Current Studies
If you are an undergraduate looking to participate in Human Subject Research for classroom credit, please go to the Undergraduate SONA research page.
Adults 45 years and older (<60 years) are needed for a study on how seeing a speaker’s face helps with understanding what the speaker said. Researchers in the Language, Intersensory Perception, and Speech (LIPS) lab at UMass Amherst are seeking volunteers with American English as their first language. The study requires a 2-hour visit and a 3-hour visit to the lab on campus. Participants will be paid $10 per hour for their time. All personnel has volunteered to wear masks and currently only appointments for participants willing to wear doubled surgical masks are open. The first lab visit includes various computerized tasks that assess hearing, vision, and judgments about what a speaker says. The second visit involves recording the participants’ brain waves with an EEG cap on their head while they watch and listen to a speaker.
$10/hr for a 2hr visit and a 3hr visit
We are looking for:
• Healthy kids from 11-12 and 15-17 years old.
What we study?
• We study decision making using an online computerized game to understand your decisions.
What you would do?
You will play an online game where you must discover what gear makes a pilot better in a race by making choices using your keyboard. A researcher will set up the game for you and will be watching the session through a videocall.
Participants:
• Will receive a stipend (between $12 - $15).
Contact:
• Please contact Ramiro Rea in the Neuro-Learning & Performance Lab at 413-489-1209 or kwak.online.study@gmail.com
We need:
- Adults between 18 and 35 years of age who are native speakers of American English
- You must be right-handed and have normal hearing in both ears
- You must have normal vision or wear appropriate glasses/contact lenses
- You cannot have a history of language disorder or neurological and
psychiatric issues
- You should not have taken psychoactive medication in the two weeks prior
to the appointment
What will you be asked to do?
You would come to the lab in Tobin Hall for a one-time visit. During your
visit in the lab, you will be asked to rate whether short English phrases
were pronounced correctly. While you are listening, your brainwaves (EEG)
will be recorded by a cap of electrodes that will be placed on your head.
What Covid measures are implemented?
All personnel has volunteered to wear masks and currently only appointments
for participants willing to wear doubled surgical masks are open.
How would you be compensated?
You would receive $12 per hour, rounded to the nearest half of an hour. The
session is between 2.5-3.5 hrs, so you can get up to $42.
Contact:
Please leave a message for Bella Cerulle at (413) 461-0299 or email
lipslab@umass.edu.
$12 per hour for 2.5 - 3.5 hour visit
In this study you will be asked to listen to a speaker talk and to indicate what the speaker said or will say by pressing buttons or by typing a response. We may track your eye movements while you listen to speech. We will also ask you a few demographic questions.
You must fulfill these criteria:
- American English was your first language and the only language you grew up speaking at home
- 18-30 years old
- Normal or corrected-to-normal vision
- Normal hearing
- No psychoactive medication use
- No diagnosed language or attention problems
- No neurological issues.
$5
The FAM Lab is currently recruiting parents and
teenagers to come into our lab and participate together in a study
examining parent-teenager relationships and the effect they have on
behavior and emotions.
The study will take up to 2.5 hours and will involve parents and teenagers
to engage in a couple of tasks as well as filling out surveys. During the
visit, we will also collect saliva samples to measure hormonal activity and
apply sensors to measure breathing and heart rates throughout the visit.
To be eligible for this study, participants should not have an autoimmune,
neurological, heart arrhythmia and/or psychiatric disorder, or be currently
pregnant. Participants should also not show any COVID-related symptoms and
must be fully vaccinated.
Families can get paid up to $70 for their participation and may be eligible
for an additional $5 travel reimbursement.
Participation is completely voluntary and information is confidential.
$70
Help us learn if physical activity benefits learning and napping in preschool children!
WHO: We are recruiting preschool children (33 to 71 months) that frequently nap along with a caregiver (and have access to a computer/tablet with internet) for one of two in-home studies. No campus visits involved!
WHAT: Over a 16-day period, each study will include…
• Initial online assessment session: caregiver questionnaires, child cognitive & fitness assessment
• Two ‘testing’ days, each with: A morning activity or quiet play session (with caregiver assistance), two memory assessments (brief online meetings), and sleep measures during afternoon nap (Study 1 only)
• Movement and sleep tracking of child via a watch for 16 days
• Completion of a study diary by caregivers
COMPENSATION:
• $65 plus 1 story book (Study 1) or $45 plus 6 story books (Study 2)
To learn more about the study or learn if your child is eligible, contact our research team at cstlaurent@umass.edu or (413) 545-4831 or visit https://blogs.umass.edu/cstlaurent/.
The UMass ViTAL Lab is seeking parent and child volunteers to help us learn more about how stress affects young children's feelings and behavior, and about what parents do to help their children manage stress.
You may be eligible if:
You are over the age of 18
Have a child between age 4-6
Contact us for more information!
You can earn up to $75 and your child can earn a gift valued at $15 by participating in this study.
Participation is voluntary and information is confidential.
To learn more about how to participate, please email us at vitallab@umass.edu, call us at 413-345-5346 or scan this QR code & share your contact info with us - one of our staff will contact you.
The UMass Amherst Somneuro Lab is seeking research participants 18-35 years to participate in remote scientific studies (anywhere in the USA) and/or to sleep in the UMass Amherst Sleep Lab overnight.
Compensation ($10-75) and SONA credit available.
Contact Us Today: somneurolab+netflo@gmail.com
Participate in remote sleep studies!
The Somneuro Lab at UMass Amherst is recruiting for a variety of at-home studies examining the relationship between sleep and memory in older adults.
All studies can be completed from the comfort of your own home, and we will provide all materials needed to complete the study!
All communication will take place over phone or email to maintain social distancing, and any materials or equipment needed will delivered to your home by one of our research staff.
Participants will be asked to complete a computer-based memory task and will then have their memory tested after sleeping or staying awake.
Compensation is available from $15-$200 in the form of an electronic gift card!
If interested, call (413) 545-4831 or email somneurolab+aging@gmail.com
Somneuro Lab, UMass Amherst
somneurolab.com
Researchers at the Learning Lab and the Human Performance Lab are studying teen drivers’ cognitive skills and their use of automated driving systems. They are seeking teen drivers who are ready to test for or have recently received their junior operator license. In the first visit, teen drivers will complete several computer tasks during a 45-minute session at the Learning Lab. In each of the next four visits, teens will complete a 60-minute driving session in the driving simulator at the Human Performance Lab. Participants should not be prone to motion sickness.
Teens can earn up to $150 for participation in all 5 sessions, and parents can earn up for $50. The full breakdown of compensation can be seen below:
Visit 1: $20 for teen, $10 for parent
Visit 2: $25 for teen, $10 for parent
Visit 3: $30 for teen, $10 for parent
Visit 4: $35 for teen, $10 for parent
Visit 5: $40 for teen, $10 for parent
Both lab locations are on the UMass Amherst campus. For more information, please contact Christina Hogan at TeenDriveStudy@gmail.com or fill out our intake form
The goal of the Mapping Aspects of Psychotherapy in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (MAPDBT) research study is to compare how different parts of evidence-based group therapy may improve emotional functioning among people who struggle to manage their emotions and have self-destructive behaviors. Participants will receive 6 weeks of free group therapy. Although these group interventions are based on evidence-based care, they are experimental as we do not know how six weeks of each separate group will affect your symptoms.
Participants would be required to attend 6 weeks of virtual group therapy (2 hours each session), come for 3 in-person visits (3 hours each session) to the Clinical Affective Science Lab (CASL) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (maintaining social distance and following safety guidelines), and complete sets of online surveys. Unfortunately, the in-person sessions cannot be done virtually. In addition, participants will be compensated a small amount for participation (up to $145 for the full study).
Before people sign up for the study, we like to provide participants with more information on what participation involves. Additionally, we would also like to ask some questions about some psychological symptoms they may have experienced in order to ensure that they qualify for the study. This phone call should take about 30-40 minutes to complete and can be scheduled by emailing caslab@umass.edu.
We will be launching a final round of groups in the fall, and will be completing participant enrollment soon. Please contact our lab now to complete the screening process and pre-group requirements, many of which can be completed virtually!
Visit the CASL website for more information: https://www.caslumass.com/
