Hello Everyone!!
My name is Stephanie Hornyak, and I am a PhD candidate in Clinical Psychology
working with Dr. Shayna Rosenbaum at York University, who is also an Associate
Scientist at the Rotman Research Institute at Baycrest.
Research that is conducted in our lab involves investigating the areas of the
brain involved in memory for personal events and facts acquired a long time
ago.
We are especially interested in testing birders' memory, particularly
those who keep detailed journals relating to bird sightings (including web
postings).Birders represent a unique group, as they are experts in visually discriminating
bird species, and this appears to involve the same parts of the brain that are
involved in humans' ability (birders and non-birders) to perceive other
people's faces!!Currently, we are looking for individuals who have extensive experience as bird
watchers (10 years or more), between the ages of 35-65 to take part in our
behavioural or MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) studies. The imaging study
involves scanning birders with MRI as they recollect past experiences relating
to bird sightings in comparison to recalling facts about various types of
birds. Scanning would take place at Baycrest. The behavioural study involves
testing individual's memory for personal experiences and facts relating to
birds with paper-pencil and computerized tasks and would take place at York
University.
Volunteers would receive monetary compensation for their participation.If you think you would be interested in participating in this new and exciting
research study, and/or would like some more information pertaining to this
study, please feel free to email me privately at
shornyak@yorku.ca. Your expert
knowledge and memory of birds is exactly what we are looking for to help us
answer our research questions.
I hope everyone has a wonderful day and I look forward to speaking with you in
the near future,
Sincerely,
Stephanie Hornyak
PhD Candidate, York University
Toronto, Ontario
