Stimulus Delivery and Response Hardware for fMRI Studies

Psychology Software Tools, Inc., Sharpsburg PA

Investigators

Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although the number of studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has grown enormously during the past decade, specialized hardware to conduct these studies remains expensive, forcing many neuroimaging centers to develop their own equipment. One of the most expensive commercial components is the visual display, with stereoscopic displays costing roughly $50,000. These provide an improved sense of immersion in the images displayed, primarily because they are goggle-like and block out the peripheral visual field. Research on the neurobehavioral concomitants of drug craving and abuse has increasingly focused on the use of neuroimaging studies, but two of the potentially strongest sensory stimuli for subjects in these studies, odor and touch, are rarely used, largely because no commercial systems are available to deliver the stimuli in the difficult MRI environment. An inexpensive and reliable odor delivery system for fMRI research would allow a diversity of research and clinical studies to be performed on the limbic system, memory and cognition, including various pathologies that affect olfaction. A dataglove incorporating tactile and force feedback would be useful to stroke and rehabilitation researchers, also, particularly if a means can be developed to ensure that movement is restricted to the hand and forearm and does not cause significant head movement artifact during the course of fMRI studies. Additionally, an odor delivery system and an integrated dataglove would provide a much better sense of realism for the use of virtual reality in studies as diverse as drug craving, sensory-motor rehabilitation and spatial orientation. Properly constructed, these devices could easily be used for studies inside or outside of MRI scanners, thus addressing larger markets, which makes the their development all the more feasible and appealing. We propose to develop a less expensive stereoscopic display, an integrated dataglove and an odor delivery system for studies inside or outside of MRI scanners.