Naming Opportunity for the MRI Simulator
$ 100,000

We have created a mock MRI scanner that resembles the actual scanner in virtually every way.  The size of the mock scanner and the bore of the mock scanner is identical to the actual scanner.  We have digitized the sounds the scanner makes and play them to research participants in the mock scanner.  Peripheral devices that present visual and auditory stimuli to participants are replicated in the mock scanner so that we can simulate every key aspect of an actual scan.  The mock scanner is absolutely essential to acclimate research participants to our procedures, to reduce their anxiety, to train them to keep their heads very still which is a requirement of scanning and to familiarize them with behavioral protocols for the tasks to be administered in any given study.  We were one of the first brain imaging laboratories in the world to create and utilize a mock scanner and we have become convinced of its importance for collecting high quality data, particularly from participants with certain syndromes such as autism or fragile X.  We developed a system to train subjects to keep their heads still by monitoring head motion with a laser tracking system and then having the motion control a video stimulus so that subjects can watch a favorite video but the image will only be maintained if the subject keeps his or her head sufficiently motionless.