Social Sciences please help

[Jacobshhs]

My current idea for a project is to go to Brigham Young University and use an EEG and measure what happens to a people in a band's brain waves and see if they all would go in sync.
Can you tell me if research has already been done? and if so can you advise me in another isef worthy neuroscience project?

[deleted-42343]

Hi Jacobshhs,

The best way to determine if this has already been done is to look for research papers on this topic. I don't completely understand your exact topic yet (I need more details and keywords), so I think it would be better if you searched for papers since you know what you are looking for.

Here are some resources on how to read and find scientific papers:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... pers.shtml
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... aper.shtml

Google Scholar is easy to use, and sometimes you can find free papers using it, although abstracts are also helpful if you just want to see if the research has been done before. You need to gather some more specific keywords in order to get good results. So do some preliminary research (maybe in Wikipedia), to get some more keywords. Then you can search in google and google scholar to see if any papers come up. Read them and see if they are similar to what you want to do.

Once you know more about what has been done in the area, then you will have more details on your topic and we can give you some advice of whether we think it might do well at a competition like ISEF. And of course we can advise you along the way. That is our job as Experts . Keep in mind though that we may not have the resources to help with really specific details (parts of the procedure, etc.)

Having an actual mentor for this type of project might be necessary, since I assume you would need a lab to work in. A mentor can also give you more specific guidance. Although we have some Experts in the Social Science area, we may or may not have someone who knows lots about neuroscience. Here's a guide about how to find a mentor: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... tors.shtml

Good luck! And let us know if you have any more questions.

[Jacobshhs]

My project idea involves taking my high school band up to a local University and using an EEG to monitor brainwaves and see what effect music (more specifically playing music) has on brain waves

[deleted-42343]

I found the following articles in google scholar by typing in "music brain waves eeg"

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en ... =&as_vis=0

So that can get you started. Looking at the references in those papers will help you find more papers. Good luck!

By the way, I accidentally quoted my own post instead of editing it, so you might have gotten two emails about the topic being updated. But I only posted this one.

[Jacobshhs]

Thank you for your help, However I don't think I have the necessary credentials for a mentor. Would you please advise me in a Psychology project that Doesn't require special equipment?

[MaryB]

Hello,

I would recommend that you check out the following links to Science Buddies science fair project ideas:

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... php?ia=Soc
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... ?ia=HumBeh

This should give you several ideas and you can choose/develop your own project based on your own interests.

Good Luck,
Mary

[deleted-42343]

Before you decide to change your project, keep in mind that you don't NEED a mentor, but they can be very be helpful. You would at least need to coordinate with the lab you've mentioned to make sure they are willing to help you do the experiment and help you interpret the results.

There is no such thing as necessary credentials in order to get a mentor. All you need is a passion for science and some perseverance! .

If you still decide to change your project though, that is totally fine.

[mlod123]

If you are interested the impact of playing music and a bands being "in sync" there may be other ways to test this. Define what you mean by being "in sync" = thinking the same way? performing the same way? Then come up with a way to measure this. It could be having all the band members take some sort of survey, at the same time, after playing together. You could do a before and after to see if they become more in sync the more they play together. Your original project has some serious drawbacks so keep looking but if music is your passion don't give up! Mrs. O'Donnell

[deleted-71536]

Hi Jacobshhs,

You have a very interesting question! Another related question is to look at the effects of music on heart rate. You can purchase heart rate monitors at sports stores or outdoor shops (like REI), or online. You can look at the effects of different kinds of music on heart rate, for example. This might be a related project that would be a little easier than measuring brain waves. If your primary interest is psychology, you could include a survey that investigates your subjects' feelings about the different kinds of music, and you can relate those feelings to their changes in heart rate.

Please keep us posted with your progress!

Cheers,
Heather

[Jacobshhs]

as glad as I am for all your help on this Project i have decided to change it. I will be posting in effect of thoughts on physical mnatter