The most widely used EEG equipment for simultaneous EEG/BOLD fMRI acquisition consists of the BrainAmp MR plus, RecView and Analyzer 2. Thus, the Brain Products’ Technical Support team has great experience in helping our customers to solve technical problems concerning EEG/fMRI studies. In this article, we share our experience by presenting an overview of the most important set up steps for a successful EEG/fMRI experiment.
Motor imagery (MI) combined with neurofeedback has been suggested as a promising rehabilitation approach for paralyzed individuals. EEG based MI feedback is particularly promising for therapeutic applications. Yet whether EEG feedback indeed targets specific sensorimotor activation patterns cannot unambiguously inferred from EEG alone. This article demonstrates that online correction of gradient artifacts and ballistocardiogram artifacts enables reliable MI EEG feedback inside the MRI scanner.
Simultaneous EEG-fMRI acquisitions can offer valuable insights for the non-invasive study of human brain function. Concurrently, the benefits offered by high-field imaging have attracted considerable interest towards simultaneous EEG-fMRI at higher field strengths. Unfortunately, simultaneous acquisitions are subject to problematic interactions that can compromise data quality and subject safety. Reducing noise during acquisition is crucial to improve EEG data quality, especially at higher fields. In this article, we assessed the importance of EEG cable length and geometry on noise sensitivity, at 7T, at the level of transmission between the cap and amplifiers.
We integrated concurrent real-time fMRI (rtfMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) data on commercial MRI and EEG equipment. We also report a proof-of-concept experiment using simultaneous multimodal rtfMRI and EEG neurofeedback (rtfMRI-EEG-nf). With this approach participants receive information about their electrophysiological (EEG) and hemodynamic (BOLD fMRI) activity in real-time, and volitionally regulate their own brain activity.
The most prominent MR-related EEG artifacts are gradient artifacts and the ballistocardiogram. However, vibrations represent another problematic source of artifacts. Therefore, noise assessment and reduction is of special importance for EEG measurements within the MR scanner.
