Map of the surroundings, location of CBRU is marked in red.
We warmly welcome you to take part in our experiments! This document is created to inform you about the practical issues related participating in our experiments.
CBRU is part of the faculty of behavioral sciences and located in Kruunuhaka. The exact address is Siltavuorenpenger 20 C. The easiest way to find us is to go to Liisankatu, then walk uphill along Snellmaninkatu, turn right and walk up the hill, turn left and walk forward till you reach the door.
CBRU is easy to reach with public transportation, for example trams 1, 6, 7a, 7b, 3a ja 3b and all buses travelling along Kaisaniemenkatu stop very close to our unit. The nearest subway station is Kaisaniemi.
There are no public parking lots in front of CBRU. The nearest parking lots are on Liisankatu and Hakaniemi square.
Once the experimenter has scheduled a time for your experiment, please take care to arrive in time. If you are going to be late, please contact the experimenter. In some experiments you may be required to fill in some forms or questionaires in advance. If so, please remember to bring the forms with you.
You do not need to prepare for the experiment in any particular way, unless the experimenter has certain instructions you should follow. But in any case, we hope you won't show up very tired, intoxicated or ill. If you aren't feeling well or are tired, simply ask the experimenter reschedule the experiment.
If you use glasses of contact lenses, we would prefer you to bring glasses instead and leave the contact lenses at home.
Should your experiment take place outside the office hours (mon-fri 08-16), the door into the department may be locked. Please make sure that you have the experimenter's phone number so that you can call him in case you cannot get in.
If you want more details about the experiment of the study you're participating in, please contact the researcher responsible for the experiment.
Prior to the start of the experiment we'll have you wear an electrode cap. In order to measure the electrical activity of your brain, we need to connect electrodes to your scalp with a bit of water soluble gel. The preparations usually take approximately 20 minutes.
Once the electrodes have been connected, you'll be led to an electronically shielded room where the experiment takes place. Experiments usually consist of different parts, out of which some may be active task and others passive. In active tasks you will be presented different types of stimuli and you need to react to them in some manner, such as pressing a button. Passive tasks require you to do nothing, usually you are simply instructed to watch a silent movie for the duration of the task. Certain experiments may also contain somewhat more complex tasks.
As a research method EEG (electroencephalography) is quick, non-invasive and safe. The only inconvience the subjects may experience is the small amount of water soluble gel left in the hair. Due to this you can use the shower and wash your hair after the experiment. For this purpose the unit has both shampoo and towels available.
We would like you to sit as still as possible during the experiment as possible, and avoid blinking. Moving and blinking is impossible to avoid completely, however, but we hope you do the best you can. Moving and eyeblinks cause quite large artifacts and disturbance for the data being recorded.
If the experiment is long and you feel tired, please ask for a break. We will also offer coffee/tea and some small snacks if necessary.
When participating, you will be asked to read and sign a consent form, which allows the researchers to use the recorded data in their studies. In most of our studies we do not study or inspect data recorded from individual subjects but the averaged data of a larger group. If detailed analysis and publication of individual data is deemed necessary, all the data are shown without the subject's name or any markers, which would allow the reader to recognize the identity of the subject from the text. Should the Personal Data Act apply, we naturally follow the legistlation.
During the data analysis, subjects are referenced only by subject number, not by name, initials or by other means which would allow the identification of the subject in question. Questionaires or other data can only be studied by the members of the research group and are kept confidential.
The most common reward are movie tickets, in general one ticket for every 90 minutes the experiment takes. It is possible to be paid in money instead, but then you need to fill out a form for this and bring in your tax receipt form.
In case there is a proble, please contact either the experimenter or the office of the department of psychology: detailed contact information are found online from the links below.