Development of Neuroimage Analysis Laboratory

该合同允许华盛顿大学心理学系购买仪器来存储和分析功能性磁共振成像和正电子发射排版数据。目前，该系的认知科学家使用位于华盛顿大学医学院校园的功能磁共振成像和PET机器进行认知研究，他们必须在那里分析所得数据。这使得高级研究人员和学生都难以方便和持续地访问。所提供的仪器将允许将这些信息传输到心理学系，在那里可以进行分析。该系统包括：一台服务器计算机，它将接收大数据结构并存储图像以分发到其他工作站；一个SGI工作站，利用已经开发的程序来提供人类皮层的二维表面重建；三个计算机工作站;以太网集线器；一种彩色印刷装置；负责系统初期开发和维护的兼职技术人员。目前正在进行的两个项目将立即使用该系统。两者都涉及行为的认知成分的神经基础。第一个——单词的PET激活研究——研究大脑中那些积极参与处理单词不同方面的区域，以及协调这些过程的注意力控制系统的神经基础。第二个项目——学习和记忆的成像研究——研究涉及从情景、语义和程序记忆系统中编码和检索信息的不同方面的大脑区域。该设备还将用于培养认知神经科学领域的研究生和博士后。

This award permits the Psychology Department at Washington University to purchase instrumentation to store and analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission typography data. Currently cognitive scientists in the department conduct cognitive research using fMRI and PET machines located at the Washington University Medical School campus and they must analyze the resultant data there. This makes convenient and continuous access difficult both for senior researchers and students. The instrumentation provided will allow transmission of this information to the Psychology Department where it can be analyzed. The system includes: a server computer which will receive the large data structures and store the images for distribution to other work stations; an SGI Work Station that takes advantage of programs that have been developed to provide 2-dimensional surface reconstructrions of the human cortex; three work-stations; an eithernet hub; a color printing device; a half-time technician who will be responsible for the initial development and maintenance of the system. Two projects currently under way will make immediate use of the system. Both address the neural underpinnings of cognitive components of behavior. The first - PET Activation Studies of Words - addresses those areas of the brain which are actively engaged in processing distinct aspects of words and the neural underpinnings of the attentional control systems that coordinate such processes. The second project - Imaging Studies of Learning and Memory - addresses those brain areas which are involved in the distinct aspects of encoding and retrieval of information from episodic, semantic and procedural memory systems. This equipment will also be used for training graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in the area of cognitive neuroscience.