WHO DO WE NEED: We are looking for adult individuals with autism spectrum conditions to take part in our new study.
PROCEDURE: The study consists of two experiments:
Experiment 1: Measuring eye movements: You will first be asked to complete a couple of questionnaires. Then, the eye-tracking portion of the experiment will begin, which will be split into two parts. In part one you will be simply required to view pairs of visual stimuli on a screen (e.g. landscapes, people) whilst your eye movements are recorded. In part two, you will be required to compare stimuli and make simple judgements about them. The total length of this experiment will be ~ 75 minutes.
Experiment 2: Virtual Reality: In this experiment, you will wear a virtual reality headset (looks and feels similar to a cycle helmet, see https://www.oculus.com/ for an example). You will observe your and other’s virtual bodies. You will observe these virtual bodies walking, or sitting. You will be asked to make simple judgments about what you see. During this task, we will record physiological responses (e.g. your sweating and your heart rate). Following this, we will measure your sensory sensitivity using a device similar to a computer mouse. You will also perform a couple of tasks to measure spatial your ability. In all, this experiment will take ~80 minutes.
CONTACT: Please email Dr Nicholas Hedger (n.hedger@reading.ac.uk) or call +44 118 378 4699 if you are interested to participate in these experiments, that together will last ~ 3 hours.
We will pay £30 as a token of reimbursement for completing both experiments and cover your travel expenses. We would be very grateful for your participation.
This application has been reviewed by the University Research Ethics Committee and has been given a favourable ethical opinion for conduct.
RESEARCHERS: Nicholas Hedger, Bhismadev Chakrabarti