Exploring Behavioural Fidelity of Synthetic Stimuli While Immersed in fMRI Displays

The goal of the proposed experiments is to assess the fidelity of a simulation as well as develop synthetic imaging systems which will result in controlled functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) experiments involving the normal population as well as patients. The ultimate goal of the experiments planned is to explore whether natural and artificial scenes of varied fidelity for training or for therapeutic purposes engage common perceptual or neuroscientific mechanisms. Such input is non-obtrusive and is derived at the same time as the experience occurs. The first experiment briefly summarized is exploring brain empathic responses of users participating in an interactive economic game developed to be displayed in a fMRI scanner. The second experiment presents an interactive lighting system also to be displayed in an fMRI scanner. Its scope is to enable the monitoring of neural activation patterns in response to lighting manipulations ranging from daylight and artificial light of the normal population initially and potentially of groups of patients suffering from the depersonalization syndrome. A broader aim of this work is to assess whether such powerful social-psychological studies could be usefully carried out within Virtual Environments advancing both cognitive neuroscience and computer graphics research.