BUILDING THE MOBILE INVASIVE ELECTROPHYSIOLOGY PLATFORM IN HUMANS

For decades, experimental paradigms for studying neurophysiology/behavior in humans and rodent models were diverging, due to impracticality of applying many recording methods in freely moving humans, limiting the human neuroimaging to scanners or bedside. The efforts for bridging this gap were made with the introduction of various mobile recording methods, such as the mobile EEG, fNIRS etc., but these non-invasive methods still lacked the high spatial resolution of intracranial EEG and access to activity of single neurons. In addition, performing these recordings in a mixed/virtual reality allows a flexible experimental control, as well as detailed behavioral tracking. Finally, combining the mobile intracranial recordings with other physiological and behavioral information, such as the eye tracking, point-of-view video, respiration, EKG, skin conductance etc., opens the questions on the optimal experimental and analytical approaches for harnessing the full potential of such multimodal datasets. I will be presenting the experience in building the human intracranial recording platform, navigating regulatory, technical and logistical challenges, learnings from the proof-of-concept recordings, as well as the breadth of possible applications.

Ivan Skelin

Stanford University and Columbia Teachers College