Facility in large population center has potential to strengthen findings in psychological and brain sciences
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
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Office of Strategic Communication
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The University of Iowa has a new research hub in eastern Iowa.

In June, researchers in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences opened a multipurpose space in Cedar Rapids to tap into the city’s larger and more diverse population, with the goal to enroll hundreds of participants in studies involving topics such as language learning, reading, exercise, and cognitive aging, and behavioral markers for alcohol use disorder in older teenagers and young adults.

UI researchers have conducted work in Cedar Rapids before — the Growing Words Project, which seeks to understand how school-age children learn to recognize both spoken and written words, has been in Cedar Rapids for five years. But the 1,900-square-foot space at 2740 First Ave. NE provides investigators a shared hub for activity, with four testing rooms and an EEG (brain-wave measuring) wing. 

Participate in research in Cedar Rapids

The Cedar Rapids Research Registry identifies children and adults who may be eligible to participate in Cedar Rapids research studies conducted by faculty and staff in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at the University of Iowa.

How to register

Growing Words shares the facility with these projects:

  • A study into how humans across the life span process language, including the relationship between the richness of people’s social lives and language processing. The project is led by Bob McMurray, F. Wendell Miller Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and Sarah Colby, a postdoctoral fellow in that department. (McMurray also leads the Growing Words Project.)
  • Characterizing Alcohol Risks in Development (CARD), which aims to understand factors that predict whether adolescents may experience alcohol-related problems later in life. The project is led by Bruce Bartholow, professor and Ketchel Family Chair in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.
  • A study to find out which cognitive skills are most important for middle-aged and older adults to overcome limited-time, negative feelings that can be associated with higher-intensity exercise, and needs for planning to access spaces to maintain an active lifestyle. The project is led by Michelle Voss, associate professor and Ronnie Ketchel Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Expanding to Cedar Rapids and broadening the research applicant pool could strengthen, and even solidify, findings from previous studies with fewer or less diverse participants.

“It will give us a better view of how cognition and development and aging work in the population at large,” McMurray says. “We will get a better, richer swath of humanity.”

Participants of all ages are needed for the studies.

“Our goal with setting up satellite research sites such as Cedar Rapids is to meet people where they are at, rather than requiring a trip to labs in Iowa City,” Voss says. “We want to make it as easy as possible to participate, and in turn, our findings will be more applicable to more people and their daily lives.”

This photo gallery by Office of Strategic Communication photographer Tim Schoon showcases the work taking place within the Cedar Rapids facility.

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Richard C. Lewis
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A view of two lab testing rooms at the new research location in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. University of Iowa researchers opened the 1,900-square-foot space at 2740 First Ave. NE to broaden the research applicant pool that could strengthen, and even solidify, findings from previous studies with fewer or less diverse participants.
Suzette Ruiter, an 11-year-old from Hudson, Iowa, prepares for an eye-tracking/word-recognition task as part of the Growing Words Project, which seeks to understand how children recognize and learn words. In the background is Eva Kelly, a research assistant in the Mechanics of Audiovisual Categorization lab that includes the Growing Words study.
Suzette Ruiter, a sixth grader in the Hudson (Iowa) Community School District, has her eye movements tracked during a reading task as part of the Growing Words Project, which seeks to understand how children recognize and learn words. “It’s fun,” she says, of participating in the study. “I want to help the researchers learn more about how people learn words. If there’s one person who can easily understand a word and then there’s another person who can’t, maybe this can help them notice the difference.”
Jamie Klein-Packard, lab coordinator for the Growing Words Project, readies 11-year-old Suzette Ruiter for a word-recognition activity, in which she will choose among four objects and identify as quickly as she can the image that corresponds with the word she has heard. Growing Words researchers use eye-tracking technology to catalog Ruiter’s eye movements in fractions of seconds as she attempts to match an object on a computer screen to a word she has heard.
Hayley Chappell, a research assistant and 2023 Iowa graduate, demonstrates a cognitive activity that participants will take in a study designed to better understand the relationship between cognitive skills associated with self-regulation and a physically active lifestyle. The study is led by Michelle Voss, associate professor and Ronnie Ketchel Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Looking on is Megan Hilliard, a 2022 Iowa grad who helped to design the cognitive activities.
Hayley Chappell (left) and Megan Hilliard in the testing room that will be used for a study to better understand the relationship between cognitive skills associated with self-regulation and a physically active lifestyle. The research is led by Michelle Voss, associate professor and Ronnie Ketchel Faculty Fellow in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, and is one of four studies taking place in a new research hub in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Bob McMurray gives a thumbs up to Jacob Strecker, as he completes a speech-perception test that is part of the Growing Words Project, which seeks to understand how children recognize and learn words. The approximately $6 million research is funded by the National Institutes of Health. McMurray, F. Wendell Miller Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, has secured additional NIH funding to scan the brains of a subset of the child participants.
Bob McMurray monitors the progress by Suzette Ruiter, an 11-year-old from Hudson, Iowa, who has participated in the Growing Words Project for the past four years. Ruiter will hear a word, then identify the correct object associated with the word, in a fraction of a second. She will complete the 200 word-object identification activity in about 10 minutes. “She’s a pro now,” McMurray says, with a chuckle.
Researcher outfits participant with an electroencephalography (EEG) cap, or brain cap, a device that monitors electrical activity in the brain by using sensors attached to the scalp
A close-up of an electroencephalography (EEG) cap, or brain cap, a device that monitors electrical activity in the brain by using sensors attached to the scalp. The cap measures which brain waves are activated when participants take part in a series of activities. The activities form the basis for a study that aims to understand whether and how adolescents may be predisposed to alcohol use later in life.
A demonstration of an activity in the Characterizing Alcohol Risks in Development (CARD) study, led by Bruce Bartholow, professor and Ketchel Family Chair in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. The team is recruiting participants ages 14–19, and will compensate them $495 for completing all the phases of the research.
A photo illustration of an electroencephalography (EEG) cap