My very first paid study tested my spatial learning and memory skills. The study took place at the Johns Hopkins University undergraduate campus in Ames Hall.
Before the study began, the researcher gave a brief explanation and I signed the consent form.
Then, I was blindfolded and placed in a wheelchair, and a researcher pushed me around the building so I didn’t have perception of where I was. After 5 to 10 minutes of random wheeling, I was wheeled into a dark room, and my blindfold was removed. I was instructed to remember as much as I could about the location of the stuffed animals when the lights came on. When the room lit up, I could see I was encircled with curtains so I could not see the walls, and there were many stuffed animals placed all about on the floor.
Soon, they turned the lights back off, then on again to give me another chance to observe the layout of the animals. Then, the lights were turned off, I was wheeled out of the curtains, and I was then asked questions about the directions of specific stuffed animals in relation to others. For example, which direction was the fox compared to the pigeon, north, south, or southwest?
This was repeated a few times with different arrangements and varieties of stuffed animals. For some reason, I still vividly remember what the stuffed fox looked like.
After the stuffed animal portion, I was seated before a computer screen and asked about buildings on campus in relation to other buildings. For example, Ames Hall was surrounded by a 360 degree directional cursor on the computer screen, and I was asked to point the cursor in the direction of Shriver Hall. I was on campus for only about 1.5 years at the time of this study, so I didn’t know exactly where every building was.
Through the study, the researchers set out to understand more about the relationship between spatial learning and navigational skills.
Before this study my research participation had earned me only a few extra credit points for my psychology classes. This was something new: The experiment took about 2 hours and was really fun; my introduction to the joy of being a paid research subject! I earned 30 dollars for completing the study in the form of a voucher that I could redeem at a petty cash office on campus. I was hooked, and an era began!