Replacing Failing Equipment: Acquisition of New EEG Systems

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Each day of our lives we are forced to make decisions that impact us, and when the outcome of our decisions is not what we expected, we hope to learn from these mistakes. Since its inception, the Krigolson Lab at the University of Victoria has maintained a high level of research output in exciting lines of research investigating the neural systems underlying learning and decision-making. In brief, our laboratory does basic scientific research in two main focus areas. In the first focus area learning - we examine how neural learning signals align with subsequent changes in behaviour. In the second focus area, decision-making, we are trying to find the neural correlates of heuristic and analytical decision processes. In both research lines, we have had recent success that has resulted in numerous peer-reviewed publications. Additionally, while pursuing these lines of research the Krigolson Lab has trained a large number of graduate and undergraduate HQP in basic neuroscience techniques. *** In this proposal, we request two electroencephalographic (EEG) data collection systems to replace two older EEG systems that are now obsolete we are no longer able to purchase replacement parts for these systems from the supplier. Given that we are a neuroscience laboratory probing the neural systems that underlie learning and decision-making, these EEG systems are the key piece of equipment in our laboratory as they allow us to directly measure brain function (i.e., so called “brain waves”). ***The basic science portion of our research program is foundational it is to literally improve our understanding of the neural systems that underlie learning and decision-making. For instance, we want to better understand how neural learning signals are generated, where they are generated, and the conditions that impact these signals and what that means. But our basic scientific research in learning has important real-world application. For example, imagine a teacher being able to track student learning in real-time by simply looking at a computer display and getting a readout of what was actually happening in the student's brain. The basic science goal of our research program focus in decision-making is also one of understanding. However, as with our research in learning there are exciting real-world applications. For instance, improving our understanding of why medical doctors make the decisions they do and more importantly provide feedback to the doctors to help them avoid making heuristic decisions reflexively that may have a negative impact on patient outcomes. *** With our research program, and importantly with the acquisition of this new hardware our research program will continue and grow. And this benefits Canada - research that has the potential to make a positive impact on the quality of our daily lives, to develop trainees that can join the Canadian economy, and to improve our understanding of the brain in order to better inform us about our own lives.**