How can my child and I begin participating in your studies?

If you would like to participate in one of our studies at the DSCN Lab, head over to the Participate tab to see how you can join us. If you are interested in participating in studies at UMD in general, contact us via email to get enrolled in the Infant and Child Studies Database.

How do I know if my child is eligible for a study?

If you decide to sign your child up for the University of Maryland’s Infant and Child Studies Database, a researcher will contact you to gather additional information. Once all of this information has been gathered, one of researchers will call you when we believe your child may be a good fit for one of our current studies.

Where do our studies take place?

Well, it depends on what type of visit your child will be participating in. If it’s a behavioral visit, the visit will take place within the DSCN lab located inside the Biology-Psychology Building on UMD-CP’s campus. Part of the behavioral visit can be conducted online as well! If you and your child are participating in an MRI visit, the visit will take place at the Maryland Neuroimaging Center (MNC) located less than 0.5 miles away from UMD-CP campus.

How do I know if my child is eligible for a study?

If you would like to sign your child up for the University of Maryland’s Infant and Child Studies Database, email us to let us know, and a researcher will contact you to gather additional information. Once all of this information has been gathered, one of researchers will call you when we believe your child may be a good fit for one of our current studies.

What happens during a visit to the DSCN lab?

If you and your child are visiting the DSCN lab, your child will be participating in a behavioral session of ours! In a behavioral session, your child will get to watch movies, do some interactive activities on a computer, and take some surveys about themselves with a researcher in one of our study rooms. You will also get to take some surveys with a researcher while your child takes theirs!

What happens during a visit to the Maryland Neuroimaging Center (MNC)?

If you and your child are visiting the MNC, your child will be participating in a MRI session of ours! This is where we will take pictures of your child’s brain while they are watching a movie or performing a task in our MRI scanners. We will use a pretend MRI scanner to practice everything related to the MRI scanner with you and your child before your child even enters the real MRI scanner. That way, you can rest easy knowing that your child will be comfortable in the real scanner!

Where will I be while my child is participating?

For the behavioral studies, you can sit right outside the door of the study room in which we are testing. For the MRI studies, you can sit in the MRI control room and look through the window to see your child while they are in the scanner, just a few feet away. You can also sit inside the scanner room if you would like to be closer--just let a researcher know, and we will give you an additional safety screening to go inside.

Are there any risks involved?

There are no unusual risks involved in any of our behavioral studies. Your child’s behavioral session will involve experiences such as playing games, listening to stories, or answering questions asked by one of our researchers.

As for risks involved in our MRI studies, the MRI procedure itself is known to be safe and is widely used in medical practice. We will, however, have you complete a screening form about your child to ensure that your child may not have any medical conditions (i.e., epilepsy) nor metal implants (i.e., bone screws) in their body. This screening form will help us ensure that it is safe for your child to enter an MRI scanner! We will review this screening with you before we schedule any sessions in the study.

Of course, if at any point during a study, you or your child no longer wish to participate, you may stop without penalty. We will be glad that you gave it a try!

How long do visits to the DSCN lab take?

It depends on the type of session. Each of the two behavioral sessions take about 2 to 2.5 hours individually, or you can combine both into one 5-hour visit. MRI sessions take about 3 to 3.5 hours, but your child will only be in the scanner for about one hour.

How flexible is the DSCN lab when it comes to scheduling sessions?

We are very flexible when it comes to scheduling sessions. We offer appointments as early as 9am and, typically, as late as 6pm on weekdays. We even offer appointments on weekends.