[Md-sligo] FW: information on Princeton/Georgetown research study

[Brown, Debbie]

I don't know how much money is involved in any of these studies.  The one on language processing requires that you have no light perception and that you were born blind; the one on music processing is for any blind person.

The contact information is in the email.

Debbie Brown


From: Gail Snider [mailto:gsnider at clb.org]
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 3:37 PM
To: gailsnider07 at comcast.net; Brown, Debbie
Subject: FW: information on Princeton/Georgetown research study



Gail Snider
Information and Referral Specialist
Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind
8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 210
Silver Spring, MD 20910
Phone: 240-737-5170
Fax: 301-589-7281
Email: gsnider at clb.org<mailto:gsnider at clb.org>
Web: www.clb.org<http://www.clb.org>
From: alanadalfonso at gmail.com<mailto:alanadalfonso at gmail.com> [mailto:alanadalfonso at gmail.com]<mailto:[mailto:alanadalfonso at gmail.com]> On Behalf Of Alana D'Alfonso
Sent: Monday, November 28, 2011 2:23 PM
To: Gail Snider
Subject: information on Princeton/Georgetown research study
--
Alana D'Alfonso, B.A.
Intramural Research Training Award Fellow
Theodore Lab, Clinical Epilepsy Section
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH
dalfonsoat at mail.nih.gov<http://dalfonsoat@mail.nih.gov/>
301.451.8486<tel:301.451.8486>


Participate in paid research studies on blindness!

About the study: The brains of blind individuals are different from those of the sighted in that part of the brain called the occipital cortex which normally processes visual information in the sighted is involved in processing of information gathered from other senses such as touch and hearing.  This phenomenon, called crossmodal plasticity, is understood as changes resulting from long-term visual deprivation in the blind and has been shown in performance of non-visual tasks such as Braille reading, verbal tasks, shape discrimination, and sound localization.  We hope to further our understanding of crossmodal plasticity by examining other behavioral domains that have not yet been investigated.  Findings of our studies will not only have potential implications for blindness rehabilitation but also contribute significantly to our understanding of how the human brain works.
We are currently looking for blind volunteers who would be interested in participating in one or both of our two studies.  Our first study focuses on language processing in the blind. Participants will be asked to listen to a story while in a magnetic resonance imaging or MRI machine. Findings will be used to help determine if the occipital cortex in the blind involved in processing linguistic information.

For the second study, we are examining melody processing in the blind, more specifically, how long-term visual deprivation affects the way blind people process sound in general and pitch in particular.  This will also be an fMRI study where the task will be to listen to sequences of tones and make simple perceptual judgments on them in the scanner.  Findings of this study will help understand superior pitch abilities that the blind possess compared to the sighted, and further knowledge on musical processing in the blind.

Each of these studies will last approximately 2.5 hours, and all the participants will be reimbursed for travel expenses and participation in the studies.  MRI has been shown to be a safe imaging technique as no known side effects have been reported.

Who we are looking for: For the study on the language processing, we are looking for those who have been blind from birth and are ages 18-65 with no residual vision or light sensitivity. For the study on pitch processing, blind individuals who became blind at any age are welcome to participate.

Location: The language study will take place at both Georgetown University located in Washington D.C. as well as Princeton University located in Princeton, NJ. Princeton is located between New York and Philadelphia and is accessible via train. Participants may choose which location is more convenient for them.  The music study will take place only at Georgetown University in Washington D.C.

Contact Us: If you are interested, please contact Alana D'Alfonso at dalfonso at alumni.princeton.edu<mailto:dalfonso at alumni.princeton.edu> or 610-500-1150<tel:610-500-1150>.
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