Walking into Campus Lab Building 2, you’ll find a brightly decorated room full of toys and children’s books that feels a lot like a preschool. 

But the puppet,  high chair, and crayons are scientific equipment for the UNLV Baby & Child Rebel Lab in the Department of Psychology. They are valuable tools that help give insights into our youngest populations. 

The UNLV Baby & Child Rebel Lab 

The UNLV Baby & Child Rebel Lab or BCRL — “We’re very much into acronyms in this lab,” says lab director Jennifer Rennels — investigates how early social experiences influence infants’ and children’s perception of people.

A baby looking at a face might seem like an inconsequential, even passive, action. But this information intake can affect the development of stereotypes or biases that can have a long term impact. “The big question is, how does experience with faces affect preferences?” asks Rennels.

Location: Campus Lab Building 2

Situated between the UNLV Library and the Bigelow Physics Building, the lab is the opposite of the cold, sterile setting that comes to mind when you think of a clinical research lab. It has everything a child could want: toys, stickers, and snacks. The first room on the right, a family waiting room, reflects the thoughtful touches Rennels’ team has made to create an inviting space for children and families. 

“This is where the kids come in and play while we do the consenting process with the parents. It’s nice to have a play area for them to feel comfortable in the lab,” says Rennels. 

In two rooms across the hallway are where the research happens. In one room, a large TV is set up in the corner with an eye tracker right below. A small table is also in the corner. Research volunteers can either sit in a high chair or a regular chair, depending on their age.

“We've used [this eye tracker] to see where individuals are looking during a study," Rennels explains. "We can see what's of interest to them. Where are they looking, and why are they looking?”

The table is used for another study: “Children see a female model doing certain tasks. She uses certain language, such as ‘this is how everyone does it’ versus ‘we’re going to do it like this.’"

The imitation research gives insight into norms in communities. "We compare preschoolers or kindergarteners and older, school-aged children to see how well they imitate or do not imitate the model. And, we see if it matters about the model’s attractiveness.”

In the other room, a large window divides the space in half to allow researchers to do their observation studies.

Tra Bui, a Ph.D. student in psychological and brain sciences, is studying how people conceptualize voice assistants like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant. “We use the voice system with a female voice or a male voice and have the participant ask it about the red-lipped batfish," Bui says. "Based on the feedback the participant hears, we ask them to draw the red-lipped batfish. We also ask them to draw the voice system.”

The History 

As a graduate student at the University of Texas, Austin, Rennels studied face perception and the development of biases and stereotypes. “We found that babies were really good at recognizing female faces and not so good at recognizing male faces. And, I got very interested in why there was such a difference,” says Rennels.

She founded the Baby & Child Rebel Lab within the College of Liberal Arts in 2003 in a (now nonexistent) trailer overrun by feral cats on Maryland Parkway.

Despite the feline neighbors, Rennels has fond memories of the first lab. “It had a lot of room for my students who were working with me, and I had an amazing undergraduate student who I met my first semester. She was in my class and she came up to me and said, ‘I don’t care that you just got here. I want to work with you.’ She really helped me hit the ground running.” 

Today, the lab is home to seven graduate assistants and faculty, five research assistants, and 20 research studies.

The Big Goal

Kirsty Kulhanek, a doctoral candidate and instructor in the Department of Psychology, sums it up perfectly: “We're really interested as a lab in looking at avenues to reduce bias.”

Understanding how experience with faces affects preferences and the development of biases can affect everything from AI voice assistants to criminal justice and parental leave policies.

Recent Work

• The team of graduate researchers gave three presentations on their research at the The International Congress of Infant Studies Convergence in Glasgow, Scotland, this summer.
• Bui, Kulhanek, Rennels, Rachel DeWald, Alexis Rice, Alexander Peterson, Kindy Insouvanh, and Marian Espina presented on their work to examine racial bias using facial recognition at the Cognitive Development Society Biennial Conference in California in March.
• Rennels published “Recommendations for Investigating the Cross-Category Effect Among Hispanic and Latino Populations” in Perspectives on Psychological Science last year. 
• Researchers regularly present at UNLV's Tri-Annual Undergraduate Research Symposia and Annual Graduate & Professional Student Research Forum.

The team expects to publish more work this year; follow their work on the lab website.

Tools and Techniques

Rennels’ lab has come up with creative ways to measure responses from their young participants. An eye tracker tracks where children are looking on screen; “Alex” the puppet asks children to show him what they just learned; and a heart rate monitor gives insight into when infants are engaged in active processing.

“When infants are engaged in active processing, their heart rate decelerates a bit. We use that measurement to assess whether they are just looking at a face, or if they are really actively engaged,” Kulhanek explains.

For those who can’t visit the lab in person, there are plans to provide virtual options. Rachel DeWald, a doctoral student in the lab researching communication in autistic populations, says, “Right now, a lot of people who have access to our lab are university students or local people with children who have means and access to come into the lab. We’re really trying to create more diversity in our samples.”

Launching Careers 

Over 200 students of all ages — from high schoolers to post doctoral students — have worked together in the lab through the years. Kulhanek says, “One thing I really enjoy about working in the lab is there's so much going on. There are so many different lines of research, and because of that we have different perspectives. It's helpful to talk to other grad students and get their perspectives on things.”

Whether they’re a superstar, research-loving high school student; a curious undergraduate who goes on to graduate school already a research pro; or they’re a graduate researcher who wins awards; students who participate in Rennels’ lab are bound to find success, both academically and personally.

The warmth you feel in the lab isn’t limited to the children. “I've always wanted a cohesive lab. We work together as a team, and we support one another, and that's the best way for a lab to proceed,” says Rennels.