General Questions
What is the GEO project?
What are the overall goals?
How is GEO related to the TAP and WTP
projects?
Dataset and Data Collection Questions
How many families have participated
in the GEO project, and how many twins are identical
or fraternal?
How was the GEO sample recruited
and enrolled?
What proportion of the GEO
sample are "special cases" that may show signs of
a major medical diagnosis?
How was the GEO sample recruited
and enrolled?
At what stage of data collection is
the GEO project?
Measures and Data Sharing Questions
What is the GEO project's policy
on data sharing?
What is the Lab-TAB, and is it available
for researchers to use?
I am having difficulty finding specific stimuli from the various Lab-TAB manuals, can you help me to locate a store or website where these stimuli can be purchased?
Are the parent-rating temperament
assessments (i.e., IBQ, TBAQ, CBQ) available here
as well?
What is the Zygosity Questionnaire
for Young Twins and is it available for researchers?
Are there opportunities to analyze
GEO data for conference presentations and publications?
Are publications and other findings
from the GEO project available?
Is Dr. Goldsmith accepting graduate
students for next fall?
General Questions
Q: What is the GEO project?
A: The GEO (Genetics of Emotional Ontogeny) study
examines emotional development in young twins from
birth to 3 years. Information from several sources
(parents, center-based observations) is integrated
to examine emerging personality traits in relation
to developmental milestones in emotional (e.g. stranger
anxiety), motoric (e.g. crawling), and language
domains (e.g. first words). The fine-grained
longitudinal nature of these assessments allows
us to examine unique aspects of twin development and
interdependencies among various domains of development.
A follow-up study combines emotional and physiological
aspects of development with twins ages 6-9 years.
Q: What are the overall goals?
A: The GEO project includes multimodal,
comprehensive assessments of emotion and temperament
as well as selective assessment of cognition, motor
development, physiology, social interaction, and
the home environment. The project incorporates an
unusually broad set of methods, including lab-based
elicitation of behavior, home observation, telephone
interviews, diaries, narrative constructions, questionnaires,
hospital records, biochemical assays (cortisol),
and central (EEG) and peripheral (cardiac) psychophysiology.
The goals of the GEO project fall into two categories,
those concerning developing emotional individuality
and its correlates, and those involving genetic
and environmental underpinnings of emotional individuality
and domains of development. The follow-up project
extends GEO research into the early school ages.
Q: How is GEO related to the TAP
and WTP projects?
A: GEO focuses on normative development;
TAP focuses on twins who may be on the autism spectrum,
and WTP focuses on internalizing and externalizing
behaviors of middle childhood. Although all of these
projects are collaborative, they are fairly independent
of one another, and samples do not overlap extensively.
Dataset and Data Collection Questions
Q: How many families have participated
in the GEO project, and how many twins are identical
or fraternal?
A: The sample consists of 784 sets of twins born
between 1991 and 2003. Of the 784 twin pairs, 271
pairs are genetically identical, 270 are same-sex
fraternal, 231 are boy/girl pairs, and 12 are of
undetermined zygosity.
Q: How was the GEO sample recruited
and enrolled?
A: Approximately 30% of the sample was recruited
through the Waisman
Center Research Participation Core (RPC) at
the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During recruitment,
RCP provided lists on a monthly basis of all twins
born at local hospitals. Around 40% of the sample
was enlisted through the Wisconsin Vital Records
Services. This office generated a list of all twin
births in the state every six months, and GEO was
allowed six months to contact and recruit families.
The remaining families were recruited through the
GEO website, word-of-mouth, flyers at OB/GYN offices,
local news stories, Mothers of Multiples groups,
and newspaper advertisements.
Q: What proportion of the GEO
sample are "special cases" that may show signs of
a major medical diagnosis?
A: Because many children are recruited
at such a young age, it is often difficult to determine
diagnoses early. Based on early detection and follow-ups,
less than 5% of the sample have a major medical
diagnosis and may be excluded from certain analyses.
Q: At what stage of data collection
is the GEO project?
A: Currently, data collection is focused
on the follow-ups in early school age (6-8). Home
visits and assessments continue to be conducted
for twins at this stage. Data analysis is constantly
underway, and coding and data entry are ongoing
for many phases of the project.
Measures and Data Sharing Questions
Q: What is the GEO project's policy
on data sharing?
A: At this time, data from the GEO project is
not publicly available and there is no official
data sharing agreement. In general, we are open
to collaboration and making portions of the data
available if investigators are conducting similar
research. Please email GEO
staff for more information.
Q: What is the Lab-TAB, and is
it available for researchers to use?
A: The Laboratory Temperament Assessment Battery
(Lab-TAB) is a standardized instrument for laboratory
assessment of early temperament. Lab-TAB comprises
a set of 3-5 minute episodes that simulate everyday
situations in which one can reliably observe individual
differences in expression of emotion, approach/avoidance
and other instrumental behavior, activity level,
and regulatory aspects of behavior (temperament).
The current coding systems, which can be examined
in detail in the manuals, are designed with a dimensional
conceptualization of individual difference variability.
For example, facial, vocal and motoric indicators
of target discrete emotions are rated using a combination
of both event- and interval-based coding. Currently,
we have four versions of the Lab-TAB: two infant
versions (one for children who have started to crawl
[locomotor] and one for those who have not [prelocomotor]).
a version for preschoolers, and a version for children
6-8 years of age. See Dr. Goldsmith's measures
for more information.
Q: I am having difficulty finding specific stimuli from the various Lab-TAB manuals, can you help me to locate a store or website where these stimuli can be purchased?
A: Unfortunately, the Lab-TAB manuals were conceptualized and composed many years ago. Therefore, some of the toys and other stimuli that are described may be unavailable for purchase. For example, the wooden workbench toy that is used in the “workbench” episode is no longer available. The best solution when issues like this arise is to use a toy that is similar to the exemplar described in the manual. There are several plastic workbench toys that can be substituted in this situation. If there is no available option that closely approximates the stimuli that you are looking for, you must consider replacing it with another toy or object that can elicit the same reaction in the children in your study. Some researchers have inquired about a remote-controlled spider described in the Lab-TAB manuals. If you can not find a similar toy, consider using a remote control snake or other toy that would also elicit object fear in children. Episode scripts
and scoring guidelines may have to be modified if stimuli are substituted in this manner.
Q: Are the parent-rating temperament
assessments (IBQ, TBAQ, CBQ) available here as well?
A: The Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire
(TBAQ) is a parent report instrument designed to
examine temperament-related behavior in 16-36 month
old children. The scales include activity level,
anger, inhibitory control, interest, pleasure, sadness,
social fear and soothability.
Further information regarding the TBAQ can be
obtained by emailing GEO
staff. Further information about the IBQ and
CBQ temperament instruments can be obtained on Mary
Rothbart's web site.
The following reference serves to direct persons
interested in psychometric information: Goldsmith,
H.H. (1996). Studying Temperament via Construction
of the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire.
Child Development, 67, 218-235.
Q: What is the Zygosity Questionnaire
for Young Twins and is it available for researchers?
A: The Zygosity Questionnaire for Young
Twins (Goldsmith, 1991) is used to diagnose zygosity
when DNA methods are not available. Although diagnosing
zygosity by bloodtyping or "DNA fingerprinting"
are the preferred methods, they are also expensive
and can be difficult to justify for infants or toddlers.
The Zygosity Questionnaire for Young Twins yields
95% agreement with bloodtyping and is a practical
alternative. In the 10% of cases in which the questionnaire
yields ambiguous results, it will be supplemented
with DNA fingerprinting in the future. For more
information, see Dr. Goldsmith's measures.
Q: Are there opportunities to
analyze GEO data for conference presentations and
publications?
A: Currently, there are several ongoing
analyses being pursued and diverse data sets exist
for future projects. Potential graduate students,
post-doctoral fellows and other research collaborators
are encouraged to write to GEO
staff for more information.
Q: Are publications and other
findings from the GEO project available?
A: Yes, see the Recent
Publications and GEO Papers sections of our
website.
Q: Is Dr. Goldsmith accepting
graduate students for next fall?
A: Dr. Goldsmith is interested in recruiting
graduate students for both the developmental and
clinical psychology programs, depending on availability
of space. For more information, check out the Graduate
Students web pages.
