Research Committee | Current Projects
Reference corpus of Dutch drug users I: MDMA/Ecstasy
Dr. Maartje Schreuder1, Viktoria Papp2, Prof. dr. Jan Ramaekers3 and Dr. Eef Theunissen3
1Department of Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
2Linguistics Department, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA
3Department of Neuropsychology and Psychopharmacology, Maastricht University, The Netherlands
The past few years have seen an emergence of large-scale phonetic studies into regional variation in order to create reference databases for population statistic purposes. At the same time, crimes committed under the influence of drugs is on the rise. This study, the first in a series of further studies on drugs, proposes to create a corpus of MDMA- (ecstasy) -influenced speech of Dutch speakers. Recordings will be made before drug intake and around/past peak intoxication level. This initial corpus will consist of recordings of both spontaneous and topic-controlled speech, recorded both in studio quality and through a mobile phone line. The participants in the study will be 16 native Dutch recreational drug users participating in a psycho-pharmacological research project on MDMA and memantine conducted by Prof. Dr. Jan Ramaekers and Dr. Eef Theunissen at Maastricht University. The study will be conducted according to a placebo controlled, four-way crossover study.
The objectives of the study are to a) establish measurable and perceptual differences between MDMA-influenced and non-intoxicated speech, b) situate the acoustic correlates of MDMA use in the context of known effects of other intoxicants, such as heroin and alcohol, and c) make the corpus available to IAFPA members.