Purpose of the project and why you are being invited to participate
Our brain selectively filters out the relevant information from the environment to complete specific tasks in our everyday life. However how this filter works during tasks during memory recall is still yet to be determined. Filtering out the relevant information from the external environment is called external attention, while the process when we select the relevant information from our memory is part of the process called internal attention. This project aims to understand these two different cognitive control mechanisms during working memory task. You were invited to participate in this project as a healthy control on a voluntary basis after reading our announcement in the internet.
What does the project entail?
The project entails to collect behavioural data of the performance (reaction time/accuracy) during a cognitive task. The cognitive task itself consists of 4 blocks and will last approximately 20 minutes. You will be required to download the task to your PC using the link sent separately to this document. You will also be provided by a random ID-number that you can use during the task. At the beginning of the task, we will ask you give us some basic demographic data (age, gender and handedness), after that specific details about the task will be provided, and some practice trials will be introduced in order to make sure you understood the task correctly. You can choose to quit the task any time during the experiment by pressing CTRL+ALT+SHIFT.
As part of the project, we will collect and register data on you. Specifically, we will collect the reaction time and accuracy that you give for each stimulus presentation of the task, indicating how fast and how accurate were your answers. Some basic demographic data will also be collected (age, gender, handedness).
Possible advantages and disadvantages
There are no disadvantages nor expected risks connected to this project. The only discomfort that you may experience is that the visual stimuli will be presented in full-screen mode on the monitor of your PC. However, you can choose to terminate the program whenever you want to.
Voluntary participation and right to withdraw consent
Participation in the project is voluntary. If you would like to participate, please sign the consent form at the end of this document. You can withdraw your consent at any time without giving a reason. There will be no negative consequences for you if you do not want to participate or if you choose to withdraw at a later stage. If you withdraw your consent, your data will not be used in any further research. You can request access to the data held on you, and this will be provided within 30 days. You can also apply for your data in the project to be deleted.
The right to have your data deleted or returned does not apply if the material or data are anonymised or have already been published.
If you want to withdraw at a later stage or have questions about the project, you can contact the project manager (see the contact details at the end of this document).
What happens to the data held on you?
All data will be processed without names and personal identification numbers or other directly identifiable information (= coded data). You get a unique code to the same email-address you get this form. You will be required to use that code during the task and upon registration. A code links you to your data through a list of personal ID-numbers. Only Andras Puszta has access to this list.
After completion of the task all the behavioural data (reaction time, accuracy) as well as the basic demographic data will be uploaded to eprimego.com. The uploaded data is automatically de-identified by the unique code you used (sent to the same email address as this form). The data is only accessible for the project manager.
The data registered about you will only be used as described under the purpose of the project, and is planned for use in 2022-2023. Use and storage time can only be extended after approval from the Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics and other relevant authorities. You have the right to access the information that is registered about you and to have any errors in this information corrected. You also have the right to information about the data security measures that apply to the processing of the data. You can lodge a complaint about the processing of your data to the Norwegian Data Protection Authority and the institution’s Data Protection Officer.
Publishing results is a necessary part of the research process. Data in published research will be de-identified to preserve the privacy of individual participants.
After the research project is completed, the data held on you will be stored for five years for control purposes.
Sharing data and transferral abroad
As part of the implementation of the project, it may be relevant to transfer data held on you to other countries. Specifically, the reaction times and the accuracy during the cognitive task. Helgeland Hospital is responsible for ensuring that data are transferred in accordance with Norwegian law and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The code linking you to your personally identifiable information will not be disclosed.
Insurance
As a healthy control person, you are insured by the hospital’s own insurance scheme
Follow-up project
A follow-up project may be relevant. Then you as a participant can be contacted with a request to participate in the follow-up study.
Finances
The study is funded through research funding from Helse Nord and Helgeland Hospital HF. It is not considered that there are conflicts of interest related to the financing.
Approvals
The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics has considered the research ethics in the project and given its approval. [Enter the Committee’s case number.]
Helgeland Hospital and the project manager Andras Puszta are responsible for privacy and data protection in this project.
Our data processing is in accordance with Norwegian law and the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Contact details
If you have questions about the project or want to withdraw your participation, you can contact Andras Puszta MD PhD 8657 Mosjøen, Tobias Skogs Gate 1. (email: Andras.Puszta@Helgelandssykehuset.no, tel: +4791715377)