Last week I took Maggie in to be a participant in a research study at Children's Hospital. We volunteered somewhere along the line to be contacted if there were ever a study about children Maggie's age. And here we are!
This particular one involved measuring brain activity when the baby looks at an actor's face making a certain expression. The actor looks either completely neutral, happy, or scared. Maggie sits on my lap in front of a computer screen, the whole room is dark, and she's just supposed to stare at the images and let her brain do the work. I was a bit skeptical that she would stand for this. Or sit for this, more to the point. For a baby who doesn't want to be still ever, she was incredibly willing to do as they asked of her on this day. She just sat there for the entire 10 minutes of the study (10 minutes!) with her jaw slightly slack and her cute little cap on to measure her electrical impulses.
We went back a couple days later for a follow-up session which involved faces on the computer screen again, but this time with a geometric figure popping up to the left or right of the face. The computer tracked and measured her eye movement as she looked at this or that or the other. And again she just sat for the entire thing without any breaks and stared at that screen.
The researchers (who were super nice and friendly) said Maggie was an incredible subject. They said they got lots of great data from her and were very impressed with her ability to do the whole test in one sitting without breaks or crying fits or fidgeting or distraction. What a rock star! Even the professionals think so!
It was really fun. For me, at least. And Maggie obviously didn't seem to mind. Not only that, I got transportation reimbursed (plus probably a little extra, once it's all said and calculated), and Maggie got a book of our choosing, a toy of our choosing, and a onesie that proudly states "Neuroscientist in Training."
Next up, a Harvard study later this week. Her services are in demand already!
