fMRI Scanning at MIT - For Kids
Date Posted:
April 14, 2025
Date Recorded:
April 14, 2025
Speaker(s):
Halie Olson
All Captioned Videos CBMM Research
Description:
What to expect when your child is participating in an fMRI study at MIT.
[MUSIC PLAYING] PRESENTER: What is it like to be in a brain research study at MIT? Let's take a look. We're excited to take pictures of your brain with our special MRI brain camera.
Welcome to MIT. We'll start in the waiting room. The research team will tell you about what you'll be asked to do at the visit. It's always your choice whether to participate. If yes, we'll get started.
We can visit our practice brain camera to see what it's like. You can practice laying very still. In the real MRI brain camera, moving your head makes the pictures blurry. You might practice some games on the computer, too. If you'd like, you can pick out a stuffed animal to bring to the real MRI brain camera.
Time to get ready. Make sure to use the bathroom first. We'll check to make sure your clothes have no metal using our meta detector wand. Next, we'll double check that you are ready to go with our second metal detector. For this one, you will spin in a circle.
We'll head into the control room. This is where the researchers will sit during your scan. This is the MRI brain camera. You will climb up on the comfy bed. We'll give you a button box to play games. This is the squeeze ball. You can press it if you need to stop the MRI brain camera right away. We'll also give you special headphones.
Finally, we'll put some squishy ear pillows on top. Time to go into the MRI brain camera. We will talk to you from a microphone in the control room. You will play games, watch videos, and lie still while we take pictures of your brain. You can take wiggle breaks in between pictures.
All done. You can look at the pictures of your brain. We can also print some pictures for you to take home. After your brain scan, you might do some other games or activities with a researcher outside the MRI brain camera.
When you do a brain research study, it helps scientists understand how the brain works and can help other kids. We're excited to see you at MIT soon.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
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