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Information for New Users

ERP and FRP experiments should not be take on lightly. They take far longer to set up, measure, analyse, and interpret than behavioural responses. if you are thinking of doing an ERP experiment, the very first thing you need to do is ask yourself: "can I answer my question using behavioural responses". If the answer to this is yes, then do not do an ERP-FRP study. If the answer is no, then read on.

If you have never done an ERP-FRP experiment before, you will need both theoretical (i.e., how to set up your experiment and how to interpret the data) and practical support (how to measure ERPs and FRPs). The MACCS ERP-FRP lab can provide practical support but not theoretical support. Thus, it is a MACCS guideline that anyone who wants to do an ERP-FRP experiment must have a researcher on the project who is an ERP or FRP expert in the relevant field of research. If you are a PhD student, this expert must be on your supervisory panel.

Once you have designed your experiment with the expert on your research team, you need to arrange a meeting with one of the laboratory assistants and the executive committee chair to discuss (1) if the lab has the equipment to support your experiment, (2) when the lab is free for you to run the experiment, (3) when you should do the training course. You will also need to discuss funding. Researchers with funding and MACCS PhD students are asked to pay $10 per subject for consumable and wear-and-tear expenses. Alternative arrangements will be made with researchers and Honours students without funding.

New researchers to the ERP-FRP lab - both experienced and inexperienced - need to do a training course before they can start testing in the lab. The first step is to have an introductory session with the lab manager. The second step is to run your entire experiment on yourself. The third step is to run your experiment on a number of (forgiving) friends. When you have had enough practice, you can arrange a test session with the lab manager. If you pass this session, then you need to arrange a test session with the executive committee chair. If you pass this second session, then you will be "signed off", and you will be free to run your experiment unsupervised.

We understand that this process appears very dictatorial. However, the top priority in the MACCS ERP-FRP lab is the subject; it is not the experiment or the experimenter. Thus, we need to make sure that every researcher in the ERP-FRP lab follows our subject-friendly procedures.