Participants: must be between age 30-60.
What will happen if you take part?
If you decide to take part, there will be one session in which you will first meet with a researcher to complete a questionnaire about any medical or psychiatric conditions you may have had. Then we will take your blood pressure. Following this we will ask you to complete a task in which you will view some positive, negative or neutral pictures. Some of these are designed to make you feel a little sad or upset but in general most people are able to see these without too much distress. Also, while viewing these pictures you may sometimes hear a loud, unexpected noise. This may startle you a little but again most people find this tolerable. During the task we will be putting some electrodes around your eye muscles to measure your physiological responses. It is a completely pain-free procedure; however, if you experience any discomfort at any part of the experiment you can always leave the study with no explanations. There are no right or wrong answers on these questionnaires or tasks, and it is not a test. The questionnaire is completely private and your answers and your scores will NOT be shared with anyone else. You will also participate in a simple behavioural task involving photographs of facial expressions and performed using a joystick. Your responses on the questionnaire and your physiological and behavioural data obtained on the experimental task will NOT be shared with anyone else. This session will take about 1 hour to complete.
Are there any advantages to taking part?
To say thank you, everyone who completes our study will receive a payment at the rate of £10 an hour in addition to reimbursement of travel expenses!
If you have any questions or require more information about this study, please contact us using the following contact details:
Meenakshi Shukla
Ph.D. Student, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, Department of Psychology, Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8AF.