Labs

MRI facilities

Together with the Departments of Neurology and Neuroradiology, we have a research-dedicated 3 Tesla full-body scanner Prisma (Siemens AG, Erlangen). The research scanner was funded by DFG.

For detailed information pls. have a look at our Prisma website.

Our MR scanners are equipped with fast EPI acquisition protocols for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During fMRI healthy participants and/or patients perceive visual and auditive stimuli via a mirror system and headphones while T2*-weighted echo-planar images are acquired. High-resolution structural MRI and diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) studies are also conducted.   

Our MRI equipment includes

• two audio systems from MRconfon and Sensimetrics
• an EEG system
• and various custom-built solutions for the presentation of vestibular, tactile, and olfactory stimuli.

Booking the 3T MRT scanner via the booking form (access with your NDS-account -> needs to be activated for each user)

• in the first field of the form please enter Project name, the day you want to book the scanner, and the booking time (from / until)
• please choose an entry from the drop down menue or fill in the fields marked with a little red star
• here is the link to the calendar, clicking on "Neue Buchung" there will take you to the booking form.
• Because the lab next to the MRI room will be used, too and needs to be booked (for the same time as the scanning or not combined with scanning at the PRISMA),it was necessary to enlarge the calendar. The procedure and login for reservation of scanning time remain the same, there has only been integrated a second calendar.
• From now on there are two possibilities:
• Upon using the booking form on the left calendar you can book the
  scanner only or you can book the scanner and the lab for the same time (in this case booking time for the lab is shown on the right calendar, too.) - IMPORTANT: Pls. Choose one of the two options in the drop down selection: "Welche Ressource benötigen Sie?". Please also choose your project as you have already done before.
  or:
• Upon using the booking form on the right calendar you can book the lab only. Pls. insert your project name manually, there is no drop down selection available.

EEG laboratory

Our EEG laboratory is equipped with a 64-channel acquisition amplifier from Brain Products.

The data are analyzed with various Matlab-based programs.

Eyetracking laboratories

We currently have two eyetracking facilities equipped with high-speed video oculography (Cambridge Research Systems).  We explore how participants execute saccadic and pursuit eye movements to visual stimuli.

This system is also used to train patient with central scotoma to establish eccentric fixation as part of the DFG Research Unit 107

Psychophysical laboratory

Our group uses psychophysical techniques to describe the relationship between stimulus qualities (i.e., intensity, contrast, color, spatial frequency, noise level, etc.) and the resulting perceptual performance levels (i.e., detection thresholds, discrimination thresholds, d’ as an index of sensitivity, scaling of supra-threshold intensity, etc.).

This laboratory is regularly used to prototype experiments for fMRI and/or EEG studies.