Research environment

Facilities

A modern neuroimaging environment supporting experimental human neuroscience and clinically relevant research.

GE SIGNA Premier
3T MRI system

Access to a 3T research environment enables advanced functional, structural and diffusion imaging across healthy and clinical populations.

The environment supports a 48-channel AIR head coil, advanced EPI acquisitions, functional MRI, diffusion imaging and structural imaging. MR-compatible devices support visual and auditory stimulation and behavioural responses during experiments.

GE SIGNA Premier 3T MRI scanner at the University Hospital of Parma
Primary imaging systemGE SIGNA Premier · 3 Tesla

Integrated systems for human neuroimaging

Our equipment supports multimodal acquisition of brain activity, physiology, eye movements and behaviour during controlled experimental paradigms.

01Imaging

GE SIGNA Premier 3T MRI

  • 70 cm wide bore
  • 146 independent A/D converters
  • SuperG gradients: 80 mT/m; slew rate 200 T/m/s
  • TDI radiofrequency chain and PERFORM 2.0 SAR control
  • Dedicated 48-channel AIR head coil
  • HyperBand, HyperSense and HyperCube
02Kinematics

MR-compatible infrared cameras

  • Interference-free recording inside the scanner room
  • High frame rates: 1076, 488 or 250 Hz
  • Black-and-white CMOS progressive-scan sensor
  • Global shutter and selectable focal length
03Motor learning

MR-compatible MIDI keyboard

  • 395 × 62 × 160 mm
  • 25 dynamic keys: two octaves plus one
  • Full-size 163 mm octave
  • Sampling frequency above 300 Hz
  • Wireless keypress-velocity recording
04Stimulation & eye tracking

NNL audio–visual stimulation system

  • Dual Full HD displays
  • 1920 × 1080 at 60/80 Hz; 16:9 format
  • Field of view: 52.1° horizontal, 34° vertical
  • White luminance above 150 cd/m²
  • Arrington eye tracking
  • Diopter correction −8 to +5; IPD 44–75 mm
05Psychophysiology

BIOPAC physiological recording

  • Physiological data acquisition during MRI
  • BIOPAC MP160 with up to 16 channels
  • BIO-ECG100C-MRI module
  • BIO-EMG100C-MRI module
06Movement science

Kinematic acquisition & analysis

  • Joint angles, displacement, velocity and timing
  • Sub-millimetric tracking accuracy
  • Head-motion monitoring and control
  • Hand-kinematics recording
  • Quantification of movement accuracy