Participate

 

Our studies take place in Building A2, room 008, on NYUAD’s Saadiyat campus. Most experiments involve listening to or reading words or sentences, or speaking out loud, while your brain activity is recorded using MEG (short for Magnetoencephalography). MEG is a non-invasive means of measuring brain activity in real-time. What it measures is tiny magnetic fields that are produced by activity in your brain. Because these magnetic fields are so small compared to external noise (such as lights and air conditioners), when doing the experiment you sit inside a large magnetically-shielded booth. MEG is safe and non-invasive: that means it does not send any signals into you, it only passively records signals that are coming from you. There are no known risks associated with undergoing MEG recording.

 

 

 

 

Participating in a study usually involves the following steps. When you first arrive, you fill out forms about language background and demographic information. Next, we use a non-invasive laser scanner to make a 3D digital model of the shape of your head (our software later uses this to help figure out what magnetic activity was actually coming from your brain, as opposed to outside your head). Then several small markers will be attached to your forehead with tape; the machine uses these to keep track of where your head is while you are in the MEG booth. Then you will lie down inside the MEG booth to do some language-related task (such as reading words or sentences) while your brain activity is recorded. You may also perform some non-linguistic baseline tasks, such as listening to tones or seeing checkerboard patterns while you are in the MEG.