Research Projects / Proyectos de Investigación

Niños entre 6-10 años con diagnóstico de trastorno del espectro autista están invitados a participar en nuestro proyecto de investigación en sobre autismo.

Se le pedirá a las familias que visiten el Centro Waisman. Todas las actividades duran aproximadamente 4 horas, de lo cual se puede completar en una visita o durante varias visitas.

• Las tareas de los niños consisten de:
  • una breve evaluación del coeficiente intelectual
  • actividades motoras-le pediremos al niño/a que realice actividades como dibujar, jugar con pelotas, saltar, tocar o agarrar objetos, clasificar objetos, hacer abdominales y mantener el equilibrio.
  • un escaneo cerebral por resonancia magnética (IRM) de 1 hora
• Durante la visita de estudio, un padre/cuidador responderá a preguntas sobre el niño en forma de cuestionarios o en forma de entrevista, según su preferencia.

Las familias recibirán hasta $90 por su participación completa. Y también ofrecemos opciones para viaje y transporte!

Si está interesado o para más información, por favor comuníquese con nuestro laboratorio llamando (608) 263-8913 o atraves de nuestro correo electrónico: BrainyMovtStudy@waisman.wisc.edu

We are looking for autistic adolescents in the Madison, WI area (13-17 years of age) to study learning and decision making through outer space-themed computer game learning tasks.

• We are recruiting autistic adolescents (i.e., diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder) ages 13-17 years old.
• Adolescents complete a 30-90 minute intake session (standardized IQ and behavioral assessments) at the Waisman Center.
• Then, adolescents will come to the Wisconsin Institute for Medical Research (WIMR) for 9 study visits (1 hour each) to play learning-based computer games.
• Adolescents will also complete a 30-minute, 10th session free-viewing task to examine eye-gaze patterns of real-life scenes.
• Participants will be compensated up to $105 ($10 for each hour of study activities)

Interested? Please contact Brittany Travers at (608) 263-8913 or at ComputerGames@waisman.wisc.edu.

PI: Brittany Travers, Ph.D., Ari Rosenberg, Ph.D.

Led by Dr. Brittany Travers and Dr. James Li, the UW LINK Study will follow children who are diagnosed with ASD, with or without ADHD, over multiple years to see why some children may also develop ADHD and others do not. The results will tell us why children develop these conditions and how treatment can be improved to better serve children with both ASD and ADHD.

The study has families visiting the Waisman Center over the next 3 years. Child activities total approximately 3.5-4 hours each year and can be broken up into multiple sessions.

• During the in-person visits, the child will be asked to complete various motor activities, such as drawing and throwing/catching/dribbling a ball, along with playing cognitive games on a tablet.
• The child will also be asked to complete a 10-minute MRI brain scan and provide a saliva sample.
• The primary parent/caregiver completes a phone interview and web-based questionnaires pertaining to their child’s social skills, behaviors, sensory features, sleep, and interests.

The Motor and Brain Development Lab at the Waisman Center recruited children 6-10 years old with autism for a research study that looked at the brainstem and corresponding behaviors in children with autism and typical development.

• • Children will complete 2-2.5 hours of behavioral tasks and a 1-hour magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scan. The behavioral tasks will include a brief IQ assessment and various sensory and motor assessments (asking your child to do activities like drawing, playing with balls, hopping, touching or grasping objects, sorting objects, doing sit ups, and balancing). These activities can be completed in one visit or across multiple study visits, depending on the preference of the family.
  • During the study visit, a parent/caregiver will answer questions about the child in the form of questionnaires and an interview.
  • Families will be compensated $50/ MRI scan and $10/hour for their participation. Meals during testing will be reimbursed at the UW per diem rate. Sibling childcare is available upon request.
  • All sessions will be completed at the Waisman Center. To offset transportation costs to and from the study, participants will receive up to $250 depending on the amount of travel required.
  • For families outside of the Madison and surrounding areas, a one-night stay at a hotel will be offered.

• The Motor and Brain Development Lab at the Waisman Center is recruiting high-functioning adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder or with typical development (13-17 years old) from the Madison, WI area for a research study that looks at brain and behavior changes after learning skills from playing video games.
• Participants will complete a 1.5-2.5 hour intake assessment and a 1-hour MRI brain scan, while parents answer questions about their child. The intake assessment will include an abbreviated IQ assessment, an autism diagnostic assessment (asking questions and doing activities with books and pictures) (participants with ASD only), and a standardized motor assessment (asking your child to do activities like drawing, playing with balls, hopping, sorting objects, doing sit ups, and balancing).
• Then, participants will come to the Waisman Center for six weeks to play Wii and Kinect video games.
• After the six weeks, participants will complete a 1-hour end-of-study assessment and another 1-hour MRI brain scan.
• Families will be compensated $50/ MRI scan and $10/hour for their participation (up to $315).

• The purpose of this study was to understand multi-session learning, decision making, and corresponding neurobiology in ASD. Using space-themed computer games, we examined how learning occurs in ASD over weeks of training. A subset of participants also underwent MRI brain imaging. Our long-term vision is to find ways to identify and assess individual learning profiles that could be used to determine personalized educational plans to accelerate learning for individuals with ASD. This is a collaborative project between Dr. Ari Rosenberg and Dr. Brittany Travers.

• The purpose of this study was to explore how children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with typical development complete drawing motor tasks with a robot under more-or-less challenging conditions. We are interested in the robot’s potential to detect motor challenges in ASD. The robot tracked exact movements of participants, and the motion tracking camera detects joint angles and kinematics of body movements. Our long-term vision is to develop a robotically-guided motor skills assessment that will evaluate a person’s motor strengths and weaknesses. From this, we hope to develop a therapy paradigm (robotically-guided motor training) for individuals with ASD that can be individualized to their motor needs. This is a collaborative project with Dr. Andrea Mason, Dr. Michael Zinn, and Dr. Brittany Travers.

• The brainstem is an underexplored area of the brain in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that may be intimately related to ASD symptom severity. The purpose of this study was to characterize the brainstem and corresponding behaviors in children with ASD and related disorders. We used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to better understand the structure and function of this brain area. Behavioral assessments examine motor performance, sensory symptoms, and other core autism symptoms within the group. Our long-term vision is to better understand this brain region in order to understand the biological basis of ASD symptoms.

• Motor challenges are commonly reported in persons with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is unclear how individuals with ASD learn motor skills and whether or not motor learning can change the structure and function of the brain in ASD. Using our ninja-training video game, participants completed 6 weeks of training. In a subset of participants, pre-post brain imaging was performed using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Our long-term vision is to develop fun and motivating ways to alleviate motor challenges in ASD. Further, we hope to better understand neuroplasticity (how the brain changes as a function of experiences) in ASD.

• The purpose of this project is to characterize the brainstem and surrounding cerebrum in individuals with ASD and autism-related disorders beyond the behaviorally defined diagnostic categories using state-of-the-art, multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and corresponding assessments of symptom severity. We also aim to determine biologically meaningful subgroups based on the multimodal MRI techniques and behavioral correlates, and test if the biology-based subgroups better predict symptom severity than traditional behavior-based diagnostic classifications. Children ages 6-10 participate in behavioral testing, motor assessments, go/no-go computer task, and an MRI scan in this study.

• The Computer Learning Games Study was created to assess individual differences in learning profiles among individuals with autism and with typical development and the neural computations for the observed learning differences. We also were testing decision making differences among these groups. Participants ages 13-17 with ASD or typical development completed 11 sessions of learning-based and decision-making computer games. Task performance on both computer games will be used to guide our modeling in order to infer individual differences in neural circuits and physiological pathways that are altered in ASD. Additionally, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to explore neurophysiological correlates of learning and ASD symptomatology in a subgroup of study participants.

• The objective of the Study of Daily Motor Tasks was to examine the motor properties of balance and grip strength tasks in adults with typical development. We wanted to learn how a range of motor tasks are done in typically developing adults, and to better understand balance, strength, kinematics, and postural stability needed to accomplish daily tasks in healthy adults. We would like to use this data as a contrast to better understand the underlying kinematics and postural stability of children with autism.

The purpose of this study was to pilot using genetic and parent reported data from previous participants from our lab. We collected saliva from the previous participants and their parents and used the saliva to look at genetic information related to autism and related conditions. We also asked both a teacher and a parent or caregiver to answer questions about the child’s behavior. We then combined this information with previously collected brain imaging and behavioral data.