A new tablet for writing and drawing during functional MRI

✍ Scribed by Fred Tam; Nathan W. Churchill; Stephen C. Strother; Simon J. Graham

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 514 KB
• Volume: 32
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1065-9471
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.21013

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Writing and drawing are understudied with fMRI, partly for lack of a device that approximates these behaviors well while supporting task feedback and quantitative behavioral logging in the confines of the magnet. Consequently, we developed a tablet based on touchscreen technology that is accurate, reliable, relatively inexpensive, and fMRI compatible. After confirming fMRI compatibility, we conducted preliminary fMRI experiments examining the neural correlates of a widely used pen‐and‐paper neuropsychological assessment, the trail making test. In two subjects, we found left hemisphere frontal lobe activations similar to the major results of a previous group study, and we also noted individual differences mostly in the right hemisphere. These results demonstrate the utility of the new tablet for adaptations of pen‐and‐paper tests and suggest possible uses of the tablet for longitudinal, within‐subjects studies of disease or therapy. We also discuss using the tablet for several other types of tests requiring many, continuous, or two‐dimensional responses that were previously very difficult to perform during fMRI. Hum Brain Mapp, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.