September 15, 2004

Professor seeking Indianapolis children for study

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Indianapolis children are needed for a Purdue University study that evaluates how children process information as they grow.

Robert V. Kail, professor of psychological sciences, is looking for 275 children, ages 6-12, to participate in a 25-minute session every six months for three years. During the sessions, children will be asked to complete simple memory and reasoning tasks at the Purdue Institute of Behavioral Sciences, 8465 Keystone Crossing Blvd., Suite 150, Indianapolis.

To participate in the study, parents should contact Sherry Fetterman, project coordinator for the Purdue Study of Youth Development, (317) 251-3085, psyd@psych.purdue.edu. Children who participate in all six sessions will receive $71.

The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health.

"This study is really the first of its kind because it is evaluating how children process information as they grow," says Kail, director of the Purdue Study of Youth Development. "Previous studies show that children's reasoning skills become more powerful and efficient as they grow. By monitoring children for almost three years, we will learn how factors such as a child's memory capacity contribute to developmental improvements in reasoning and problem solving."

Writer: Amy Patterson-Neubert, (765) 494-9723, apatterson@purdue.edu

Sources: Robert Kail, (765) 494-6921, rkail@sla.purdue.edu

Sherry Fetterman, (317) 251-3085

Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu

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