My project to find out whether computer programming languages affect the brain is slowly coming together. The best news is that I’ve got my hands on a very quick version of an IQ test, which can be administered in 15 minutes, which means that I can cut the whole experiment down from 50 to 30 minutes in total. Hopefully that will make it even easier for people to take part.

As a reminder, I’m looking for young coders in these age groups:

  • 8-11 year olds who have been coding regularly for at least 6 months
  • 14-16 year olds who have been coding for at least 3 years
  • 21-25 year old professionals who have been coding for 8 years or more

Any programming language is OK, but it’s important that you are not bilingual (read the information sheet for details).  Here’s what taking part will involve:

Taking part in the experiment

  • We can do this at your home, or meet you at one of 2 locations in central London (either my university or my place of work, which is a children’s charity)
  • Taking part will take 30 minutes. I’ll schedule a time to suit you.
  • First we’ll do a short IQ test – this is only so that I can make sure that the people I compare you to (who are not coders) have roughly the same IQ
  • Then we’ll run the experiment on a laptop. It’s pretty simple, you just have to respond to what you see on the screen, as quickly and accurately as possible.

I’m hoping to complete all of the experiments by the end of April, so that I can then recruit and test a control group. If you’ve already signed up, I’ll be in touch with suggested times very soon.

If you run computer clubs for kids or just know young people who fit the bill, please point ’em my way or get in touch.