Participate

Participate in our research!

If you think you have an interesting brain, please get in touch! You can contact Professor Fedorenko at evelina9@mit.edu.

What we are looking for:

We are interested in diverse atypicalities in both adults and children, including the following conditions:

• childhood strokes (if you are an adult who has experienced a stroke and now suffers from some form of aphasia, we might be interested in having you participate in another ongoing project on aphasia recovery, in collaboration with Professor Kiran at BU, so please contact us as well);
• cysts;
• hydrocephalus;
• some cases of resection (for epilepsy/tumors) (we are especially interested in large resections in the left hemisphere).

What participation involves:

If we decide that you are a good candidate for our study, we will bring you out to Boston for a 2-day visit (for children, we will also cover the expenses of the accompanying adult).

Adult participants:

During the visit, you will take part in two ~2 hour fMRI scanning sessions. During these sessions, you would lie on your back inside a large magnet tube and perform diverse tasks. Here is a video about fMRI studies at MIT. You will also complete some behavioral tests outside of the scanner (~ 4 hours across two days).

Child participants:

During the visit, you will take part in one or two fMRI scanning sessions (the session would last up to ~1 hour, but the duration will depend on the age of the child and how well they tolerate the scanner environment). For the younger kids, we may also do a practice session in our ‘mock scanner’ to get the child used to the environment. Here is a video about pediatric fMRI studies at MIT. The child will also complete some behavioral tests/games outside of the scanner (~ 2 hours across two days).

To participate in our research, please email Professor Fedorenko at evelina9@mit.edu.