how to participate
We are always looking for participants to take part in our studies! Birkbeck SONA users can book a slot directly for most of our studies - please check your eligibility below and click the relevant button to book. If you are not a Birkbeck SONA user, please get in touch and we'll be happy to schedule you in manually.
When contacting us by email, please indicate the study in which you are interested in participating.
If you are not eligible for any of our open studies but would like to take part, please contact us to sign up for future studies. We'll be in touch when new studies become available.
Native English speakers
(Behavioural & EEG study)
"Attention to music"
To participate in an EEG study exploring how we pay attention to speech and music
Requirements:
Native English speakers (any English background)
Musicians with more than 5 years of musical training
Non-musicians with no musical training at all
Age 18-40 years old with no hearing problems
Study description (in-lab):
The testing session involves listening to auditory stimuli (speech and music) while we are recording your brain's activity with EEG
Time: 2.5 hours
Pays: £20 shopping voucher (Birkbeck or UCL SONA credits available)
Remaining slots: 8 (out of 20)
Native Polish speakers
(Behavioural & EEG study)
"SpeechCues Polish"
To participate in an EEG study exploring how the brain listens to sound characteristics in language (part of the 'Speech Cues' project)
Requirements:
Native Polish speakers
(not raised as English bilinguals)Age 18-40 years old with no hearing problems
Living in the UK not longer than 4 years
Arrived in the UK for the first time after 16 years of age
Study description (in-lab):
Your task is to listen to an audiobook while we record your brain activity with an EEG
Time: 1 hour
Pays: £10 in cash (Birkbeck or UCL SONA credits available)
Remaining slots: 6 (out of 20)
native non-tonal language SPEAKERS
(fMRI neuroimaging study)
"fMRI non-tonal language"
To participate in a study investigating how the precision or reliability of our auditory perception is reflected in functional connectivity in the brain
Requirements:
Native speakers of non-tonal langauge (Spanish, French, Italian, Greek, Hungaraian or Polish)
No experience with any tonal languages like Mandarin or Cantonese Chinese
Learned English as a second langauge at school
Lived in the UK (or other English-speaking countries) for less than 3 years in total
Aged 18-40 years old with no hearing problems
No contraindications for magnetic resonance imaging
Study description:
You must complete detailed safety screening, demographics questionnaire and behavioural screening task before the scan
During the brain scan you will listen to speech or sequences of tones
Time: 2 hours
Pays: £25 in cash UCL SONA credits (you can also get a picture of your brain!)
Remaining slots: 30
sign up for future studies
If you don't meet any of the criteria above, but you would still like to participate in one of our studies, please sign up to receive notifications when new studies become available.