CityLab Nijmegen was launched on 24 March. Here, as a museum visitor, you can take part in scientific research. The lab is a collaboration between the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour (part of Radboud University) and the muZIEum, the experiential museum about sight and blindness.
Visitors to the muZIEum experience what it is like to be unable to see in a special darkness experience. That experience makes a real impression. In addition, there is a wealth of information available about living with a visual impairment. “Thanks to the collaboration with the Donders Institute, we are now taking this a step further,” says Heleen Vermeulen, director of the muZIEum.
CityLab Nijmegen is therefore a fine example of a place within Lifeport where science and society come together. “Visitors learn more about how the brain and perception work,” explains Vermeulen. This takes place through experiments in so-called kiosks within the MuZIEum. There are also workshops and lectures on how the brain works, led by researchers from the Donders Institute.
Mysteries of the brain
The Donders Institute is part of Radboud University and Radboudumc. In total, around 800 scientists from a wide range of disciplines work at the institute. They investigate the functioning of the brain and the resulting behaviour at various levels. Visual perceptions are also part of this research.
Femke Maij, managing director at the Donders Institute, sees the collaboration with the MuZIEum as a wonderful opportunity to bring society and science together. “We’re introducing the public to genuine scientific research. And our scientists are learning more about how our brains work. That way, we learn from one another.”
Attention makes blind
There are currently three research projects at the muZIEum that visitors can take part in (it is not compulsory, of course). For instance, neuroscientist Marius Peelen set up the experiment "Attention makes you blind". "Even if we can see well, that doesn't mean we see and perceive everything. At the muZIEum, we study which objects people do or do not detect. Do you recognise one thing rather than another? It is useful if we know more about this. So that you can, for example, reduce attention blindness in unsafe situations." He says the advantage of doing research in a museum is that you can involve a much broader group of people of all ages in the study. "So that also provides different data."
Language development
In the coming period, more scientists will do their experiments in the muZIEum. These focus on language development and behaviour and on perception and emotions. The Donders Institute contributes to all kinds of innovations in healthcare, for example when it comes to making the blind see again.
Neuroscience and Healthy Brain in Lifeport
The presence of the Donders Institute in Nijmegen helps ensure that Lifeport holds a leading position in the fields of neuroscience and the healthy brain. By entering into a partnership at CityLab Nijmegen, Donders and muZIEum can work together to improve the ‘quality of life’ for many people.
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Photo: Dieuwertjevd, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
