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Designing MEG Experiments

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Book cover Magnetoencephalography

Abstract

With well-designed experiments, the exquisite temporal resolution of MEG allows investigators to track the temporal progression of cortical activity throughout the brain during sensory and cognitive tasks and further allows investigators to capture the interplay between the nodes of the cortical network activity underlying brain function. Because of this high temporal resolution, a number of considerations must be considered to obtain good quality MEG data. These considerations include recording parameters, participant considerations, stimulus equipment and timing reliability, stimulus parameters, and temporal sensitivity of the response. This chapter reviews the common instrumentation parameters, peripheral equipment that provides the precise timing needed for MEG experiments, and participant-monitoring equipment that provides complementary information for data quality and data interpretation purposes. Modality-specific (auditory, visual, tactile, and motor) factors to consider during data collection are also discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Mind Research Network and Lovelace Biomedical and Environmental Research Institute, Albuquerque, NM, USA

    Julia M. Stephen

Authors
  1. Julia M. Stephen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julia M. Stephen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Department of Physics, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

    Selma Supek

  2. Reno, NV, USA

    Cheryl J. Aine

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Radiology, MGH/HST Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, MA, USA

    Seppo P. Ahlfors

  2. Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Seppo P. Ahlfors

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Stephen, J.M. (2019). Designing MEG Experiments. In: Supek, S., Aine, C. (eds) Magnetoencephalography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00087-5_5

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