The 7-year-olds in Natalie May’s class have to stretch their fingers across the keyboards to reach “ASDF” and “JKL;” as they listen to the animated characters on their computer screens talk about ...

Patricia Loring, a research associate at Carnegie Mellon University, presses tiny blue dots on my fingers and the back of my hand. She tells me to adjust the keyboard as she maneuvers three webcams.

The specifics about my middle school computer lab have grown fuzzy over the years. I can’t recall my teacher’s name. I can’t say with certainty who regularly sat near me in the class. I certainly ...