WHAT IS THE ELM STUDY ABOUT?

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ELM stands for Emotional Learning and Memory.

The ELM Study hopes to understand the relationship between anxiety and the brain, in kids, teenagers and grown-ups - it's going to be tricky, so we need lots of help!

WHAT IS ANXIETY?

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Anxiety is another word for feeling worried or nervous.

We are pretty sure that the brain has something to do with it, and we want to understand more about that. We also want to look at how this changes at different ages, such as in kids and grown ups. 

WHAT WILL I BE DOING IF I CHOOSE TO BE IN THE ELM STUDY?

ELM is made up of two visits with some really nice researchers, and a task to do at home with your parent. The first visit  is at the University of Melbourne, and the second is at the Royal Children’s Hospital.

BEFORE THE VISITS

Before the visits, we would like you to provide some of your saliva for us (this means spit!). We can get some very important information from saliva, in particular about hormones (special chemicals that help our bodies work). All you have to do is dribble into a small tube for a few minutes - and your parent can help with this! 

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You can watch a short video about saliva collection here:

FIRST VISIT

During the visit at the University of Melbourne we will ask you to answer some questions about some of your feelings and your relationships. Then you will complete a task on a computer. During this visit we will also measure your height and weight, and collect a small sample of your hair (we do this in a spot where no one can see it!). 

SECOND VISIT

During the visit at the Royal Children’s Hospital, we will ask you some more questions and take some pictures of your brain. We do this with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of your brain, and we do a pretend scan first to show you how it works. You can see a video of an MRI brain scan here: