What's Involved
Telephone Interview
During the phone interview, we will ask you and your child some questions about your child’s family background, behaviors, academic history, mental and physical health, as well as your own mental health and substance use history. All the information that you give us is confidential. This means we do not give your child the information you give us and we also do not give you any information from your child. We also do not share any information with your child’s school, family, or anyone else.
Puzzles and Games Session
One visit component is our puzzles and games session, also known as the testing session, which takes approximately 3 hours. During this time, your child will participate in activities that evaluate thinking, attention, and memory abilities, and will complete various questionnaires.
MR Imaging Session
Another visit component is the MRI scan, which lasts 2.5-3 hours, although your child will only be in the scanner for a little over one hour. During this time, your child will have various pictures taken of his/her brain and may be asked to perform a variety of thinking, attention, and/or decision-making tasks, as well as watch part of an age-appropriate Disney Pixar film. The remainder of the visit will be spent completing questionnaires and learning the different activities administered during the actual MRI scan.
Lab Visit
For the third and final visit component, a trained lab professional will measure your child's height, weight, and take vital signs, as well as obtain a small sample of blood so that we may learn more about the influence of hormones on brain development and behavior.
How much time is involved?
The early portion of our studies (eligibility questions, consents, and the telephone interview) can be completed by phone at your convenience. For the three components that require a trip to OHSU (puzzles and games, scan, and lab visit), participants can choose to complete all sessions in one day with a short lunch break, or choose to come up two or three times to spread out the visits, based on individual availability and scheduling preferences. The total time involved for any given participant includes an average of one hour of phone time plus six hours for the in-person visits. Compensation is provided for time and transportation, and those details are here.