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Pre Experiment

Ethics in Research

  1. Check the privacy rules on this  website.
  2. You should submit a data management plan to the Research and Policy Support (REPS) Team (research.data.fgb@vu.nl). You can find more information on this  website.
  3. Research has to comply with the code of ethics for research at the FGB (NETHICS), which can be found on this  website.
  4. With regards to ethical approval, an umbrella ethics application for standard cognitive experiments in the lab - including online experimenting and VR - has been approved  by the Ethical Review Board (VCWE) in September 2021 and is valid for 5 years. If you are a researcher in the section Cognitive Psychology and your research does not deviate from this protocol , you do not need to request separate approval. In this case, you can use the approved consent form  and information letter  templates and add study-specific information. With regards to the information letter, you can use this document  to add method-specific text.
  5. If you are not a researcher working in the section Cognitive Psychology and/or for any deviations from the standard protocol, you can apply for an amendment at the VCWE. You then upload this protocol and explain what you will add/do differently. In case your research deviates hugely you need to get your own research protocol approved by VCWE. To prepare a new ethics application, you can find participant-information-letter-template and informed-consent-templates and a GDPR checklist on this website .

 

Request a Project Account

To run experiments in the lab and use the lab computers, you should request a project account. This can be requested by sending an email to the Lab Coordinator(c.cengiz@vu.nl) or to bblabs.fgb@vu.nl. Each new project requires a new account. This means that if you want to start a different project, you need to request a new project account. This project account can be used by multiple people working on the same project. With this research account you can log into every computer at the VU Brain & Behaviour lab. You can also log into different PCs at the same time. The steps for requesting an account: 

  1. Send an e-mail to the Lab Coordinator or bblabs.fgb@vu.nl that you would like to have a new project account.
  2. You will receive a response mail with a link to a form for filling out information.  
  3. Once you filled in the form, send a response that you have filled the form in along with a password of minimum 7 characters. 
  4. You will receive a confirmation mail with your username/Short Project Name and your password. You can now use it to log into the PCs. 

Once you have your account, check out the Lab Help folder that everyone has on their desktop by default. Most of the software necessary is also present by default.

If you need anything in particular that is not on there already, contact the Lab Coordinator or anyone else from the Lab Team. Do this in a timely manner! 

For more detailed information about (default) project accounts, check the page on Project Accounts.

 

Lab Access

If you do not have access to the lab on your VU employee card, then you can request this at the TO3 Helpdesk. The room number is B-659 (MF-builing, sixth floor). Opening hours of the TO3 Helpdesk are Monday-Thursday from 09:00 to 17:00 and on Friday from 09:00 to 16:00. Before you go there, discuss your access request with the Lab Coordinator since they need to approve it. Students cannot have lab access on their cards and need to request keycards for each booking (or the supervisor needs to request it for them via Labservant). 

If at any time your access card is not working, try updating it by holding it against the lock at the front entrance of the lab. This may fix your problem. If the problem persists, visit the TO3 Helpdesk.

In the case of (student) research assistants, it is possible to request an employee access card through this  link.

Access Outside Opening Hours 

You will need to request additional access on your card and inform VU Security about when you would like to get access to the lab outside of the opening hours. The steps for requesting this access can be found in our Guideline .

 

Recruiting Participants

Participants can be recruited via walk-ins or via the online Sona system . You can also place brochures of your experiment in the waiting room of the Brain & Behaviour Lab (A-431) or on bulletin boards around VU Campus. Additionally, we also put links to studies in the Ongoing Studies section of this website. Previously, there was the option to use Telegram for recruiting participants; this option has been discontinued! 

Sona 

If you do not have a Sona-account yet, please contact subjectpool.fgb@vu.nl. After receiving a Sona-account, you can create a study on Sona with the available time slots and have people register for your research. Participants can apply for credits (1.5 per minute in the lab, or 1 per minute online) or for money (10 euros per hour). For more detailed information on participant handling please see the following manual  (2024/2025.)

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