Babies can help university research

Babies are being sought to take part in research to find out more about the development of autism.

The babies, who will be with parents at all time, will have their brain activity monitered via a sensor cap and shown images in what are described as “non-invasive, painless and harmless” tests at Durham University, Stockton Queen’s Campus.

Psychologists at the university hope the research will help them work towards detecting autism from a young age by studying how the brain responds when the babies are shown different images, sounds and actions.

Dr Vincent Reid, who is leading the research, said: “We are not doing any medical testing in this study but purely looking at babies’ brains from an academic point of view.

“We don’t yet know enough about how the brains of very young babies develop and how they react to things. It is vital we know more so we can identify problems and developmental delays much earlier which could lead to earlier diagnosis of conditions such as autism.”

The researchers are looking for babies aged from birth to two years. The youngsters will not be medically tested for the condition and all information recorded in the session will be confidential.

Parents interested in getting involved can find out more information from the the Baby Lab on 0191 334 0440.

Report This Post

Processing your request, Please wait....

Report as:	Broken Links Invalid / Wrong Links Missing / Invalid Password Other
Write in Words: (Optional)