What it's like to come to the lab

We have now finished collecting data for our study on the understanding of others' actions. We tested 58 young people from 12-18 years old, with and without autism.

Participants came to the university for about 3 hours. We measured their brain activity and where they were looking, did an IQ test that feels like a game, and we had some questionnaires for the parents/carers. For the parents/carers of the young people with autism we also completed an interview.

To say thank you, we gave participants a gift card and we reimbursed their travel costs.

Usually participants come to the lab with a parent or caregiver. We pick them up from the entrance and get them a cup of coffee on the way to the lab. There, we explain everything and make plenty of time for participants to ask all their questions. 

We measure the looking behaviour and brain activity using electroencephalography (EEG) of the participants while they watch videos. Our brains are always giving off very small electrical activity, and with EEG we can use sensors to pick up that activity. The sensors need contact with the skin, so we put them in a cap (see above) and add gel to the sensors to improve the conductivity. After putting it on, participants can see their own brain activity in real time! (See right)

Then it's time to watch the videos. In this study, they were videos of people doing various daily activities. Altogether the videos lasted about 40 minutes with short breaks in between. During the videos we recorded how active the motor system was, which is used during moving and carrying out actions. We know that non-autistic individuals use their own motor system while watching someone else act, but there is some evidence that this is different in autistic individuals. We want to check whether this is perhaps a consequence of the predictability of the videos (see my research interests to read more about this idea).