No, you will not be able to use your mobile phone, laptop, or any other personal electronic device during the study. For research purposes, it is important for us to maintain a time-free environment. We will store your mobile phone, watch, and/or other devices in a secure location during the study. These items will be returned to you before you leave the laboratory.

In most of our laboratory studies, participants are required to complete a series of computer-based cognitive tests, given periodically across the protocol. There are also study-specific procedures including collection of saliva and/or urine samples and electrode placement on the face and scalp for performing polysomography. During your free time, you can watch movies and TV series using our media player which is connected to an LED monitor. You can also bring in your own external hard drive with movies, TV series, and music which can be connected to our media player with a USB cable. If you are not a big fan of movies, books and some musical instruments (e.g. guitar) are allowed as well. However, please note that some studies are conducted in dim lighting, and hence it may be difficult to read small text. Please also note that there are no windows in the research suite and the size of the room is similar to a small bedroom. Therefore, our studies are probably not suitable for people who need lots of open space.

Meals and snacks will be provided during the study. In some of our experiments, participants are must consume a study-specific diet, but in other studies you can choose what you want to eat – we will let you know the study requirements ahead of time. As a general rule-of-thumb, you should not be taking any medications during the study and you will not be allowed to consume beverages and foods with caffeine (e.g. coffee, tea, chocolate, energy drinks, and caffeinated soft drinks).

Depending on the length of the study, you will need to bring in clothes, toiletries (incl. shavers for guys), and entertainment (books, external hard drive, etc).

It will be completely dark and silent during sleep periods. If you are not comfortable with sleeping in total darkness and without background noise, you should not participate in our studies. In most of our studies, we apply electrodes on the scalp, face, and chest regions for recording the electroencephalogram (EEG), electro-oculogram (EOG), electromyogram (EMG), and electrocardiogram (ECG). You will therefore be tethered to the bed with the various cables used for the polysomnographic recording. It might take you a little while to get used to the electrodes, but most of our research participants do not report difficulty sleeping.

Most of the time, we can issue reimbursement 3 - 5 working days upon completion of the study. However, in some cases it can take up to a couple of weeks to issue the reimbursement.

No, you will stay on your own inside the research suite and you will not interact with other participants. There will be two real-time CCTVs for safety and monitoring purposes (non-recording) and an intercom device to facilitate communication with research staff. Also, our researchers will go inside the suite frequently to carry out study procedures. As such, there is not much privacy during the study.

No, but if you have a special request or circumstance (e.g. expecting a phone call for job interview, group project, etc.), let us know ahead of time and we can take messages for you. Visitors including family or friends will not be allowed.

Your data will be kept confidential and stored at Duke-NUS in a secure location. Upon request, we can show you some of your individual results, but please keep in mind that it will take time for us to complete all of the analyses. Eventually, we hope to publish the group-level findings in a journal article.