Ruthie contributes to science
Nov. 29th, 2006 03:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanYesterday Ruthie participated in a study they're doing at Children's Hospital to investigate the way memory works in babies. We went a bit early, met my mom and ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sandykidd for lunch, then went over to Children's where three enthusiastic young chickies (when did they start making doctoral candidates so young? (orbitalmechanic excluded)) met us, went over all the details and paperwork, etc., and then took us into a back room.
They showed Ruthie some shapes on a computer screen for a while. First they used a video camera to record her reaction while they flashed the same shape over and over, and then when they decided she was tired of it, they showed her a different one. The idea being to find out whether she prefers to look at the familiar image or the new one.
Then, they put a special cap on her head, made up of a bunch of tiny sponges with sensors inside them. Apparently this allows them to record brain waves. Ruthie wasn't too excited about the headgear, but they were quite well-prepared; they had a bunch of toys, and one of the women distracted Ruthie with the toys (with my help) while the other one snuck up behind her with the cap. Then we played with toys for a few minutes so she could get used to the cap, and then they showed her the same images on the screen again. She got pretty cranky about it all, because it was boring and the cap felt weird; but it only lasted a few more minutes and they said she did great. Not surprisingly, they said that most babies get fussy like that, after they realize, "hey, waitaminnit, you're just showing me the same old shapes again and again! Been there, seen that!"
Anyway, they were quite enthusiastic about Ruthie's performance, saying repeatedly that she had done GREAT. Then they took me to a storeroom where they had a bunch of toys, and they let Ruthie (i.e., me ;) ) pick one out, and they gave me $10 for my trouble, and off we went.
I felt a little bad about how fussy Ruthie was, especially since she was pretty tired -- she did nap in the morning, but we had a lot of adventures between the nap and the actual experiment. But she was perfectly cheery in the office beforehand, when the woman was explaining the study to me; so I think that the boringness of the experiment contributed to her fussiness, and that's okay. They must see lots of babies who get like that. Of course, with all the dozens of babies they see for this study, mine is the cutest. ;)
I had brought my camera along just in case, and when they showed us into this dark little room where they did the experiment, I thought, "oh well, so much for that." But they thought of everything! They had a Polaroid camera there and they took a picture for me while Ruthie had the weird sensor cap on. "One for the baby book," said the main woman, and since LJ is my baby book, here it is. :)
Hee hee! That was pretty fun, actually. :)
sandykidd for lunch, then went over to Children's where three enthusiastic young chickies (when did they start making doctoral candidates so young? (orbitalmechanic excluded)) met us, went over all the details and paperwork, etc., and then took us into a back room.They showed Ruthie some shapes on a computer screen for a while. First they used a video camera to record her reaction while they flashed the same shape over and over, and then when they decided she was tired of it, they showed her a different one. The idea being to find out whether she prefers to look at the familiar image or the new one.
Then, they put a special cap on her head, made up of a bunch of tiny sponges with sensors inside them. Apparently this allows them to record brain waves. Ruthie wasn't too excited about the headgear, but they were quite well-prepared; they had a bunch of toys, and one of the women distracted Ruthie with the toys (with my help) while the other one snuck up behind her with the cap. Then we played with toys for a few minutes so she could get used to the cap, and then they showed her the same images on the screen again. She got pretty cranky about it all, because it was boring and the cap felt weird; but it only lasted a few more minutes and they said she did great. Not surprisingly, they said that most babies get fussy like that, after they realize, "hey, waitaminnit, you're just showing me the same old shapes again and again! Been there, seen that!"
Anyway, they were quite enthusiastic about Ruthie's performance, saying repeatedly that she had done GREAT. Then they took me to a storeroom where they had a bunch of toys, and they let Ruthie (i.e., me ;) ) pick one out, and they gave me $10 for my trouble, and off we went.
I felt a little bad about how fussy Ruthie was, especially since she was pretty tired -- she did nap in the morning, but we had a lot of adventures between the nap and the actual experiment. But she was perfectly cheery in the office beforehand, when the woman was explaining the study to me; so I think that the boringness of the experiment contributed to her fussiness, and that's okay. They must see lots of babies who get like that. Of course, with all the dozens of babies they see for this study, mine is the cutest. ;)
I had brought my camera along just in case, and when they showed us into this dark little room where they did the experiment, I thought, "oh well, so much for that." But they thought of everything! They had a Polaroid camera there and they took a picture for me while Ruthie had the weird sensor cap on. "One for the baby book," said the main woman, and since LJ is my baby book, here it is. :)
Hee hee! That was pretty fun, actually. :)
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 10:09 pm (UTC)I am Ruthie of Borg!
Date: 2006-11-29 11:43 pm (UTC)Re: I am Ruthie of Borg!
Date: 2006-11-30 04:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-01 11:37 am (UTC)