan Study

This study is investigating how children learn to locate objects using both vision and sound together. In the study your child looks at a series of images on a computer screen whilst sounds are played by speakers in different positions around the screen. Children are asked to judge where the sound are located. After each completed level your child will receive a sticker and be able to play Pac Man on the computer. After finishing the whole experiment your child will receive a small prize.

fMRI

Sometimes our research involves taking pictures of the brain using an fMRI scanner. An fMRI study would involve your child lying in a scanner like the one shown here and carrying out a visual task whilst being scanned. This can tell us about the parts of the brain responsible for vision and how these develop with age. On completion of the scan your child would receive a certificate and a picture of their brain to take home.