Action understanding

Inclusion criteria
- 18-45 years old
- Can read and write in English
- Right handed
- Normal or corrected-to-normal vision

Exclusion criteria
- Brain injury, neurological and psychiatric disorders
- Taking medications (as some may make participants drowsy or alter neural activity)
- Pregnancy
- Claustrophobia
- Uncontrollable shaking and/or cannot lie still on the back for one hour
- Metallic objects and/or electronic implants in the body

The study will involve four neuroimaging sessions of approximately 1 hour each, scheduled on different days, and at your convenience.

Two of the sessions will take place at the Western Interdisciplinary Research Building and will involve EEG recordings. In these sessions, you will sit comfortably in a chair wearing a cap that contains recording electrodes. Using a syringe, we will place conductive gel in each electrode in order to record your brain activity. This procedure is completely non-invasive and painless, and you will be able to wash your hair after the experiment. The gel is water-soluble and washes off easily. During the recordings, you will watch a series of videos and sentences depicting actions, and you will press a button when you see a repeated action.

The other two sessions will take place at the Robarts Research Institute and will involve fMRI scans. In the fMRI sessions, you will lie down in the MRI scanner while your brain activity is being recorded. During the scans, you will watch a series of videos and sentences depicting actions, and you will press a button when you see a repeated action.

At the end of the study, you will complete a short questionnaire asking you to imagine various scenes and rate your ability to visualize them in your mind. You will be compensated for your time.

Principal Investigator: Yalda Mohsenzadeh
Study posted on: January 17th, 2023
Recruitment open

For more information about this study please contact:

Diana Dima
ddima@uwo.ca