Privacy Policy

Whenever you play a game, your score is automatically sent to our server in an anonymised form. We will use these scores to research how the brain works. To collect these data, we need to have your consent.

Please scroll down and read the rest of the information carefully. You can find it again at any time in the ‘Options’ section of the app. 

By tapping ‘I agree’ below, you confirm that:

-        you know what data you’ll be sending to us, why we’re collecting this data, and what we’ll use your data for

-        you agree to send this data to us

-        you understand that you can stop sending us data at any time, without affecting how you use the app

-        this is your device

What's this research for? We want to know how simple cognitive traits vary across large groups of people.  We also want to find people with interesting groups of traits who might participate in further research.  Above all, we want you to enjoy the games, and to find out a bit more about what psychologists do to investigate the workings of the human brain.

What will I do? You will provide some basic demographic information and confirm some settings in order to sign up.  After that, you’re free to play the games, and we’ll get useful data each time you play. We would also like to gather some additional information, for example how often you use your phone and how active you are during the day. This information is collected passively by your phone’s sensors.

How long will it take? The sign-up process should take only a few minutes.  Each game takes about five minutes to play.

What data will I be sharing? Your test scores and the basic details you give us in the app will be sent to us. Some anonymous passive data from your phone’s sensors and your responses to occasional questionnaires will also be sent to us.

What will you do with this data? We'll use it for our academic research, and to create summary data that all app users can see.  We'll apply statistical methods to the combined responses from everyone taking part. We’ll publish the results of our research in scientific journals. The papers will be available to read online – go to the news page on our website to see details of recent studies. Based on the data we receive from you, you may also be invited to take part in further research by an anonymous invitation sent through the app.

Is it anonymous? Yes. The data collection is anonymous and furthermore we won't use your information at any point to try to identify you. We don't ask for your name or for any other personal details, and we don't need your phone number to send notifications to your phone. We will never sell your data to any third party. We may make anonymous data available for further research by other parties such as academic researchers at other institutions. 

Is it secure? The data is not encrypted before it is submitted over the internet. However, no personal information is used by the app or sent to us.

Do I have to take part in the research to use the app? If you don’t want to take part in the research, go to the Options screen and change ‘Participate in the experiment’ to ‘Off’. Your use of the app will be unaffected. If you change your mind, you change the setting back to ‘On’ at any time.

Is it easy to get out of? Taking part is completely voluntary. You can change your preference in the Options menu at any time and without giving a reason. You can decide not to send us data from the games or passive data from your device’s sensors. You can withdraw completely from the experiment at any time in the Options menu and this will delete all of your data from our data store. Or you can just delete this app from your device at any time (although once you’ve done this, you won’t be able to delete your data from the server). We won’t be able to remove your data from analyses that have already been completed or from data that has already been made available for further research. 

How much data does it use? Not very much. Playing all of the games uses less data that sending a typical email.

I have another question...

If there's anything else you'd like to know, please contact us:

- email at rutledgelab@gmail.com

- write to us at the Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, 10-12 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5EH United Kingdom

- visit www.rutledgelab.org