You will be bringing your child in to the FSU Psychology Building for the first session and to the FSU MRI center for the second session on two separate occasions. Both visits will be around 1-2 weeks apart.

During the first session, you will be involved in the consent procedure and fill out some surveys regarding your child’s medical history, demographics, and observed daily behaviors. This will take about 30 mins and then you are free to relax for the rest of the session.

During the second session, you will review your child’s MRI safety checklist and then be free to hang out until your child is done with the scan!

At the end of each session, you will also be completing necessary paperwork regarding the compensation.

During the first visit, they will be completing several questionnaires about their thoughts and feelings on different topics. They will also participate in one on one assessments with the researcher that will involve answering basic questions and using the iPad to do some interactive tasks. They will then receive a smartwatch to wear for one to two weeks! Towards the end of the visit, we will go to the mock (dummy) fMRI scanner, and get them comfortable with the tasks, sounds, and environment. At any point if your child feels uncomfortable, we will stop and reassess. Throughout the visit, they may take breaks for food/water as needed!

For the second visit, they will lie comfortably in an MRI scanner, which will take pictures of their brain while they either engage in tasks or watch relaxing videos!

You can earn up to $50, while your child can earn up to $120 in cash to take home at the end of the study. These amounts will be prorated to compensate you and your child for your time if you decide to quit midway.

Your first visit will be on the Florida State University campus in the Psychology Department Building. Free parking is provided in front of the Psychology Department Building main entrance. Please do not park in any of the garages or in the spots dedicated for the Psychology Clinic, as we do not cover parking fees for the spots on campus. You can find directions to the building here (1107 W Call St, Tallahassee, FL 32304) via Google Maps.

For your second visit you will be in the parking in the MRI facility parking lot. You can find directions to the building here via Google Maps.

Detailed pictures for locations can be found under the Contact section here

We will also email you information regarding your visits, including locations and parking (please remember to check inbox/junk/spam).

The first visit will last around 4-5 hours.

The second visit will last around 2-3 hours.

Yes! For safety reasons, a parent or a guardian will need to be present during both sessions. However, for the most part, you will be free to relax in one of our rooms.

You may bring your work/laptop with you if you wish to be productive while you wait. We also have games if you have other children who will be joining you! There will be snacks and water in our lab, but feel free to bring your own if you wish. If you have any dietary restrictions, please let us know beforehand.

We will collect your contact information, child’s demographics and medical history, as well as survey data from you about your child’s thoughts and daily behaviors.

From your child, we will collect survey responses, data from the neuropsychological and cognitive tests, fMRI data from the scanner, as well as sleep metrics like quality and duration via a fitbit that we will provide.

Participating in research is completely voluntary. Please let us know at any time if you or your child is uncomfortable at any time for any reason.

If you choose to end the experiment, your compensation will be proportional to the number of visits and hours you participated in.

We will do everything we can to keep your and your child’s information confidential. We will always use an ID number instead of your names in all study documents, and we will use password protected servers for data storage. Except our trained study staff, no one will have access to your nor your child’s information.

fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is a completely safe, noninvasive, and effective way to track the brain’s blood flow.

If you would like to learn more about what your child will be doing or how an MRI works, we recommend these videos:

Having an MRI scan for research: What happens?

What to Expect from an MRI

Being scanned in an fMRI is completely safe and there are no harmful effects associated with the scan; however, because it creates a strong magnetic field, it is unsafe to bring magnetic materials into the scanner with you. This includes common medical devices and implants such as permanent retainers and braces.

Also, before entering the scanner, we will ask you to take off any jewelry and/or other forms of metal like belts, chains, bra clasps/underwire, any sweat wicking athletic clothing, metal wires, etc. We advise you to dress accordingly, and strongly recommend comfortable, cotton clothes.

To check your child’s eligibility, please review the safety checklist linked here.