CHBH Sleep Lab Lead:
Professor Clare Anderson
Our research aims to elucidate the role of sleep for cognition and behaviour. The sleep laboratory houses two sleeping suites and a central control room. For continuous sleep recordings, we use a 64-channel BrainAmp electroencephalography (EEG) system with customised EasyCap sleep caps. Each sleep suite is equipped with desktop computers for stimulus delivery and experimental testing. External speakers are used for targeted memory reactivation (TMR) studies and closed-loop stimulation is accomplished via the OpenVibe software package.
How can researchers access the equipment within this lab?
To gain access to the sleep laboratory there are procedures for training, ethics and project proposals. For the procedures please see the CHBH Operating Procedures and Local Rules.
What research data is produced and what can we understand from this?
The EEG system records ongoing brain activity from humans subjects whilst they perform cognitive tasks and whilst they sleep. The tasks we use include memory, motor skills and attention and language comprehension. This allows for characterising the brain dynamics – such as neuronal oscillations – associated with a given cognitive function. During sleep, EEG is used to monitor different sleep stages online and to investigate the role of slow oscillations and sleep spindles on behaviour. Researchers at the CHBH have strong expertise in investigating the role of neuronal oscillations.
How is this lab contributing to the CHBH values and principles?
The sleep laboratory is used for conducting fundamental research on cognition as well as to investigate brain dynamics associated with neurological and psychiatric disorders. The data from the sleep lab is complementary to data from other techniques housed within the CHBH. Therefore, we are combining EEG sleep research with other techniques such as brain stimulation, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and measures of structural connectivity. The research conducted in the sleep laboratory is done in the spirit of open science and we strive to make our approaches and data freely available.
For further information, please contact the CHBH Sleep Lab Lead - Professor Clare Anderson
External researchers/collaborators
If you are an external researcher and would like to use CHBH facilities, please identify a suitable collaborator from the Principal Investigator lists located on our CHBH Research Theme pages, and contact them directly with your proposal. They will then review the scope of the proposal, costings, and modality availability, and advise on a potential collaboration.