Wintergreen oil contained in a small vial with a ball of cotton; kept at 1.25 cm deep.
Fire engine siren played at 95 dB.
20-watt strobe light flashing at 10 Hz.
Finger puppet with a 5 cm feather attached distally
Chair placed on top of a tilted board supported by a 10 cm cube placed at each corner. Platform is a 75 cm square plywood board attached to a rotation board
Procedure
Experimenter covered a vial with his thumb until about to be presented. The vial was placed 2.5 cm away from child’s nose moving from left to right.
Child listened to the tape-recorded sound.
Light was placed 60 cm away from the child, slightly below eye level and flashed continuously within the trial time window.
A feather was placed gently over the child’s right ear canal and moved towards the left ear canal, passing along the bottom of the chin.
The chair was tipped backwards slowly and smoothly at an angle of 30° and placed upright afterwards.
The laboratory was designed to look like a spaceship, with the paradigm designed to resemble a “spaceship trip.” The child was seated in front of a spaceship console with a 13-inch monitor screen and strobe light placed 60 cm away, at eye level. While preparing the experiment, the child watched a spaceship-themed video clip that was chosen to be nonstimulating but entertaining.
