SANDPIT Research Group

Check out our other socials for all things Animating Minds!

Our Animating Minds project investigates executive functioning…but what exactly is it? And how does executive functioning develop across your life? 📈👶🧠

Almost instantly, babies are learning how the social world works - forming the foundations of communication 📷 At QM BabyLab, we study how these abilities emerge and grow!

Happy World Thinking Day! 🧠🌎 Today is all about thinking about how humans understand each other - and when that begins! #worldthinkingday

It's Child Mental Health Awareness Week! This week is all about raising awareness of children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health. Just like physical health, mental health matters from the very beginning - let's keep talking about it! 🤝

As January comes to an end, here are some of our plans for 2026! 🔍

Here are some fun baby brain facts you might not know!

Four things you didn't know about infant attention!🧐

A couple of weeks ago the Animating Minds team had a day out at Winter Wonderland! ❄️🎄 We even won some furry friends that took the train home! 🧸💺

Now that Christmas is fast approaching, here are some fun facts about how the festive period can support child development! 🎄

Today is International Disability Day! 🌍 Sofia, a PhD candidate here at QM, is exploring how children’s animation affects the cognition of neurodivergent children. Read about her project below! ⬇️

You might’ve heard that people are either left-brained, making them logical, or right-brained, making them creative…but this is not the case! 🧠 We are all constantly using both sides of our brain! Did you believe this myth? 🔍

At the House of Lords with @timothy_j_smith to discuss the need for evidence-based #screentime guidance in the early years with Baroness Joanna Penn. @UKRI_News #AnimatingMinds, @NuffieldFound #BedtimeBoost.

Welcome to our labs at Queen Mary! The first lab is our Child Development Lab. This is a ‘chill out’ space or waiting area for children and parents. The second lab is the Eye Tracking Lab. Eye tracking will be used to see how animations are impacting executive functioning!

Meet the team currently working on the Animating Minds Project as part of Queen Mary's Child Development Lab! The aim of the project is to investigate the impact of children's animation features on the executive functions of children using eye tracking and fNIRS technology🧠

Team meeting for our @UKRI_News Animating Minds project, followed by leaving celebrations for our amazing @UniofBath placement students @CrystalMazeHQ.

Come and join our lab! Postdoc and RA position available - details below

Come and join our lab with this fully funded PhD position.

Koch, @ELPlearn et al. (2024) tested deferred imitation abilities of 2yos after live and video demos: pic book reading <30min/day ➡️ lower memory scores for live demos, watching video >1h/day ➡️ lower memory scores for video demos #infancypapers doi.org/10.1111/infa.1…

“Consider your everyday interactions with children, and you will quickly recognise the vast array of opportunities within them to help children understand or use new words!” @LGrocott_EY explores how we can support children’s emerging vocabulary. 👉 eef.li/72XsSt