Facilities
The University of Ottawa Sleep Research Laboratory is a two bedroom research facility capable of high density EEG, overnight polysomnography (PSG), portable PSG and combined EEG-fMRI.
The Embla N7000 systems power up to 32-channel EEG recordings. We use quantitative analysis of this scalp-recorded brain activity to investigate the functional significance of sleep. These state-of-the-art units also provide the ability to perform complete polysomnographic measurements, the same used in hospitals and sleep clinics to identify sleep disorders and disrupted sleep. A portable sleep system enables us to bring these same capabilities to populations where in-home and in-hospital recordings are more appropriate.
The Brain Products system uses high density electrode caps to record 64-channel EEG for daytime use and sleep recordings. An MR-compatible unit enables us to bring EEG recordings to the MRI scanner for combined EEG-fMRI.
Research Techniques
To identify and characterize the functional significance of sleep for memory consolidation in both humans and animals using a variety of techniques including:
Electroencephalography (EEG)
- Power spectral analysis
- Event-related potentials (ERP)
- Neurofeedback and quantitative EEG (QEEG)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- Synchronous EEG-MRI
- Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)
- Functional connectivity
- Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)
- Voxel-based morphometry (VBM)