Multisite Overview of Oscillations (MOO)
At this time we are no longer accepting new teams. Thank you for your interest!
What is the MOO project?
Hickok, Farahbod, and Saberi (2015) conducted a clever study to look at how entrainment to acoustic rhythms might affect perception. Listeners (n = 5) heard a 3 Hz amplitude-modulated (AM) broadband noise, followed by near-threshold pure tones. The authors found that accuracy of tone detection appeared to show variation in the 3 Hz range, suggesting (1) some type of entrainment to the AM stimuli and (2) that the AM-induced entrainment continued on to affect perception after the AM stops. This finding was important in part because although a number of M/EEG studies have looked at how brain oscillations relate to perception of auditory stimuli, there has been some recent debate about the efficacy of and effect sizes we can expect from behavioral studies of neural entrainment. So it was cool to show that AM noise can affect behavior in this paradigm, and that presumably entrainment affects subsequent perception.
In thinking about these results, and how to extend them, we had some questions that we thought would require additional data. Many of these are centered around individual differences: does everyone show entrainment to the AM noise? What is the range of effects on behavior that we observe? In preparation for new data collection, we reanalyzed the original data (kindly provided by the authors), as well as some newly-acquired pilot data. In our hands, we see a fair bit of variability in the degree to which AM noise affected behavior.
We formalized our planned replication as a Registered Report in Royal Society Open Science. The Stage 1 registered report is accepted and available here: https://psyarxiv.com/62r3u
We are now inviting other labs to assist with data collection: hence, MOO.
Why might you want to join us?
- Opportunity to extend our understanding about rhythm in the brain
- Multi-site component is extremely important in establishing the reliability and replicability of the effect (e.g., are there any lab-specific factors?)
- Low barrier to entry (we provide the stimuli and experiment programs, and draft the manuscript)
- Every team contributing data for at least 5 complete participants is eligible for authorship on the paper (up to 3 authors), provided they 1) Submit their data before the December 15, 2022 deadline and 2) Review and approve the final manuscript in a timely fashion.
What will be your task?
If you participate:
- We will provide a PsychoPy script to you for data collection. (Instructions are available in English and German; as needed, we will work with you to translate into any language required.) The experiment is 5 sessions long, with each session lasting about an hour.
- Each team must have means to calibrate headphone output to 70 dBA (using a reference sound we provide).
- Each team must contribute at least 5 subjects of useable data (though we are happy for more). Because of the reliance on auditory processing we require in-person participation (recognizing this will vary depending on COVID-related restrictions). Data must be uploaded to Dropbox immediately after collection (through sync, or web upload) (if institutional restrictions make Dropbox impossible we can find another option).
- We anticipate a deadline for data upload of December 2022 (giving most teams 6 months or more to collect the data).
- Each site must obtain ethics approval from their local ethics board that includes permission to share the (deidentified) data online. (We will provide suggested language on data sharing.)
- All data and analysis scripts from this replication/extension will be made publicly available, which we hope also facilitates further exploration of this interesting effect.
- To avoid any potential problems with regulations no NIH funds can be used for paying participants (other funds, or course credit, are both OK)
What are the next steps?
To sign up for the project, please complete this form: [no longer enrolling new teams]
And stay tuned for further email and instructions for how to join the MOO Slack workspace.
Please feel free to pass on this invitation to anyone you know who might be interested!
If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to the organizers.
Why is there a cow theme?
No good reason, but once we had the idea we thought we should milk it for all it's worth.