High density EEG system

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The field of cognitive science progressively relies on the application of interdisciplinary methodologies, including behavioral and neuroimaging methods, as their combination has a great potential to address the question of the relationship between brain and behavior. Attention regulates behavior by modulating both the processing of incoming sensory information and the selection of appropriate goals and responses. In my lab, we study how attention influences complex everyday behaviors. For example, we are interested in discovering why humans automatically look in the direction of where others are looking or how humans pay attention to symbolic visual information (e.g., finger point). A number of recent behavioral studies, including my own investigations, suggest that attention may be uniquely engaged by these highly meaningful stimuli. This body of data makes a strong prediction that human brain may also be specialized to respond to behaviorally relevant stimuli. Measuring electrocortical (EEG) activity offers a unique opportunity to investigate the temporal and spatial properties of the brain mechanisms that enable human attention. EEG reveals how attention influences sensory processing as well as the temporal properties of brain activity. Analytical source modeling techniques are used to find general spatial locations of the activated brain structures. The requested EEG system will be housed within a multi-equipment environment (requested in the separate RTI proposal), which includes a double electrically isolated (DEI) enclosure and a remote eye tracker. Housing the EEG within a DEI will greatly enhance our research productivity, as the enclosure will assure the reliability and accuracy of EEG acquisition as well as unambiguous data interpretation. This equipment is necessary for the successful completion of the proposed program of research. Due to its unique configuration tailored for the investigations of behavioral and neural properties of human attention, it will enable better understanding of the role of attention in complex behaviors and facilitate creation of exceptional HQP training opportunities.