My research experience: A study looking at how well children learn and keep new habits.

Posted Wed 14th Mar 2018 at 10:00
by Connor Fitzgerald

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14 year old Connor Fitzgerald tells us about his time spent at the University of Nottingham playing with a robotic arm!

What’s your name?

Connor Fitzgerald.

How old are you?

14

How long since you got diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome?

about 6 years ago

Which research project did you take part in? What was the name of the research project or what was it about?

It was a research project about suppressing tics

Did you have to go somewhere to take part? A university or a clinic?

University in Nottingham

Can you tell us what it was like when you went to take part?

It was a friendly environment and all the machines were not to difficult to use, there was a briefing before it started and we had to do a questionnaire at the end of the 2 days.  It was a bit boring but i knew it would be and i wanted to do it to help others, all in all it was ok and they hopefully had what they needed to help others.

Did you meet the researchers? Did you get taken somewhere like a scanner or a clinic room? 

We did meet four researchers and there were clinic and scanner type rooms

Did you have any activities to do? Did you have any scans or use any equipment? 

I had to use a robotic arm and had to be shocked with little jolts of electric

How long did it last roughly? How many times did you go?

It lasted about 4 hours over a course of 2 days.  I visited the university twice while doing the research

Did any researchers ask you or your parents questions?

Yes

What kind of questions?

How my tourettes is and why i wanted to do the research

Was there anything you didn’t like to too much about it? (for example going into a scanner, being asked lots questions, taking a long time?)

It was a bit boring just sitting in one place for a while

What were the bits you liked?

I met this other kid with tourettes he was a lot younger than me and was doing the exact same experiments except the electric one.

What would you say to someone else thinking about joining in a research project like you did? (would you recommend doing it to other people?)

Yes the researchers were very friendly and it is a great way to make other people understand their tourettes, and may help them deal with it.

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