Real-time Functional Imaging and Neurofeedback

Feb. 12-13, 2015

Gainesville, FL

Workshops

 

Pre-Conference Workshops will be held Wednesday, February 11, 2015 at the UF Hilton Conference Center.  Pre-registration for workshops is required. 

Please sign up for them here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6NR72Y8  

Workshop I: BCI and Neurofeedback EEG workshop
Hosted by: Cortech Solutions

Research groups all over the world have been working enthusiastically on Neurofeedback and it's analog Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs), which both provide a direct connection from the human brain to a computer. BCIs end goal is using the Neurofeedback style changes in brain activity into control signals for numerous applications, including tools to help severely disabled users communicate and improve their quality of life.
BCIs goal is slightly different than Neurofeedback but the techniques used by BCI and Neurofeedback are very similar. BCIs have been used to restore movement, assess cognitive functioning, and provide communication and environmental control. During this workshop, we will demonstrate the three major BCI approaches motor imagery, P300 and steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEP) - for spelling, assessment, reha-bilitation and robot control.
We will also explain new directions like active and dry electrodes, invasive ECoG systems and advanced VR control.
The audience will see all the required hardwareand software, procedures for cap mounting, training and classifier setup, and BCI operation.
 We will invite audience members to participate in live demonstrations, providing real-world examples of modern

BCI performance in field settings, and how these tools can be also used in Neurofeedback research.

Workshop II: NIRx Workshop on fNIRS Technologies and Capabilities for Neuroscience Investigations

Considering fNIRS to compliment fMRI or EEG research (Why fNIRS?)
Speaker: Dr. Randall L. Barbour
SUNY Downstate Medical Center: Optical Tomography Group
9:00am-9:25am
-A majority of neuroimaging research focuses on the use of established modalities, primarily EEG and fMRI to pursue a host of applications.  As fNIRS technology has continued to evolve the marginal benefit of adopting this technique towards various neuroscience applications has increased significantly.  This talk focuses on the benefit of integrating fNIRS into neuroimaging research as a stand-alone or multi-modal platform.
9:25-9:30 Recap / Q & A

Computational analysis strategies for use in fNIRS imaging

Speaker: Dr. Harry L. Graber
SUNY Downstate Medical Center: Optical Tomography Group
9:30am-9:55am
-Comparative advantage of analyzing the hemoglobin signal: Relevant physiology
-Sensor registration
-Atlas based mapping: Topography and tomography
-Analysis of the hemoglobin signal 
-Experimental design/computational resources for behavioral studies
-Statistic parametric mapping

9:55-10 Recap / Q&A

10-10:15 Coffee Break

Live system demonstration NIRS and NIRS-EEG

Presenter: Thomas Johannsen
NIRx Medical Technologies Sales/Support team
10:15am-11:00am

-NIRSport wearable system with actiCHamp 32 channel EEG: Visual stimuli study
-System hardware and experiment setup
-Live data recording
-Post experiment walk through of instrument control and data acquisition environment

Walk through of NIRx NIRSlab data analysis platform
Speaker: Dr. Harry L. Graber
SUNY Downstate Medical Center: Optical Tomography Group
 11:00am-11:20am
-Data set image reconstruction and analysis 

11:20-11:25: Recap / Q&A

fNIRS Applications: Significance to BCI-Neuro-feedback studies
Speaker: Dr. Randall L. Barbour
11:25am-11:50pm

-Overview of fNIRS applications in behavioral science
-NIRx strategies for BCI resources
-New frontiers in neuroscience application development
-NIRx as your scientific partner