Ongoing Research Studies
Speech Processes in People who Stutter:
Recruiting adults who stutter 16-60 years of age, who have normal hearing.
Compensation: $12 Experiment length: ~ 1 hour
When individuals frequently stutter while speaking, these speech disruptions lead to communication difficulties. In many cases, these communication difficulties impact the daily lives of the individuals who stutter. Auditory feedback, or hearing oneself while speaking, can help to promote fluent speech.
The aim of the current study is to understand if individuals who stutter use auditory information differently than individuals who do not stutter. If individuals who stutter do in fact process auditory information differently during speech production, this information may aid in the development of treatments for stuttering. In order to answer this research question, we will recruit volunteers ranging in age from 16-60 year old. In total this study will recruit 324 participants. During the study you will be saying a word into a microphone many times, while listening to yourself through headphones. This study will provide research that will help to guide the development of effective methods for treating speech disfluencies such as stuttering.
For more information please email: speechstudy@joneslab.ca
*Study approved by the Research Ethics Board at Wilfrid Laurier University (REB#3621)
Toddler Speech and Singing Development Study
Recruiting children 2-3 years of age
Speech disorders affect approximately 13% of children. Fortunately, with early diagnosis the impact of these disorders can be reduced. One of the easiest ways to diagnose these disorders is to identify deviations from the normal population. This can be made possible by investigating the normal developmental pattern in healthy individuals.
During this experiment your child will be one of 304 participants invited to play a fun interactive game that requires them to vocalize a word while helping a lamb find it's mother. The experiment lasts approximately 30 minutes. You are welcome to join your child for the duration of the experiment. This study will provide research that will help guide the development of effective methods for diagnosing speech and communication disorders.
Parents can choose to receive a $10 gift card to ToysRus or Starbucks for participating.
*Study approved by the Research Ethics Board at Wilfrid Laurier University (REB#3621)
For more information please email: speechstudy@joneslab.ca
Speech Development in Individuals with Autism (ASD)
Recruiting right-handed adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) who are 16-30 years of age, with normal hearing, normal or corrected-to-normal vision, and whose first language or most proficient language is English.
Compensation: $12
Experiment Length: Approximately 1 hr
Communication difficulties are common in individuals with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These communication deficits are often used as a method of early detection. With early diagnosis and intervention, the impact of these communication deficits can be greatly reduced. One of the easiest ways to diagnose communication disorders is by recognizing deviations from normal vocal patterns. In order to do this, we require a wide range of adolescent and adult volunteers with ASD who vary in age from 16-60 years. In total, this study will recruit 304 participants.
During the study, you will be saying a word into a microphone many times while listening to yourself through headphones.
This study will provide research that will help guide the development of effective methods for diagnosing speech and communication disorders in individuals with Autism.
*Study approved by the Research Ethics Board at Wilfrid Laurier University (REB#3621)
For more information please email: speechstudy@joneslab.ca
Are you "Tone Deaf" ?
Recruiting adults 16 years of age or older
We are looking for individuals who consider themselves to be "tone deaf". If you feel you have difficulty telling the difference between musical notes, and that this affects your enjoyment of music and / or your ability to sing, then we want to hear from you! We are currently collecting contact and demographic information from individuals so that we may recruit participants for various research studies in the future. In addition to collecting your contact and demographic information, we ask that you complete our online auditory processing assessment. The results of this test, and the other information you provide, will be used to determine whether you fit our criteria for a variety of studies that we conduct at our research centre.
To provide you contact information and complete our online auditory processing assessment, please go to the following link:
Brain Processes during Sports Betting:
Are you feeling lucky? Participate in an interactive EEG study – help us investigate gambling behaviour.
Recruiting 60 right-handed individuals with normal or corrected-to-normal vision, who are between 18 and 60 years old
Compensation: $18 in cash (OR 2 PREP credits), plus a chance to win a $100 Tim Horton’s Gift Card!
Experiment Length: Approximately 2 hours
Most sports game / horse race gamblers heavily rely on information regarding the past performances of teams / horses to predict the winner of an upcoming game or race. In order to understand the neurological mechanisms of perceiving and processing pre-game information, we are conducting an EEG study while participants gamble. Electroencephalography (EEG) is the measure of electrical activity patterns in the brain recorded by electrodes placed on the scalp.
During the study, we are asking volunteers to place bets on a number of horse races while we obtain neurological data using EEG.
*Study approved by the Research Ethics Board at Wilfrid Laurier University (REB#3356).