Primary Research Center: Tufts University, Department of Psychology
Location 1: Medford, MA
Secondary Research Center: Athinoula A. Martinos Center, Mass General Hospital
Location 2: Charlestown Navy Yard, Charlestown, MA
Lead Researchers: Aerielle Allen, Lisa Shin, and Sam Sommers
IRB: This study has been reviewed and approved by the Tufts Health Sciences Institutional Review Board

Racism is one of the most impactful crises facing society today. It increases many adverse health outcomes, including mortality in Black Americans. Yet neuroscientists and psychologists still have a lot to learn about how personal experiences with racism have consequences on the brain, mind, and body.

Studies like this are essential because they have the potential to help researchers better characterize the pathways linking everyday racism to health disparities and to devise potential strategies for addressing such disparities. This study has the potential to reshape how researchers think about and study racism in the fields of neuroscience and behavioral science, treating it as a significant factor impacting health. Join this study and make a difference in addressing this urgent social and health crisis, today.

• Participants will be compensated $300 for participating in this study. Compensation will only be provided to eligible participants who complete the study.
• Participants will be contributing valuable information that may benefit society in the future.
• Participants will be helping to advance research on health and disparities.

• If you decide to participate in the study and later feel that you no longer wish to be part of it, you can withdraw at any time.
• Any information that you provide will be kept strictly confidential, except as required by law.

• People aged 18-65 who identify as Black or African American
• Must weigh less than 350 lbs
• Must be able to speak and understand English
• Must be willing to describe at least two personal experiences involving racial discrimination
• Must have access to a smartphone
• Must not have angina/recurring chest pain, seizures, heart failure, lung disease, multiple sclerosis, brain tumor, stroke, or Meniere’s Disease
• Must not have a skin allergy to adhesives found on bandages or medical tape
• Must not have braces, aneurysm clips, metallic shards in eyes, pacemaker, neurostimulators, implanted pumps, or cochlear implants inside or on your body that you cannot remove for an MRI scan
• Must not have severe claustrophobia or back problems that prevent lying down in an MRI scanner
• Must be able to participate in 2 in-person study visits (1 in Medford, 1 in Charlestown) over a 6-week period

The study team will explain the research in its entirety but some details are:

• Participation is expected to last approximately 8.5 hours in total across 4 separate sessions. 
• Participants will be asked to 1) participate in an in-person interview about past events from their life on the Tufts (Medford) campus, 2) complete an online questionnaire, 3) participate in a brief app-based daily survey on a smartphone for 30 days, and 4) participate in an in-person session at the Martinos Center (Charlestown).
• Participation will include an MRI and being asked to give a saliva sample.

Tufts University, Department of Psychology
The primary location for this study is the Department of Psychology at Tufts University in Medford, MA. The Department of Psychology is located at 490 Boston Avenue and includes a variety of cutting-edge laboratory space dedicated to behavioral science research. The secondary location for this study is the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at the Massachusetts General Hospital. The Martinos Center is located in the Charlestown Navy Yard at 149-13th Street and is one of the world’s premier research centers devoted to the development and application of advanced biomedical imaging technologies.

Please note:
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the researchers would like to assure the participants that ensuring their and the study staff’s safety is of utmost importance.