1. What is the purpose of this research study?

The purpose of this study is to find out how hunger might influence how children process different types of reward, like food and money.   

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2. Who can take part in the study?

Healthy children aged 7 – 11 years old and a parent or legal guardian can take part in the study.   Some children may not be eligible for the study if they have certain medical conditions or other factors that make the study unsuitable or unsafe for them. 

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3. How do you determine who can take part?

To make sure that our procedures are safe and/or appropriate for your child we will ask you to complete some screening questionnaires.  These will be completed over the phone and we will ask you about your child’s medical history and other things that might be important (e.g. if they have ever had a serious head injury).

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4. What kinds of families are being asked to volunteer for the study?

We are asking many different types of families to take part in the study. Inclusion or exclusion is based upon your answers to the screening questions.

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5. What are study participants asked to do?

Children in the study will complete two brain imaging sessions – one while they are ‘hungry’ and another while they ‘full’. Both will take place during the morning.  For the hungry session, we will ask that your child doesn’t have anything to eat the morning of the scan and we will give them breakfast as soon as the scan is done. In the full session, we will give your child breakfast before we start the brain imaging.

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In addition, parents and children will complete some questionnaires that ask about things that your child and/or your family might have experienced and other information that helps to describe your family.  Your child will complete some computer games.

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Each visit will last between 2 ½ to 3 hours. 

Between visits, you will be asked to complete the food diary for your child.  This must be done for 7 consecutive days and will take about 5 – 10 minutes per day.

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5. Will patients be compensated for participating in the study?

Yes! You and your child will receive $50 each per session for your participation. You will also receive $20 per session for travel expenses and $5/day for completing the online food diary.  If you complete all 7 days you will receive a $10 completion bonus.  

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Families that complete all sessions can earn up to $295.

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6. Where will the study take place?

The study sessions all take place on the Penn State University Park campus in State College, PA.

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7. Are there any benefits from being in the study?

We cannot promise any direct benefits to you or your child from taking part in this study. There are also no direct benefits of this study to others. However, this study is part of a series that will examine factors that increase the risk for substance use in adolescents and how we can prevent substance use. Thus, an indirect benefit of this project is generating information that may prove useful for substance abuse prevention.

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8. What are the possible risks associated with MRI?

MRI is extremely safe as long as proper safety precautions are taken. There are no known long-term risks of MRI scans. People are at risk for injury from the MRI magnet if they have pacemakers or other implanted electrical devices, brain stimulators, some types of dental implants, aneurysm clips (metal clips on the wall of a large artery), metallic prostheses (including metal pins and rods, heart valves, and cochlear implants), permanent eyeliner, implanted delivery pump, or shrapnel fragments. People who have worked with metal are also at risk for injury. Your child will be screened for these conditions before having a scan.

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People with a fear of confined spaces may become anxious during MRI. We will screen your child for claustrophobia before scanning. Claustrophobic individuals cannot take part.

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Those with back problems may get mild back pain or discomfort from lying in the scanner. If your child is unable to lie still for 1 hour without discomfort they will not be scanned.

​The noise from the scanner is loud enough to damage hearing, especially in people who already have hearing loss but everyone having a research MRI scan will be fitted with hearing protection to prevent any long-term damage.  If your child has hearing loss already you should let us know before the scan. 

9. What happens if participants do not want to be in this research or if they change their minds?

Participation in research is completely voluntary. Deciding not to take part will not influence your eligibility for other studies at Penn State or any other services to which you might otherwise be entitled.  

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Families who do decide to take part in the study are also free to withdraw from the study at any time.