As a Research Assistant, I contributed to a cognitive psychology study investigating how aroma influences alerting, orienting and executive control. In short: we wanted to know if certain scents sharpen focus or just make you zen.
My role involved both hands-on experiment delivery and behind-the-scenes research support, ensuring data quality and participant engagement.
My contributions included:
- Participant Recruitment & Coordination – Organised outreach and scheduling (aka convincing busy people this was a good use of their time).
- Running Experiments – Conducted experimental sessions using PsychoPy and Pavlovia, giving clear instructions and monitoring accuracy (translation: made sure they pressed the right buttons at the right time).
- Data Collection & Organisation – Collected mountains of quantative and qualitative data, labelled it neatly ensuring compliance with ethical standards.
- Data Analysis – Processed results using Excel, JASP, and Python scripts, supporting statistical analysis.
- Research Support – Conducted literature reviews on olfactory cognition to inform study design and contextualise findings.
Impact & Results:
- Building a reliable dataset of participant responses, helping the team progress towards publication.
- Enhanced accuracy and efficiency of data processing, ensuring robust statistical outcomes.
In progress…
Maria Isabela 