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University of Pennsylvania | School of Medicine | Neuropsychiatry Section | Projects | Brain Behavior Studies

Studies of Brain Responses to Stimuli

Ruben C. Gur, Ph.D.

Bruce I. Turetsky, M.D.

Professor, Departments of Psychiatry, Neurology & Radiology
Director of the Brain Behavior Laboratory

Associate Professor of Psychiatry

Christian Kohler, M.D.

J. Daniel Ragland, Ph.D.

Clinical Director, Neuropsychiatry

Associate Professor of Neuropsychology

Mahendra Bhati, M.D.

James Loughead, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

Postdoctoral Fellow

We conduct a variety of tests designed to help us understsand how the brain responds to stimuli. These are things that people can hear, see, feel taste or smell. While someone is experiencing any of these sensations, his or her brain is also responding. There are several ways that scientists can try to look at this response. One way that we can look at a brain's reaction to something is by using fMRI, which helps us to visualize where blood is flowing in the brain of a participant while he or she is doing a task. <link?>

Another method that we use at the BBL is to use electroencephalograms, or EEG. When the brain responds to an external stimulus, it sends an electric signal. We can record this signal by attaching electrodes (little metal discs that carry electricity) to a participant's scalp, and attaching the other ends to a computer. Then we can record this person's brain waves while he or she is doing a task, like listening to noises or looking at images. Because this process uses electricity (electro) to measure (gram) brain (encephalon) activity, we refer to it as EEG.

In our lab, we often do full-cap recordings, involving about 35 electrodes at a time. We are currently conducting EEG studies to look at the brain response to certain kinds of patterns of beeps, novel noises, sentences, checkerboard images, a tingly feeling, and smells.

ONGOING STUDIES

ABOUT THE TEAM