Aalto Aivokummit

As an aivokummi, you get to know modern brain imaging equipment, contribute to new scientific insights, and get compensation for your trouble (usually in the form of a gift card). Furthermore, all our aivokummit are invited to attend our occasional themed afternoons, where you will be updated on the latest results that were obtained with your help.

What it means to be an aivokummi

By becoming an aivokummi, you will from time to time receive recruitment emails asking for your participation in a neuroimaging study. If a study catches your interest:

1. Check that you meet the inclusion criteria mentioned in the email. For example, a study may require native Finnish speakers, or volunteers in a particular age range.
2. If you fit the criteria and wish to participate, contact the coordinating researcher of the study per the instructions given in the email.
3. When the study is ready to receive more participants, you will be sent detailed information about the study: its purpose, the type of data that is recorded and how it is stored and processed, and your compensation.
4. The coordinating researcher will schedule a time with you and give you information on where to go. There may be multiple sessions necessary for the study.
5. Participate in the study and receive your compensation and gratitude from the researchers.
6. Your data will now be used to further scientific research into the workings of the human brain!

Participation is always voluntary and you can decide to stop participating at any time.

Become an aivokummi

Sign up to our mailing list to become an aivokummi and start receiving recruitment emails. You may also sign up for one of our currently running studies (see list below). The list follows the privacy notice for Aalto University communications and events. You can unsubscribe from the email list at any time. We thank you in advance for your contribution to research.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP TO THE MAILING LIST

You can also find the list of currently running studies below. We will try our best to keep this list up-to-date, so if you bookmark the list, you can quickly see what studies are currently open to receiving new participants at any time.

What is your attitude towards participation in neuroimaging experiments?

We are running an anonymous survey to understand how do people feel about taking part to neuroimaging experiments and what their concerns might be. Please help us understand better these issues and take the survey now!

Currently ongoing studies

Here below a list of brain imaging studies that are currently running at Aalto University. If you wish to volunteer, please get in touch with the contact person for each individual study.

Visual word recognition study (June-October 2024)

What exactly goes on in the brain when we recognize some markings on a piece of paper as words? Participate in our study on visual word recognition, where we use state-of-the-art brain imaging techniques to collect as many pieces of the puzzle as we can!

Task

The study is mostly performed inside a magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanner, which (passively) measures the magnetic field generated by the neurons in your brain (about 90 mins). During the MEG measurement, you will be presented with a series of visual stimuli ( that contain letters, letter-like symbols, meaningless patterns, etc.). To keep you engaged, you are continuously asked to answer questions about the stimuli by pressing a button.

We also want to make a magnetic resonance image (MRI) of your head, which we will do in a separate session (about 30 minutes).

To compensate you for your trouble, you will receive a gift card to the Aalto University shop of 30€.

Inclusion criteria

• Native Finnish speaking

• Between 18-50 years old

• No history of neurological, psychiatric, or language disorders such as dyslexia

• Right-handed

• No ferromagnetic metals in or on the body, such as pacemakers, cochlear implants, prostheses, braces, nonremovable piercings, etc.

How to join the study

This study will be carried out this summer (June-October) on the campus of Aalto University. If you are interested, please follow the link below to sign up, or contact one of the coordinating researchers below, and we will send you more information about the study and schedule a suitable time with you.

Thank you for your possible participation in our research!

>> CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP <<

Coordinating researchers

Marijn van Vliet
[email protected]

Laura Rautiainen
[email protected]