The Human Neuroscience Lab incorporates neuroimaging, intracranial EEG recording from subdural electrodes in patients, EEG and ERP recordings from non-invasive scalp electrodes in healthy volunteers, eye-tracking, and psychophysiology. These equipment and facilities are described in detail below.
Facilities in Sheffield-Sterling-Stracona Hall (SSS 311)
The lab in 311 SSS is directly adjacent to our offices and conference room in the 309-310 suite. The lab consists of an electrically shielded testing chamber, a control area for experimenters outside the chamber, a set-up room for electrode placement with sink and cabinets, and an analysis lab consisting of twelve workstations that are fully connected to the McCarthy lab network.
Major equipment in SSS 311 include the following:
- A Compumedics/Neuroscan EEG system consisting of 64 channels of EEG plus ancillary channels for recording eye movements, EMG, and heart rate.
- A SMI 120 Hz eye-tracking system.
- A Biopac psychophysiology system for recording heart rate and skin conductance. This system can also deliver mild shocks for fear conditioning and other paradigms.
- Computers for controlling each of these systems are located in the control room outside of the testing chamber.
Facilities at the Yale Comprehensive Epilepsy Center (YCEC)
The HNL owns a 128-channel SA Instruments EEG system which is used to record EEG from subdural and penetrating depth electrodes from patients who are being evaluated at the YCEC.
Facilities at the Yale Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC)
The HNL has full access to the MRRC neuroimaging facilities. These facilities include two Siemens 3 Tesla TIM Trio MRI scanners, one 7 Tesla Varian head-only system, and one 1.5 T Siemens MRI scanner. Ancillary equipment at the MRRC include visual display systems, response measurement systems, a Biopac psychophysiology system (similar to that in the 311 SSS lab), eye-tracking, and simultaneous EEG recording system.
