Making access to neuroimaging easy: PLannning, Experimental and Analysis SUppport in REsearch (PLEASURE)

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Rudolf Maria Stark
• Subject Area: General, Cognitive and Mathematical Psychology
• Term: from 2017 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 324782538

When the Bender Institute of Neuroimaging (BION) was founded in 2000 by Prof. Dr. Dieter Vaitl, it was the first institute in Germany to put a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system into operation within a psychological department. From the beginning, it was the objective of the institute to enable groups from the field of psychology to use an MRI system in order to study the neurophysiological basis of psychological processes. Fifteen years later, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is the most prominent research method in the multidisciplinary neuroscience research field. Due to the high operating costs, it makes sense to optimize the utilization of the scanner and to organize the BION as a research core-unit with a local but also a nation-wide presence. The aim of the present application is to increase the support more professionally, efficiently and supportively for its users. These planned advancements will attract new researchers from inside as well as, especially, from outside of Justus-Liebig-University Giessen. In line with this goal, the BION will be listed in the RIsource portal of the DFG. For this purpose, infrastructural resources need to be professionalized in a way that all users receive optimal support for planning, conducting and statistical analyses of psychological experimental designs depending on their demands by the program PLEASURE (PLanning, Experimental and Analysis SUpport in REsearch). The program PLEASURE includes the development of new services which proceed the experience gained in the last 15 years of psychological MRI research. Because all services and resources will be transparent and accessible, it could be a prototypical model for other sites. The BION is predestined to be a DFG MRI core unit (Gerätezentrum) in psychology for the following reasons. Firstly, a modern 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Tomograph is available exclusively for research. Scan times are not interrupted by patient care. Experimental set-ups do not have to be removed after each experiment. Secondly, a large number of state-of-the-art equipment highly relevant for psychological research questions (e.g., simultaneous fMRI-EEG recording amplifier, eye-tracking equipment, visual, acoustic and tactile stimulation devices, response box units) is available. Thirdly, the BION is highly experienced in organizing external cooperation projects. Fourthly, the BION is located in the middle of Germany; with excellent national and international accessibility via Frankfurt train station and Frankfurt airport.

• DFG Programme: Core Facilities