MRI Scanner

The CBU fMRI Facility began operations in December 2005 and is already providing high-field (3T) parallel imaging facilities and support to the cognitive neuroscience community, Cambridge-wide, via the first Siemens 3T Tim Trio in the UK, which is located on-site and is a full-time dedicated research facility.

With its high speed data network and over 100 terabytes of data storage space to support functional neuroimaging, the MRC CBU now has one of the most advanced systems for the acquisition and analysis of functional neuroimaging data sets in the world.

See further information about the MRI facility.

MEG Laboratory

The magnetoencephalography (MEG) device installed at the CBU is a 306-channel Vectorview system supplied by Elekta Neuromag (Stockholm/Helsinki). It was the first one to become operational in the UK.

Using MEG technology, we are now able to record brain activation in real time and produce "activation films" that indicate the spreading of excitation through different parts of the brain. These waves of activation, or spatio-temporal patterns, can be related to cognitive processes, such as language comprehension, object analysis or motor planning.

See further information about the MEG laboratory

EEG Laboratory

Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings are made using a 128-channel active electrode Brain Products EEG setup. All recordings are performed in an acoustically and electrically shielded chamber. The lab is equipped with a Polhemus 3DSPAce Fasttrack Digitisation System, ERTS, E-Prime and Cogent stimulation systems. For data processing, we have at our disposal several commercial software packages: Curry, BESA, ASA, SPM, Scan, and Brain Vision Analyzer. We also develop our own analysis tools using the Matlab programming environment.

The EEG lab hosts a variety of research projects, which focus primarily on exploring the human brain mechanisms responsible for speech and language function.

Our experiments mainly use ERP (event-related potential) techniques and include both visual and auditory ERP recordings as well as behavioural tests.

See further information about the EEG laboratory

Sound Laboratory

The sound laboratory features a wide range of equipment for performing auditory experiments, including three IAC double-walled sound insulating booths, each connected to a dedicated test rig. Stimulus calibration devices include a LeCroy Waverunner 4-channel digital storage oscilloscope, an HP3561A dynamic signal analyzer, a B&K 4153 artificial ear, and a KEMAR mannikin that can be used for calibrating stimuli presented either in free field or through headphones. Research software and hardware for presenting arbitrary electrical stimuli via each of the main three models of cochlear implant are also available. For more information on auditory research at the CBU please click here.

Psychophysiology Laboratories

The CBU currently runs two psychophysiology laboratories, using BIOPAC MP100 systems to record heart rate (HR), galvanic skin response (GSR), and electromyography (EMG) data. These serve as valuable measures of peripheral nervous system function in a variety of experimental designs. We also have a BIOPAC MP150 system that can measure GSR and HR in the fMRI environment. Data is analysed using BIOPAC Acqknowledge software and also via software developed in-house.

Eye Tracking

The CBU currently has 4 eye trackers. One is in the MEG lab, one in the MRI scanner, and we have two separate eye trackers for use in other locations. All eye trackers are manufactured by SMI and use the same SMI software for controlling the eye tracking hardware, for stimulus presentation and for analysis of the eye tracking data. In addition, all trackers can also be used with E-Prime and other custom experiment presentation software.

CBU Volunteer Panel

Research at the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit is supported by a panel of volunteer members of the public who take part in our studies of attention, emotion, memory and language.

We have over a thousand volunteers on our panel, ranging in age from 16 to 80+, so that researchers at the unit can test theories about the functioning of the mind and brain, in healthy adults and following brain injury or disease.

The CBU Volunteer Panel is always looking for new recruits. If you occasionally have a few spare hours and would be interested in helping us with our research, then read more ...

If you are interested in the kind of studies our volunteers take part in, then take a quick look at some our areas of research.

Neuropsychology Research Panel

Close contacts with the University teaching hospital have allowed the CBU to build up a substantial panel of subject volunteers with focal brain lesions (>300 patients), over 150 of these with standardised and normalised structural MRI. This gives the Unit one of the most extensive patient bases worldwide for human neuropsychology, with research into disorders of attention, language, memory, emotion, executive control and many additional aspects of cognition.