Being Alone Study

NOTE: This webpage has been archived. If you are viewing this page after February 2022, we are no longer recruiting participants.

The Effects of Being Alone on Cognition

We are interested in understanding how being alone affects young people’s cognition.

We are currently recruiting young people aged 16-19.

We are looking to recruit healthy young people between the ages of 16 and 19 who would be interested in participating in an fMRI study examining the effects of spending time without social interactions.

You will be asked to come in for 3 visits in our lab:

Visit A: we will ask you to come into our lab at Cambridge University and undergo an MRI scan and a series of social decision making and reasoning tasks on a computer (duration: approx. 2.5 hours).

Visit B: we will ask you to spend 3-4 hours in a room by yourself without any access to the internet and social media (and without your phone). We will then ask you to undergo a series of social decision making and reasoning tasks on a computer (duration: approx. 4-5 hours).

Visit C: we will ask you to spend 3-4 hours in a room by yourself, but you will be able to keep your phone, and access the internet and social media. We will then ask you to undergo a series of social decision making and reasoning tasks on a computer (duration: approx. 4-5 hours).

The order of visits will differ between participants.

If you’re interested in taking part, please complete the screening survey below. If you are under 18, your parent or guardian will need to complete the survey for you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at blakemorelab@psychol.cam.ac.uk!

How do I take part?

Take the screening survey here.

In this screening questionnaire we will ask you about your experience of social support and loneliness. These questions are designed to check if you are eligible for our experiment. If you feel concerned about loneliness and would like to seek support, you can find a list of places you can contact at the bottom of this page.

After you have completed the online questionnaire, we will check if you are eligible to participate in the study. If you are eligible, a member of the research team will contact you over email and ask you to schedule a phone screening with them.

Consent forms

If you are considered eligible to take part, we will ask you (and your parents, if you are under 18) to complete some consent forms. These will be sent to you following screening and can also be viewed via the links below.

For participants under 18:

Participant assent form can be found here.
Parental consent form can be found here.

For participants 18 and over:

Participant consent form can be found here.

Questions?

Please email blakemorelab@psychol.cam.ac.uk or Dr Livia Tomova on lt503@cam.ac.uk