Human Performance

The mission of the Human Performance Division to provide resources and expertise for:
1) flexible control of participant behavior in experimental contexts; and,
2) quantitative assessments of participant status.

Behavioral control resources include various in-scanner stimulus delivery methods, including auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory/gustatory, et cetera. Behavioral control also includes software for implementing specific task-activation paradigms (e.g. Stroop task, word-stem completion, Go/No-Go task, etc.)

Behavioral assessments include both in-scanner performance monitoring (e.g. button box responses, eye-tracking, motor performance, etc.) and out-of-scanner assessments from neurocognitive batteries or diagnostic instruments.

The Human Performance Division provides stimulus presentation and response recording support for all other divisions.

Stimulus Presentation

The Human Performance Division has developed a large repertoire of stimulus-delivery methods.

• Visual stimuli are most often presented in-scanner by projecting onto a screen attached to the head of the scanner; VR goggles can also be used
• Auditory stimuli are presented by MR-compatible headphones
• Vibro-tactile stimuli can be presented with a piezo-electric stimulatory and a frequency and pulse-pattern controller
• Painful stimuli can be presented with a cutaneous electric stimulator, and with a joint-pressure device
• Air-hunger can be induced with in-scanner gas-delivery systems (e.g., 5% CO2)

Experimental Control Software

E-Prime the most widely used experiment-management environment world- wide. E-Prime runs in various Windows environment. At the RII, we support E-Prime in a Windows 10 environment. E-Prime is a suite of applications to design, test, and run experiments. Running experiments includes: 1) delivering stimulations; 2) acquiring responses; 3) receiving event time codes (e.g., subject responses or image acquisitions).

Response Recording

Response recording use fiber-optic response devices including button boxes and joysticks. Subjects can be monitored for gross movement while in the scanner via an MRI-compatible camera mounted on the wall of the scanner room.  Further the laboratory has audio and video recording capabilities during motor and speech studies.