Students typically learn eye tracking or EEG/ERP recording after they've already attained considerable experience with behavioral experiments. Eye tracking and EEG/ERP recording involve substantial additional training and supervision. For eye tracking research, your direct supervisor will train you in how to set up the eye tracker for a particular participant, calibrate it, and monitor the calibration throughout the session. Eye tracking and EEG/ERP experiments are always conducted at the Center for Mind & Brain (CMB).

Because our lab is a world leader in EEG/ERP research, we have extensive training resources. This method involves using electrodes on the scalp to record electrical activity generated in the brain. By the time the electrical activity reaches the scalp it is only a few millionths of a volt and mixed with many non-neural sources of activity (e.g., electrical activity generated by the muscles of the head and neck). This makes EEG/ERP recording very challenging, so we provide a very intensive training process and provide you with the necessary tools to succeed.

This training is usually provided (or supervised) by our lab manager, but it may instead be provided by your mentor. You will learn the process by first being a subject in an experiment, and then you'll assist another researcher for a few recording sessions. Over the course of several sessions, you'll take more and more responsibility for doing the setup and recording. Eventually, you'll do everything yourself, but with someone available nearby in case you have questions. Once you are completely comfortable, you'll be able to do the recordings without a supervisor nearby (although you'll always have someone to contact if something happens that you don't know how to handle).

Understanding how EEG/ERP voltages are used to answer interesting questions about the mind and brain involves many complex conceptual issues. Consequently, RAs who are learning EEG/ERP recording also take a 4-hour online course that goes over the basics of EEG/ERP recording, analysis, and interpretation.