USIU-Africa Opens Event Related Potential Laboratory for Research

Associate professor of psychology Dr Michael Kihara. “This will contribute to understanding how the brain responds in different environments and perhaps predict future cognitive performance,” said Dr Kihara. PHOTO | USIU-Africa

What you need to know:

  • “This will contribute to understanding how the brain responds in different environments and perhaps predict future cognitive performance,” said Dr Kihara.
  • While ERP laboratories have proved to be of significant benefit in the developed countries, the high cost of the equipment required to make the laboratory operational is a hindrance to its penetration in Africa.
  • “This will contribute to understanding how the brain responds in different environments and perhaps predict future cognitive performance,” said Dr Kihara.
  • “Many times, when the ERP experiment is carried out on a person to understand their speech deficiency, it has been found that they require a speech therapist and that the brain is actually not compromised,” adds Dr Kihara.

USIU-Africa has opened an Event Related Potential (ERP) Laboratory in an effort to enhance its Psychology programs by making them more practical through research.

This makes the Laboratory the second of its kind in Kenya after one owned by the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) in Kilifi.

Activities that will be carried out in the research laboratory will involve measuring the electrical activity of the brain by use of scalp electrodes. This helps track the time it takes for the brain to recognize change related to selective attention from audio and visual experiments.

The equipment is easy to use as there are no cultural bias or fear factors associated with it allowing for experiments to be carried out on children as young as 2 weeks.

Dr Michael Kihara, an Associate Professor of Psychology spearheading the initiative at USIU-Africa sites that this is a major milestone for research in Africa in relation to understanding the effects on the brain from exposure to infectious diseases such as cerebral malaria and pneumococcal meningitis, neonatal jaundice and epilepsy as well as children with HIV.

While ERP laboratories have proved to be of significant benefit in the developed countries, the high cost of the equipment required to make the laboratory operational is a hindrance to its penetration in Africa.

PREDICT COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE

The USIU-Africa laboratory equipment that was donated by KEMRI at a cost of Sh1.7mn (13,000 Sterling Pounds) for a single operating license for the software and 10,000 Sterling pounds for an amplifier is exclusive of the cost of the monitors used to display the readings of the experiments.

Dr Kihara who has been involved in extensive scientific research associated with clinical psychology at KEMRI Wellcome Trust Research Programme in Kilifi hopes to compare his findings from past research with that of a sample from Nairobi.

“This will contribute to understanding how the brain responds in different environments and perhaps predict future cognitive performance,” said Dr Kihara.

Research using ERP has been used to determine the effect on the brain if compromised by cerebral Malaria. Results from tests carried out have found that 1 out of every 4 people do not fully heal from the effects of the disease on the brain. This accounts to approximately 26 per cent of those who contract cerebral malaria.

ERP research has also been instrumental in determining the integrity of the brain in relation to speech impairment.

“Many times, when the ERP experiment is carried out on a person to understand their speech deficiency, it has been found that they require a speech therapist and that the brain is actually not compromised,” adds Dr Kihara.

Other ERP laboratories in Africa can be found in Alexandre, Cape Town and Pretoria.

Psychology programs offered at USIU-Africa include Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Masters of Arts in Clinical Psychology, Master of Arts in Counselling Psychology and the Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D) in Clinical Psychology.