ISDP 2023 Perinatel Pre-Conference Workshop sponsored by Artinis Medical Systems Wednesday, July 26, 2023 from 14:00 – 15:15
The application of fNIRS in the perinatal period
Currently, wearable fNIRS devices play an important part in many research fields, because they allow measuring oxy-, deoxy- and total hemoglobin concentration changes in more naturalistic paradigms without restrictions. Among others, these measures can be translated into cortical brain activity, when fNIRS is applied on the scalp. In comparison with other neuroimaging techniques (e.g., EEG), fNIRS is not as susceptible to movement artefacts, providing robust data in many real-life scenarios. The characteristics just described, make of fNIRS a very suitable technique to use with young and more sensitive populations, such as newborns, infants and toddlers, for whom flexibility and comfort are of the outmost importance.
During this workshop, we will explain how you can measure activity using fNIRS and discuss the utility of fNIRS within different research fields, such as developmental neuroscience. We will use Artinis wearable fNIRS devices to measure brain activity and show how to work with the devices and the software.
Preliminary schedule
15 mins – General lecture on theory and basics of fNIRS and its applications.
15 mins – Examples of NIRS applications in developmental research: presentation of relevant fNIRS research studies concerning the perinatal period.
15 mins – Introduction to Artinis NIRS devices that can be used in young populations and/or in hyperscanning setup (e.g., caregiver + baby).
30 mins – Hands-on measurements with Artinis wearable NIRS devices + software.
During this part, we could place a device on Marion van den Heuvel’s baby and show the resulting fNIRS signals in our software. Alternatively, we could place a device on a doll and/or an adult attendee.