Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) Lab


PLAY Lab
The newly-founded Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) Lab's aim is to understand how early sensory experiences shape our visual, cognitive, and language abilities later in life. We study how deaf and hearing children learn through visual sign language, with the goal of understanding human cognition and learning more broadly. We compare behaviors and abilities of deaf and hearing people -- across all ages -- who use signed or spoken language.
Current Research Projects
NSF Research Traineeship
Dr. Bosworth is a member of the faculty team of the AWARE-AI NSF Research Traineeship Program. Graduate students from associated RIT Ph.D. and MS programs are invited to review information on how to apply and benefits for Trainees at our NSF Research Traineeship website. Women, Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing, and African American, Latino/a American, or Native American students are especially encouraged to apply. A video describing the program in ASL is available here.
Earn Pay or Course Credit as an Undergraduate Research Assistant in the Lab
Undergraduate students can receive pay or course credit working on research projects in the SPaCE Center. The Center is made up of several labs, including deaf x lab, NTID PLAY Lab, PAW Lab, and RITE Lab. This opportunity provides exposure to a variety of methods used in psychological research, including behavioral experiments (measuring response time and accuracy), eye tracking, EEG, and observational studies. This is ideal for NTID or RIT students majoring in psychology, cognitive science, language sciences, or computer science. Graduate students are also encouraged to apply using this form. Click here to complete an online form to apply.
Meet Our Team
Our Founder/Director
Rain Bosworth
Dr. Rain Bosworth is an assistant professor in Department of Liberal Studies at RIT/NTID. She is an experimental psychologist, studying development of perception and language in deaf and hearing children using eye-tracking at the newly-founded Perception, Language and Attention in Youth (PLAY) Lab. She got her PhD from the University of California, San Diego, studying visual motion processing and attention in deaf adults. She is currently investigating gaze behavior in infants and children while they watch stories in American Sign Language (ASL). The broad aim is to understand how early sensory input shapes perception, cognition, and language processing.
Our Research Team





Join our Lab
We are recruiting postdocs, staff, graduate students, and undergraduates! Coming together from a wide variety of backgrounds, our team members are the backbone of PLAY Lab. Their ideas bring diverse ideas to help shape the direction and mission of our research. Read on to learn more about how you can get involved.
Open Positions
PhD Graduate Student | in Cognitive Science | Click here for more information |
Our Collaborators
Events
NTID PLAY Lab “Brainy Day, Science-as-Play" – Happening Oct 14, 2023!
The NTID PLAY Lab will host “Brainy Day, Science-as-Play” community event on Saturday, October 14, 2023 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Rochester School for the Deaf.
Families with Deaf and Hard of Hearing children of all ages will participate in various fun activities, related to neuroscience and the brain. They will make brain hats out of paper, learn about neurons, toss a brain, and see their own brains in action with an EEG brain recording machine.
Families will have an opportunity to meet deaf scientists from Rochester Institute of Technology and the University of Rochester to encourage getting kids excited about science.
Last year, Brainy day was a great success. “Brainy Day was an engaging hands-on event—it was fun watching my son being able to connect with Deaf scientists,” said Byron Behm, parent of a deaf son.
Volunteer interpreters will be available at the day’s event.
The NTID PLAY Lab, directed by NTID faculty member Dr. Rain Bosworth, has several ongoing research projects for parents and their children on the topics of play, exploration, vision and language. To learn more about our studies, contact our lab here: https://www.rit.edu/ntid/playlab#participate. Learn more about the affiliated Sensory, Perceptual, and Cognitive Ecology (SPaCE) Center here: https://www.rit.edu/ntid/space.
News
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August 7, 2023
Deaf children’s learning during museum experiences is focus of research study
New research exploring how deaf and hearing preschool-aged children learn through interactive play with their parents is the focus of a partnership between RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf and The Strong National Museum of Play.
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May 9, 2022
New lab studies cognitive development in children
Rain Bosworth, an assistant professor and experimental psychologist at RIT’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf, has created a new research lab that will help scientists learn more about cognition, language, and perception in infants and young children.
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January 31, 2022
AI research collaboration begins
Cecilia Alm, an associate professor in RIT’s College of Liberal Arts, was awarded nearly $2 million by the National Science Foundation to lead a team of RIT faculty addressing a lack of diversity in the artificial intelligence research community and gaps in AI curricula.
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August 17, 2022
NTID SPaCE Center researchers to present at conference
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August 4, 2022
Bosworth presents at gesture studies conference
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December 1, 2021
Bosworth elected fellow of Psychonomic Society
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August 31, 2021
Bosworth and team study language development in deaf signing children
Publications
Please also see my Google Scholar or ResearchGate profiles for PDFs.
Bosworth, R.G., Hwang S.O., & Corina, D.P. (2022). Visual Attention for Linguistic and Non-Linguistic Body Actions in Non-signing and Native Signing Children. Frontiers in Psychology, 4799. (video abstract)
Bosworth, R.G., Tyler, S.C., Binder, E.M. & Morford, J.P. (2021). Automaticity of lexical access in deaf and hearing bilinguals: Cross-linguistic evidence from the color Stroop task across five languages. Cognition, 212, 104659. (video)
Bosworth, R.G. & Stone, A. (2021). Rapid Development of Perceptual Gaze Control in Native Signing Infants and Children. Developmental Science, doi:10.1111/desc.13086.
Bosworth, R.G., Stone, A., & Hwang S.-O. (2020). Effects of Video Reversal on Gaze Patterns during Signed Narrative Comprehension, Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education, 25(3). 283–297.
Bosworth, R.G., Wright, C.E., & Dobkins, K.R. (2019). Analysis of the visual spatiotemporal properties of American Sign Language. Vision Research, 164, 34-43.
Stone, A. & Bosworth, R.G. (2019) Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm. Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE), 147, e59581.
Stone, A., Petitto, L.A., & Bosworth, R.G. (2017). Visual sonority modulates infants’ attraction to sign language. Language Learning and Development, 14(2):130-148.
Blumenthal E., Bosworth R.G., & Dobkins K.R. (2013). Fast Development of Global Motion Processing in Human Infants. Journal of Vision, 13(13) article 8.
Bosworth, R.G., Robbins, S.L., Granet, D.B. & Dobkins, K.R. (2013). Delayed luminance and chromatic contrast sensitivity in infants with Retinopathy of Prematurity. Documenta Ophthalmologica, 127(1), 57-68.
Bosworth, R.G., Petrich, J.A.F., & Dobkins, K.R. (2013). Effects of attention and laterality on motion and orientation discrimination in deaf signers. Brain & Cognition, 82(1), 117-126.
Bosworth, R.G. & Dobkins, K.R. (2013). Effects of prematurity on the development of contrast sensitivity: Testing the visual experience hypothesis. Vision Research, 82(19), 31-41.
Bosworth, R.G., Petrich, J.A.F. & Dobkins K.R. (2012). Effects of spatial attention on motion discrimination are greater in the left than right visual field. Vision Research, 52(1), 11-19.
Bosworth, R.G. & Emmorey, K. (2010). Effects of iconicity and semantic relatedness on lexical access in American Sign Language. Journal of Experimental Psychology, 36(6), 1573-81.
Bosworth, R.G. & Dobkins, K.R. (2009). Chromatic and luminance contrast sensitivity in fullterm and preterm infants. Journal of Vision, 9(13), 15, 1-16.
Dobkins, K.R., Bosworth, R.G., & McCleery, J. (2009). Effects of gestational length, gender, postnatal age, and birth order on visual contrast sensitivity in infants. Journal of Vision, 9(10), 19, 1-21.
Emmorey, K., Bosworth, R.G., & Kraljic, T. (2009). Visual feedback and self-monitoring of sign language. Journal of Memory and Language, 61, 398-411.
Donations
The PLAY Lab is a critical resource in building a better understanding of how early sensory experiences shape our children’s visual, cognitive, and language abilities later in life. A major portion of our research focuses on the development and support of Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing children. While we are fortunate to have received support for our research, there is an ongoing need for general operating support of the Lab. Funding to maintain equipment, employ research assistants, support travel to conferences, and more, is critical in facilitating our work and in disseminating all that we will learn. If you are interested in supporting the PLAY Lab, please contact Bryan Hensel, NTID Office of External Affairs, at Bryan.Hensel@rit.edu or at (585) 475-6222. Thank you for your generosity.
For study and
research info,
email:
playlab@rit.edu