Effects of Spatial Attention on Visual Processing

Participant Information Sheet

You are being invited to take part in a research project. Before you decide, it is important for you to understand why the project is being done and what it will involve. Please take time to read the following information carefully and discuss it with others if you wish. Ask us if there is anything that is not clear or if you would like more information. Take time to decide whether you wish to take part.

This research is part of a large international collaboration called EEGManyLabs, which aims to test whether findings from brain research studies can be replicated across different laboratories worldwide. We are specifically examining whether a well-known effect in brain activity -- increased neural response when people pay attention to visual patterns -- can be reliably detected in different research settings. This is important because it helps us understand how trustworthy and generalisable findings from brain research truly are. By participating, you will contribute to improving research practices in neuroscience and help us understand whether current methods for measuring brain activity work consistently across different groups of people and laboratories.

You have been identified as a potential participant because you responded to a recruitment email, poster or social media advert. You should only take part if the following conditions apply to you:

18 years of age or older

Have normal or corrected-to-normal vision

If you feel uncomfortable answering questions about your mood, anxiety, wellbeing, or mental health, you should not participate in this study.

These criteria are intended to ensure that you do not experience any ill-effects or distress from taking part and to ensure that the experimental data we collect is valid and representative of the general population.

We aim to recruit 40 participants for this study.

No – it’s up to you. You can ask questions about the project before deciding whether to take part. If you do not want to take part that is OK. If you wish to take part, we will ask you to sign a consent form and will give you a copy. Please consider retaining a copy of the record of consent for your future reference. You can stop being part of the project at any time, without giving a reason. You may withdraw from the project by informing the researcher, who will be present throughout the experiment, they will then end the session immediately.

If you choose to take part, we will invite you to the lab at LJMU and talk you through the experimental procedure and answer any of your questions before starting the experiment. We will ask you to sign a consent form and will give you a copy. Please consider retaining a copy of the record of consent for your future reference.

We will fit an EEG cap and electrodes to your head. This will involve putting on an elasticated cap and applying conductive gel to your scalp. The gel is water-based and washes off easily, we will provide you with facilities to wash your hair after finishing the session. The EEG electrodes only record your naturally occurring electrical brain activity – they do not create an electrical stimulus or sensation.

When the EEG cap has been set up, we will then ask you to complete a visual attention task. In this task, you will see black and white checkerboard patterns appearing briefly on the left and right sides of a computer screen. At the start of each block of trials, an instruction will tell you which side of the screen to pay attention to (left or right). Your task is to keep looking at a dot in the centre of the screen throughout the task but pay attention to the side you've been instructed to watch. Occasionally, a slightly smaller checkerboard pattern will appear – when you notice this smaller "target" pattern on the side you're attending to, you should press the spacebar as quickly as possible. You should ignore targets that appear on the side you're not meant to be watching.

The task is divided into 60 short blocks, each lasting about 40 seconds. You will have self-paced breaks between blocks, so you can rest whenever you need to. The task will take approximately 45 minutes in total, including breaks. Progress notifications will appear at 25%, 50%, and 75% completion to let you know how far through the task you are.

We will also use an eye-tracking camera to monitor your eye position during the task. This camera only records the position of your pupil to ensure you are maintaining central fixation as instructed – it does not record your face or facial features.

Following the main task, you will complete 8 minutes of resting-state EEG recording. During this time, you will simply sit quietly and relax whilst alternating between keeping your eyes open and closed (a voice from the computer will tell you when to open or close your eyes). Once you have finished, we will remove the EEG equipment, and you will be able to wash your hair.

Following this, you will be asked to complete a set of questionnaires on a computer in the laboratory. The questionnaires include questions that will ask you about:

Your current sleepiness level

Your current mood (positive and negative feelings)

Your current anxiety level

Your hand preferences for everyday activities

Your approach to goals and motivation (how you respond to rewards and punishments)

Symptoms of depression and low mood you may have experienced in the past week

Your personality traits (such as how outgoing, organised, or open to new experiences you are)

Demographic information including your education level, subjective social standing, current sleep disorders, current use of neurological or psychotropic medications, and any past or present diagnosed neurological or psychiatric disorders

Optionally, information about hormonal contraceptive use and menstrual cycle phase

The questionnaires should take approximately 20 minutes to complete. The entire session will take approximately 2 hours.

The questionnaires will ask personal questions about your mental health, including questions about symptoms of depression, anxiety, and any diagnosed psychiatric or neurological conditions, which may cause discomfort or even distress for you. If you feel that answering questions about your mood, anxiety, wellbeing, or mental health history may upset you, we would advise you not to participate. If this affects you in any way, there are several sources of advice or help which are free and readily available for you.

If participation in this project has negative effects on you, please seek help and advice from support services such as:

Mind (https://www.mind.org.uk/need-urgent-help/using-this-tool/);

Anxiety UK (https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk/get-help/tauk-to-us/);

We will give you an online shopping voucher worth £20 as a thank-you for taking part. Otherwise there will be no direct personal benefit to participants in the study, but it is hoped that the project will lead to a better understanding of how attention shapes what we see at the earliest stages of brain processing.

Please be aware that, while EEG is sometimes used in medical contexts, our device is used for research purposes only and we are not clinically trained to diagnose any conditions on the basis of your EEG or questionnaire responses. If you have concerns about your neurological health you should contact your GP.

The information you give us, or that we collect from you, from which you can be identified (e.g. from identifiers such as your name, date of birth, audio recording etc.), is known as personal data. Taking part in this project will involve the collection/use of your personal data. We will keep all information about you safe and secure. The investigator team will have access to some or all of your personal data. You can object to our processing of your data and you have the right to ask us to access, remove, change or delete data we hold about you for the purposes of the study. We might not always be able to do this if it means we cannot use your data to do the project. If so, we will tell you why we cannot do this. The personal data collected will include:

A record of consent (which will include your name)

Project data. We will use a code/pseudonym so that you cannot be directly identified from the data.

Identifiable project data will be stored securely for the duration of the project – unless there is no need for the data to be identifiable, at which point it will be made anonymous. Other data (including consent forms) or project data that needs to be identifiable, will be stored securely at LJMU for three years after publication or public release of the work.

Project data may be transferred to, and stored at, a destination outside the UK for research related purposes. Identifiable data will be removed whenever possible and any data transfer will be done securely and with a similar level of data protection as required under UK law.

The findings from the project will be written up in several academic publications. We will write our reports in a way that no-one can work out that you took part in the project.

Liverpool John Moores University is the data controller with respect to your personal data and as such will determine how your personal data is used in the project. The University will process your personal data for the purpose of the project outlined above. Research/evaluation is a task that is performed in the public interest. Further information about your rights with respect to your personal data is available from the LJMU Privacy Notice for Research Participants (https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/legal/privacy-notice-and-cookies/external-stakeholders-privacy-policy/research-participants-privacy-notice). The LJMU Data Protection Officer can be contacted via email: DPO@ljmu.ac.uk.

This Project has received a favourable ethics opinion from an LJMU Research Ethics Committee. Research Ethics Committee Reference Number: 260225LJMUREC389

If you have a concern about any aspect of this project, please contact Dr Nika Adamian and we will do our best to answer your query. You should expect a reply within 10 working days. If you remain unhappy or wish to make a formal complaint, please contact the Chair of the Research Ethics Committee at Liverpool John Moores University who will seek to resolve the matter as soon as possible:

Chair, Liverpool John Moores University Research Ethics Committee; Email: FullReviewUREC@ljmu.ac.uk; Tel: 0151 231 2121; Research Innovation Services, Liverpool John Moores University, Exchange Station, Liverpool L2 2QP

You will receive a £20 shopping voucher for taking part. Your contact details will not be recorded with the project data collected from you.

If you would like to discuss the research with someone beforehand (or if you have questions afterwards), please contact:

Principal Investigator: Dr Nika Adamian (LJMU staff member)

LJMU Email address: n.adamian@ljmu.ac.uk

LJMU School/faculty: School of Psychology

LJMU Central telephone number: 0151 231 2121

Please consider retaining a copy of this information sheet for your future reference