The qualifications for participation in this research are: 18-40 years old, with normal hearing and vision, and willing to come one to four sessions (over a period of a few weeks). Each session lasts between 4 and 10 hours. People taking drugs which affect the brain (such as tranquilizers or mood elevators, whether recreational or by prescription) cannot participate, because such drugs affect the Evoked Responses.
Reimbursement is $20.00 per hour. A travel supplement and free parking are also provided. Reimbursement checks for the above are written on the 15th and 30th of each month and will be mailed to you.
Abratech Corporation is a small biomedical R&D company co-founded in 1985 by Don L. Jewett, M.D., D.Phil., Professor Emeritus, Univ. of Calif., San Francisco. The company slogan is "From new techniques to new knowledge хи", which emphasizes the importance we place on technological advances. Our mission is to invent, develop, perfect, and commercialize unique techniques for analysis of human brain waves generated in response to auditory, visual, or somatosensory stimuli. Our discoveries are applicable to medical screening, medical diagnosis, and neuroscientific research. Abratech is located in Sausalito, 12 miles north of San Francisco, over the Golden Gate Bridge.
The research procedure is similar to the following: Up to 30 sensors will be placed on the surface of the subject's scalp and neck. The sensors make contact with the skin by means of a gel that easily pulls away when removed. Wires from the sensors will be attached to a computer that will record brain-waves in response to sounds or flashes of light, and also record neck or eye muscle activity.
Vision Study: During, or in preparation for, the vision recordings, the subject will sit quietly in a comfortable chair, while looking at visual stimuli. The visual stimuli will be generated by a computer video display projector, or photoflash unit. Stimuli can be reversing checkerboard patterns, words buried in random dots, lines flashing at intervals, pictures, or patterned or non-patterned flashes of light. The visual stimuli will produce brain-waves from different regions of the brain. By recording these brain signals or responses, Abratech’s researchers will be able to tell how long signals take to travel from one part of the brain to another.
Sessions start at approximately
10:00am and last 4-8 hours
Potential for 1-6 sessions per month
Abratech supports the State of California Experimental Subject’s Bill of Rights, and fully adheres to its provisions. Click here to review the State of California Experimental Subject's Bill of Rights.
If you want further information about being a research subject at Abratech, please contact us:
1. Send us an email at "subject at Abratch dot com"[ To avoid spam from this web site, the @ sign, and a period before "com".] In your email include your name, contact phone numbers, and mailing address, and please write "subject info request" in the subject line. In your message please indicate you are interested in the Hearing/Vision Study.
2. Telephone us at (415) 331-6126, and leave your name, contact phone information and mailing address on our answering machine. Please tell us in the message that you are interested in the Vision Study.
3. Write to us at Abratech, 475 Gate 5 Road, Suite 213, Sausalito, CA 94965. Again please tell us you are interested in the Hearing / Vision Study, and make sure to include your contact telephone number and mailing address.
You will then be contacted by phone (or e-mail) to set up an appointment. We thank you for your time and interest, and hope to hear back from you soon.
For a Map and Driving Directions to Abratech, please see the link on our home page.