Lokita Rajan is a senior majoring in Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology and Economics. She was awarded a Fall 2016 Independent Grant which she used to conduct research on auditory imagery under Dr. Simon Lacey.
My research is in neurology. I am looking at how people perceive sounds based on their levels of musical experience. I am recruiting musicians who are affiliated with Emory in some way, so they are either music majors or are members of an Emory University music ensemble, such as the Symphony Orchestra, Concert Choir, or University Chorus. I am also recruiting individuals with no musical experience to take part in my study. While the research grant has made it a lot easier to attract participants since I can now offer them a financial incentive to participate in my study, I have still found it difficult to recruit people with the appropriate levels of musical experience. Relatively few musicians have answered my flyers inviting research participants, though I put them in high-traffic areas of Schwartz Center for Performing Arts on campus. I have also had many members of the Emory community answer my flyers even though they do not qualify to participate in my study, that is, they have a few years of musical training but are not currently playing an instrument or singing regularly.
I spoke with my mentor about how we would ensure we were only testing a certain caliber of musician in the “musicians” category. He is from the United Kingdom, where there is a standardized ‘grades’ system for musicians that objectively measures each individual’s musical ability on a standard scale. This grading scale, determined by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, provides a helpful degree of standardization in the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, such rating scales are much more subjective and vary widely on a state-by-state basis in the United States. Since Emory students and affiliates come from rather geographically diverse places, most have very different accolades measuring their musical ability, and there is a lack of standardization.
Unfortunately, one limitation of doing my study with the sample of participants available here at Emory is that there is no way to numerically compare the abilities of different musicians. Because of this, my mentor and I decided first to recruit only music majors and minors. Then we decided to broaden the scope to include not only music majors and minors but also individuals in the ensembles that music performance majors are often either required or strongly encouraged to participate in (i.e. Emory Symphony Orchestra and Concert Choir). Then, when I was still having trouble recruiting enough musicians to participate in my study, we decided to include members of the University Chorus who were affiliated with Emory, since it includes some music majors and people who are currently practicing and performing a high level of music regularly. Since I am a former member of the University Chorus and am a musician, I have been able to get the word out about my study to people who fulfill the needed categories for musicians to participate. I am hoping to test more participants soon.
I ran into another issue when I realized that I had overlooked the possibility that participants may have hearing impairments. Now, I always screen participants by asking both about their musical background and whether or not they have any hearing impairments before I determine their eligibility for my study.
Visit the Undergraduate Research Programs website to learn more about applying for Independent Research Grants.
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