EMCL+ internship report: Irina Chupina
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Internship report
Irina Chupina
Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Nijmegen; March – May, 2020 I got interested in an internship at the Language Function and Dysfunction Lab after the presentation at the EMCL+ internship meeting. The lab is part of the Donders Centre for Cognition (DCC) at Radboud University in Nijmegen, an institution renowned for its high quality linguistic research and prominent faculty, as well as modern facilities and academically competitive environment. Headed by Dr Vitória Piai, an associate principal investigator at Donders, the lab focuses on the neuropsychology and
neurobiology of language and investigates language processing both in healthy individuals and people with brain damage. Taking into account my personal interest in neuroanatomy and neurolinguistics and the profile of the lab, I considered an internship at Donders to be perfectly fitting both my academic aspirations and the clinical linguistics orientation of the EMCL+ programme. Another reason for my choice was the fact that Dr Piai is an expert on speech production and its interface with the cognitive and attentional control neural systems, which are the topics I have always found intriguing. On top of that, one of my internship goals was getting acquainted with electroencephalography (EEG), and Dr Piai’s extensive experience with electrophysiological research techniques as reflected in her work on ERPs and neural oscillations seemed like an excellent learning opportunity.
Before coming to Nijmegen in March, I started reviewing the literature on cognitive control and neural oscillations and developing research questions connected to speech production under interference in young neurotypical adults. Later, when data collection became impossible, I shifted the focus to older adults and people with aphasia whose electrophysiological data had been previously collected. During the offline stage of my internship, I designed and developed an experiment on lexical interference in young adults. To begin with, I selected stimuli for the Stroop task and, using the BOSS picture database, for the picture-word interference task. I created individual item lists for participants using Mix, a programme for pseudorandomisation. Next, I acquired skills for programming experiments in the software called Presentation. I worked with sample scripts provided by Dr Piai, and, having studied main functions and coding, I modified them to fit my
particular experimental design. The materials and scripts were made available for use to other interns and students in the lab. Additionally, I attended meetings of the EEG/MEG group at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, led by Dr Robert Oostenveld.
EMCL+ internship report: Irina Chupina
2 His group developed Fieldtrip, a toolkit for EEG/MEG data analyses in MATLAB, which I used later in my thesis for analysing EEG data. These meetings added to my understanding of the neurological basis of oscillatory brain activity and certain technicalities of the Fieldtrip analysis pipeline. I also attended Language Function and Dysfunction lab meetings, which allowed me to interact with other junior researchers and familiarise myself with the work conducted by the lab. Apart from that, I learnt how to use the Open Science Framework platform and pre-register studies. Finally, I completed an introductory tour of the experimental facilities at the DCC, which was concluded with a seminar on recruiting participants, data security and use of experimental equipment.
The next, online stage of the internship mainly consisted of (1) mastering EEG data and statistical analyses, and (2) attending lectures, Journal clubs and individual meetings with Dr Piai in Zoom. Using Fieldtrip in MATLAB, I learned how to pre-process EEG data, which included applying filters, baseline corrections and selecting relevant trials. Then, I learnt how to inspect and clean the data manually. This activity not only taught me how to detect artifacts such as electrode drifts, eye blinks or muscle movement, but also helped me better understand the intrinsic qualities of EEG data. In addition, I learnt how to remove artifactual noise with independent component analysis and how to repair
excessively noisy electrodes via signal interpolation. Next, I explored methods of conducting frequency and time-frequency analyses, including the fast Fourier transform and wavelet convolution techniques. Then, I was introduced to cluster-based permutation statistics, which is considered an optimal approach for analysing multidimensional data such as EEG. Another skill I acquired was working with lesion masks using MRIcron and SPM in MATLAB. This software enables lesion visualisation by creating individual lesion maps and overlays. Moreover, by exploring masks in MRIcron, I advanced my knowledge of brain anatomy.
There was a number of educational online events that I attended. First of all, I attended a meeting on online data collection organised by the DCC, whose aim was to provide an overview of online testing platforms and introduce protocols for recruitment and data protection. Then, I participated in the Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Language Sciences conference at Max Planck Institute, an event catered for junior researchers. The conference provided a great opportunity to discover work of fellow students, watch a series of presentations by senior researchers and join hands-on
workshops. In addition, I took an active part in the Journal club of the Language function and dysfunction lab. It cultivated an environment for discussion, and both linguistic and
EMCL+ internship report: Irina Chupina
3 practical issues that were addressed there were highly relevant, covering, among other things, research techniques, academic writing, article submission and research ethics.
Despite the circumstances related to the Covid-19 outbreak which, unfortunately, did not allow me to recruit participants and collect EEG data, I believe I have achieved most of the originally set internship goals. I have expanded my knowledge of brain anatomy and neural electrophysiological mechanisms, mastered the basics of EEG data pre-processing and time-frequency analyses, learned how to develop a research question into a coherent empirical experiment that fits well with the existing literature and raises novel issues. The atmosphere at the DCC and Dr Piai’s lab in particular was open and stimulating, which made my first experience of being part of a research group extremely rewarding. I was taught valuable lessons not only about conducting research and
developing a scientific mindset but also about interpersonal communication, keeping the life-work balance and setting oneself challenging but attainable goals on a daily basis.
Over the two years of the EMCL+, I have delved into the fundamentals of psycho- and neurolinguistics, statistics and interdisciplinary research approaches, developed my academic writing and teamwork skills, gained practical behavioural research experience. The training and instruction I had received throughout the programme served as a solid foundation for embarking on the internship and undertaking a challenging thesis project. Introduction to programming and semester group projects familiarised me with coding, writing scripts and using experimental software. Courses on psycholinguistics,
neurolinguistics and aphasiology built up my theoretical background in word and sentence production, language-related neuroanatomy and speech generation in the population with aphasia. The Neuroimaging course on ERP methodology read to us by Dr Popov, in particular, made the learning curve less steep. Several courses on inferential statistics, that expanded my knowledge about linear regression and improved my workflow in R-studio, allowed me to efficiently implement linear mixed models in my thesis. Lastly, it was encouraging to have a fellow EMCL+ student alongside at Donders, as we were able to support each other and give feedback on each other’s work.
In conclusion, I believe that the internship and the thesis project allowed me to successfully consolidate the knowledge and practical skills I have acquired with the help of the EMCL+ faculty and Dr Vitoria Piai. Relying on the expertise I have gained in the programme, I feel fully prepared to start a research career in the field of clinical linguistics.
