Labs
From SensorimotorLab.com
Vestibular sled Laboratory
The vestibular sled is used to study sensorimotor integration during passive self motion. It consists of a chair mounted on rails and powered by a linear motor that allows precise motion of subjects in order to stimulate the vestibular system. At the same time visual stimuli can be presented by means of a robot mounted LED panel. An Optotrak infra-red motion capturing system is available to record reaching or other movements of the subject. Furthermore an Eyelink II eye tracking system is mounted on the chair, as well as headphones for auditory stimulation and a joystick for manual responses. We use this set up to study how linear motion is perceived and how self-motion affects spatially-guided motor behavior. For example, what happens when we try to point at a remembered location in space after we have been moved? The vestibular sled is sited at the Donders Centre for Cognition.
Eye-hand tracking Laboratory
In the eye-hand tracking lab we investigate hand movement in a virtual reality set up. The lab is equipped with a SensAble Phantom Premium haptic device, which has a stylus that can freely be moved in 3d while force feedback is provided. In front of the stylus is a mirror showing a 3d visual environment that is viewed through Crystal Eyes shutter glasses. This way we create a virtual environment that can be seen and felt and allows us to perform precise experimental manipulations.
The lab is situated at the Donders Centre for Cognition.
Vestibular chair Laboratory
The vestibular system is important to detect the direction of gravity and movement of the own body. It consists of two subsystems: the semicircular canals which detect rotational acceleration and the otolith organs which respond to linear acceleration resulting from translation or gravity. For experiments on human spatial orientation we use a vestibular chair which can be freely rotated in three directions. The vestibular chair is sited at the Donders Centre for Neuroscience (More information can be found here).
The vestibular chair was featured on the Noorderlicht TV programme. Click here for the video (in Dutch).
FMRI Laboratory
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a neuroimaging technique based on the magnetic properties of atomic nuclei in the human body. In particular, fMRI can be used to detect changes in the amount of oxygen delivered to different brain regions (BOLD signal), which reflects neural activity. Because it is non-invasive, has good spatial resolution and measurements are relatively easy to conduct, fMRI has become the most popular method to study brain activity in humans. In our lab, we make use of two scanners of 1.5 and 3 Tesla field strength, which are both sited at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging. Both scanners are equipped for auditory and visual stimulation as well as response feedback and synchronization (technical details here ). We use FMRI to study the neural mechanisms of sensorimotor integration in saccade and reaching tasks.
MEG Laboratory
Manetoencephalography is a neuroimaging technique which measures the magnetic fields arising from electrical activity in the brain. When a number of neurons receive synaptic input to their dendrites at the same time, the electric potential (EPSP) creates a magnetic field that can be measured outside the scull. However, since the magnetic fields are very small - approximately one billionth of the earth's magnetic field - specific sensors (SQUIDS) and a magnetically shielded room are required for an MEG system. In our experiments, we use a 275-channel whole head MEG system, which is housed in a magnetically shielded room at the Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging. Additionally, MEG compatible equipment for visual, auditory and tactile stimulation is available (technical details here ). Among others we use this set up to study the role of oscillatory activity in the coding of spatial representations of eye and hand actions.