All Studies

Talker familiarity and speech perception in hearing-impaired individuals

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

Familiar voices, that is, voices with which we have strong long-term familiarity with, are able to be more easily understood under challenging listening conditions.The goal of the present project is to investigate if familiar voices are easier to process than unfamiliar ones.

Typical and Atypical Development of Compensation to Altered Auditory Feedback

Elborn College (EC)

Early detection of speech, language, and hearing disorders is critical for optimizing outcomes. One great challenge is the early detection of developmental language disorder (DLD). Children with DLD struggle to comprehend what is said to them and express themselves verbally. We are interested in studying how the brains of children process what they hear, comparing typically developing children with children with DLD to improve early identification.

Using Eye Tracking to Study Reading Comprehension

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

Reading comprehension is a very important skill as people interact with the world. However, readers differ in their ability to monitor their text understanding and then choose reading behaviours to improve their comprehension. We are interested in how readers with a variety of backgrounds process texts for meaning.

Assessment of Language and Literacy

Elborn College, Western University

Young children develop language and literacy skills at different rates. Sometimes concern arises regarding a child's development in one or both of these areas. It is important to have reliable and valid measures of children's language and literacy. These measures help parents and speech-language pathologists know if there is reason to be concerned about a child's development in these areas. In this study, we are gathering data to help us evaluate a measure of language and literacy.

MRI measurements of OEF

St. Joseph's Hospital B5-233c

Despite only comprising 2% of body weight, the brain uses 20% of the oxygen you inhale. Because of its high energy demands, maintaining oxygen consumption is key to maintaining brain health and function. This study is focused on assessing how well oxygen consumption in the brain can be measured by MRI. It will be conducted on a PET/MRI system to compare the MR images of oxygen consumption to those obtained with the gold standard, positron emission tomography (PET).

Narrative Engagement in Children

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

Children routinely engage in listening activities where they are required to sustain their attention and listen carefully so that they can incorporate things they have heard to understand future events. This includes classroom listening, story time with family members, or social communication with friends. In the current study, we are hoping to study how children maintain their attention in these types of listening scenarios, and how this relates to things like working memory across children.

Assessing the Use of Music and Brain Stimulation in Parkinson's

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a debilitating disorder with motor and cognitive symptoms, including gait (or walk) disturbances, which are related to falls. Traditional treatments, including pharmacotherapy and deep brain stimulation, improve motor symptoms, but have limited effects on gait impairments, and also have side effects that can worsen gait deficits. There is evidence that Rhythmic Auditory Stimulation (RAS) through music improves gait, as does transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a type of non-invasive brain stimulation. Therefore, this study aims to understand how brain stimulation can influence movement, especially when combined with music.

ADNIRS

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

Through this study, we are aiming to understand the mental abilities of patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD) while watching short movies. Previous research has shown that watching an engaging movie can lead to specific patterns of brain activity that can tell us about the mental abilities of the viewer. In this study, patients with AD, healthy older adults, and healthy young adults, will view short movies while undergoing functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) imaging. By investigating differences or similarities in brain activity related to movie-watching in these groups, we can learn about the mental abilities and experiences of patients with AD. Findings from this study may have important practical and ethical implications for the patients’ standard of care and quality of life.

An Eye Tracking and EEG Investigation of Reading in Monolinguals and Bilinguals across the Adult Lifespan

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

The aim of this study is to examine how reading behaviour and brain activity is associated in bilingual and monolingual adults. This study will use reading measures and measures of brain activation using an electroencephalogram (EEG) to examine differences in the way bilingual people and monolingual people read. People who are fluent in multiple languages tend to categorize language information differently than those who are fluent in only one language. By measuring brain activity during reading in adults, we can better understand how word information is processed and how it relates to reading skills.

Brain Variability in Children with Previous Infantile Hydrocephalus

Robarts Research Institute (RRI)

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the differences in brain networks between healthy children and children who have experienced hydrocephalus as infants.

Healthy volunteers needed: research on emotions

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB) & Robarts Research Institute (RRI)

We often find ourselves dealing with tricky situations where emotions in ourselves and others run high. Our research group is interested in finding out how the mind and brain function to produce and control emotions. In this study, we are particularly interested in investigating whether emotions triggered by various stimuli (e.g., sounds or images) affect general problem-solving abilities, judgments, and cognitive function.

MIMIC Study

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB), Robarts Research Institute (RRI), University Hospital (UH), or Victoria Hospital (VH)

Advances in life-saving medical technology have dramatically increased survival rates for patients after severe brain injury. The recovery and continued care of these individuals often require extensive stays in intensive care units (ICUs), where critical treatment decisions are made to maximize the likelihood of recovering consciousness and cognitive function. These decisions are typically based on unreliable behavioural responses, rather than on objective and quantifiable indicators. Our goal is to combine functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), advanced electroencephalography (EEG), and time-resolved functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to improve diagnosis and prognosis in the ICU. To do so, we are seeking healthy control volunteers to image brain activity to compare to the imaging we will do in the patient population.

Mood and Eating Patterns in Adults

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

Do you struggle with out of control eating episodes? The PEAR Lab is looking for female volunteers (aged 18-50 years) who engage in binge eating to participate in a study on mood and eating behaviours.

Females

Adults 18 to 50 years old

Healthy Volunteers including those who Engage in Binge Eating

Narrative Abilities and Working Memory

Western Elborn College (EC) or Online

Narrative skills are the ability to tell a story. Narrative skills require complex language skills including being able to tell a story that makes sense (also known as coherence) and is grammatically correct (also known as cohesion). Importantly, for school-aged children, narrative skills are critical for later literacy and school achievement. The purpose of this study is to understand how we could promote narrative skills, for example, using different kinds of questions to draw attention to different aspects of the story.

Neurofeedback Study

Parkwood Institute (PI)

Stroke is a leading cause of disability worldwide. Imagining movement has shown promise for movement rehabilitation after stroke. Neurofeedback with functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) may improve the quality of imagery, thereby improving functional outcomes. The proposed study aims to determine whether fNIRS can be used as a neurofeedback tool in stroke survivors.

Peer Study

Westminster Hall (WH)

The PEAR Lab at Western University is conducting a study to examine associations between peer relationships and eating disorders among female adolescents.

Females

Adolescents 13 to 17 years old

Healthy volunteers and volunteers with eating disorders

Sensory processing in development and in autism

Online & Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

How we perceive the world greatly impacts how we interact with it. Sensory perception is known to change throughout development and to be different in children with developmental disorders such as autism. This study will explore the developmental trajectory of how we perceive the world, how the development of sensory processing differs in autism, and what the neural underpinnings of this typical and atypical development are.

Voice familiarity effect on synthetic voices

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building (WIRB)

It is a known phenomenon that familiar voices, that is, voices with which we have strong long-term familiarity are processed differently by our brains. The goal of the present project is to investigate if modern computational tools are able to generate synthetic speech capable of eliciting similar familiarity effects to natural recordings of a participant's close friend or romantic partner.