The purpose of this study is to survey hearing aid users over a 6 month time period to see if their music perception improves over time.

Study participants will complete surveys about their music experience four times: first at your initial clinic visit and then sent to your email at 1, 3, and 6 months following your visit. This survey will include questions about the participants experience with music as well as name, age, gender, and duration of hearing aid use.

A carbon label displays the carbon footprint of the product (a number, e.g., 1.18 kg CO2) and helps consumers understand the impact of the product on the environment. The purpose of this study is to understand Penn State students’ preferred method of carbon labeling for a senior thesis. The study will be conducted via a survey that takes less than 5 minutes and requires no personal identifying information.

The participants will complete one survey that takes less than 5 minutes to complete. The survey can be taken on a personal device or a Penn State computer.

The purpose of this study is to determine whether and how people's perceptions of the power in their romantic relationships shape the messages they use to seek support from their romantic partners.

This behavioral study will examine the influence of pictorial primes on general knowledge questions. A participant will be shown a cartoon-type picture prior to the presentation of a question. They will be asked to answer the question verbally. This study aims to determine the influence of pictorial primes on memory recall and retrieval.

This study tracks the eye movements of 30 adults to gather information on how they process sentences when presented in a context.

The different effects of genre-based writing instruction and integration of technology use in genre-based writing instruction will be examined. The specific genre for this study is a research paper. Different patterns of instructor-learner interaction in both instructional situations will also be investigated.

There will be three in-person visits for instructions on academic writing. Pre- and Post-instructions questionnaires and reflective journals will be collected.

We are studying how children and adults learn second languages in the classroom. To do this, we ask children and adults to read words or sentences in English and in Spanish while we record brainwaves using noninvasive sensors. The participant wears a cap that looks like a swimmers cap with the sensors attached to it.

This is a driving simulator behavioral study. This study aims to investigate drivers' subjective feelings and driving performance in mixed traffic shared by automated vehicles and human-driven vehicles.

This study aims to investigate the effects of drivers’ driving style and automated vehicle penetration rate on drivers’ subjective feelings and driving performance in mixed traffic shared by automated vehicles and human-driven vehicles. There will be one in-person visit for the experiment. This experiment involves driving on a driving simulator and filling out several questionnaires.

$15/hour

The current study aims to investigate the development of English as a Second Language (ESL) learners' language skills over time, focusing on the interplay between the mode of production (i.e., speech versus written mode) and linguistic features related to complexity, accuracy, and fluency. To address this question, the study will collect spoken and written data from ESL learners in the U.S. at five measurement points throughout an academic year (FA23 to SP24), analyzing their production data using various complexity, accuracy, and fluency measures. The objective is to contribute to the existing body of second language (L2) development research by examining whether the interaction among time, production mode, and proficiency, as well as the varying relationships among the measures, significantly influence the observed outcomes.

Over the course of an academic year (FA23 to SP24), participants will attend five in-person visits, spaced at 7-week intervals. During each visit, they will be asked to write an essay for 20 minutes and deliver a 5-minute spoken monologue in response to prompts similar to those found in the TOEFL speaking section.

$75 ($15 per visit)

This study will look for emerging patterns of Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration (FTLD), an early onset dementia, in Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME). JME is a type of epilepsy that usually begins in adolescence and is known to be associated with disturbances of higher-level reasoning, mood and personality. JME patients are often managed by family physicians, rather than epilepsy specialists; with little known about aging with JME. We think that JME patients will demonstrate a pattern of executive dysfunction that is consistent with consensus criteria for FTLD, characterized by declines in abstract reasoning, judgment, and verbal problem solving, as well as behavior. We also think that there will be an inverse relationship between apathy and conscientiousness. We plan to obtain this information by formal cognitive testing of non-demented JME patients over a period of 2 years, at 6-month intervals, to look for progression of symptoms. Loved ones/caregivers will complete informant questionnaires about patient's mood and personality at the beginning of the study and at 6 month intervals throughout the duration of the 24 month study. We will also include loved one/caregiver cognitive testing at the beginning of the study to obtain healthy information for comparison to patient's findings. Our objectives are to characterize the executive functioning profiles of JME in midlife, taking into account cognition, mood, personality, nutritional status and lifestyle. The information obtained may contribute to better care of JME patients prior to midlife and throughout the course of aging.

Visit 1 for both patient and healthy caregiver participants will involve administration of the JME Virtual Visit Protocol via PSH Zoom. Participants will have completed their REDCap questionnaires prior to the visit to the research coordinator, who will be conducting the assessment. Visit 2-5 for patient participants will involve administration of the JME Virtual Visit Protocol via PSH Zoom. JME participation consists of 5 virtual visits with the study’s research coordinator, lasting approximately two hours each, for completion of standardized tests of problem-solving, thinking, and concentration, as defined above. Caregiver healthy control participation consists of 1 virtual visit with the study’s research coordinator, lasting approximately two hours, for completion of standardized tests of problem-solving, thinking, and concentration, as defined above. Remaining participation involves completion of objective inventories providing a caregiver perspective of the patient participant’s mood and behavior at 6-month intervals, within the 24 month time frame of the study.

This research study is being done to understand how different techniques for practicing sentences are affected by healthy aging. This will help us create better language therapy for people with aphasia.

There will be one visit. It can be in-person or over Zoom. We will ask you to fill out a questionnaire about yourself, complete a brief cognitive assessment, and complete a sentence production task. This visit should only last about 90 minutes.

up to $15

In today’s climate of anti-Asian hate, we believe that it is important to uncover different aspects of what “being Chinese” could look like. To this end, we are looking for individuals who self-identify as ethnically Chinese, woman, and a member of the LGBTQIA+ community to participate in a one-time 90-minute online interview to learn about what they do in their regular, everyday life to try to show or tell others about who they are. As part of the study, we will ask interviewees to share some visual images (e.g., photos, drawings, etc.) that they own as a way of elaborating on the ways that they communicate their self-identity in everyday life.

The purpose of this study is to investigate how language is organized in neurologically normal adults using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and behavioral measures. Our overarching goal is to characterize the behavioral and MRI responses associated with language production and language comprehension in older and younger adults, and to examine the relations between age, behavior, cognition, and neural factors.

Participants will complete a remote visit and two in person visits at the University park campus. Visit activities will include answering questions, completing computer-based tasks, and completing an MRI scan.

$100

This project will use fMRI to examine changes in the brain related to behavioral therapy outcomes in persons with aphasia. We aim to recruit twenty persons with aphasia. Each participant will receive 4 MRI scans. Between scan 1 and scan 2, no therapy will be provided (10 week break). Between scan 2 and scan 3, ten weeks of word finding therapy will be provided. Between scan 3 and scan 4, no therapy will be provided (10 week break). The therapy used is abstract word retrieval training. The results of this project will help inform rehabilitation practices in aphasia.

There will be 4 fMRI scans. After the first and third fMRI scans, there will be an assessment. After the second fMRI scan, there will be 10 weeks of treatment.

$460

In this study, we are studying how listeners use information in spoken language to anticipate upcoming information. We study this in typical listening conditions (e.g., when others are speaking simultaneously).

In a single visit lasting between 60 ~ 90 minutes, you will be asked to listen to speech played over headphones and verify/click on the pictures on the screen if they are mentioned. While you do so, your gaze behavior will be tracked. At the end, we will ask you questions about your general language history and complete answer some simple questions about words and sentences.

18

In contexts where people speak different dialects of the same language, how much overlap is there between the dialects, and what are the genuine grammatical differences? This study explores this question through a series of three experiments examining how people from three different dialects understand a variety of negative sentences (e.g., I didn't eat nothing). The results will contribute to our understanding of linguistic diversity.

Participants will sit at a computer and have their eye movements tracked by a camera as they read or listen to sentences and look at pictures on the screen.

$15 per hour

This study investigates whether persons with aphasia understand and process sentences with vernacular features in a manner similar to more typical populations. Participants will rate sentences on their naturalness and on whether they make sense, and they will also read sentences while we track their eye movements.

In an increasingly global environment, both within the US and abroad, the ability to rapidly gain native-like linguistic competence is a critical asset. The ability to use an L2 in a way that is both expected and recognized by its native speakers is important both to the broad public, and to specific sectors, such as military personnel, that must develop native-like competence in a foreign language in a limited amount of time. The studies conducted under this IRB protocol will examine how learners/speakers of a second language acquire and process multi-word units (e.g., carry a business; run a store) in their second language, and how knowledge from the first language might influence the learning and processing of multi-word units in a second language.

Participants will complete a number of simple tasks on a computer in English and/or in Spanish (depending on language background).

$12/hour

We used a combination of ecological modeling, procedural modeling, and virtual reality to provide an embodied experience of “walking through the forests of the future”. This study will provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of this immersive experience based on users’ feedbacks on different kinds of tools we developed.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of context on the processing of words in young adults with and without an autism spectrum disorder. The knowledge gained may lead to further understanding of the cognitive and linguistic processing of individuals with autism spectrum disorder—how they understand and see the world around them. The study is being conducted at our on-campus lab and includes the completion of some standardized paper and pencil tests and some computer-based activities. Participants receive compensation for their participation.

Sound symbolism is the idea that the sound of a word alone can convey its meaning. Aphasia is a language impairment, occurring most often as a result of a stroke. There is some evidence that sound-symbolic language is preserved in stroke patients. Studies in this protocol will investigate the extent to which this is so, and whether sound-symbolic language could be a rehabilitation strategy for aphasia.

We will ask you to listen to real words and non-words and make judgements about them. We may also ask you to complete some tests of language ability. The total time commitment may be up to four hours but will be split into two sessions.

Amount varies depending on the study

This study will examine how international spouses improve their English ability and form connections with the local community. Participants will be interviewed to learn about their experiences. Social events that are found to be positive will be recorded so that the interactions in that space can be analyzed to determine how they help international spouses.

An online survey about emojis for text feedback on a short story or design. You categorize emojis for this task, write a critique with emojis, and then answer a survey for an Amazon gift card.

This study will examine via ethnographic observation the Story feature on social media. Participants will be asked to provide their Snapchat or Instagram username and must be willing to let the researcher observe the Stories that they post. The primary aims are to illuminate how and why people are using the Story feature on social media, and to analyze how this feature is changing how we relate to and understand the world around us.

The purpose of this study is to assess if healthy adults speak at a consistent speaking rate when asked to read a standard passage or answer an open ended prompt.

There will be 2 visits that each take approximately 20 minutes. We will meet in person or via Zoom. At each visit you will be asked to read three paragraphs and answer some open ended questions/prompts.

This online study aims to examine whether factors like language history and visual information influence spoken language processes in typical listening environments.

The purpose of this study is (1) to understand how the brain processes sensory information and (2) how this is affected by factors like blindness or synesthesia.

Participants will complete simple online tasks, for example judging differences in auditory pitch; processing visual and auditory stimuli in congruent and incongruent pairings; rating the sound-symbolic properties of either real words, pseudowords, or both; or discriminating between two stimuli on the basis of their structural properties over a change in their surface properties, and vice versa.

Amount varies depending on the study

We are interested in what adults notice about stimuli that are presented to them. These stimuli typically consist of novel objects, abstract images, or made-up words.

This is an interview study that will examine how people with and without ADHD tell stories. Eligible participants will be asked to attend a virtual televisit where they will tell three stories according to prompts given by study staff. We are recruiting both men and women for this study so we can determine if gender affects storytelling ability.

There will be one virtual visit on Zoom lasting approximately one hour. Participants will complete eligibility questionnaires, then eligible participants will be asked to tell three stories based on prompts from an investigator and complete one additional questionnaire.

$15

The central purpose of this research is to understand how language users produce and comprehend speech. To do this we ask participants to record speech, make judgments on the speech they hear, and work with a partner on simple language tasks.