Turbo-BrainVoyager v3.2

Running Example Data Sets

The Turbo-BrainVoyager Installer CD includes two example data sets that can be used to practice working with the various features of the software. After installation, the data sets are stored in the "(My )Documents/TBVData" folder (if not deselected). The installers on our web site do not include the sample data sets but you can get them there as a separate download. If you download the exercise data, extract the .zip files in the "Documents/TBVData" folder. Since the provided .TBV files support relative path names, it is, however, not critical where the sample data will be installed.

TBV will run with a sample data set in the same way as during a real scanning session (it doesn't know the difference). During scanning, TBV usually reads the next data volume as soon as it becomes available. Note that in case of running sample data, the complete series of functional volume data is already available on disk and, thus, the analysis will run likely much faster than in the real scanning situation. In order to more realistically simulate the experience during a real scanning session, one may want to set theForceTRDelay option to "true" in the Statistics tab of the TBV Settings dialog. You may also press the R key during a running analysis in order to switch between simulated true scanning speed and the maximally possible speed.

"Faces Houses" Data

This data set allows to localize in real-time the fusiform face area (FFA) and the parahippocampal place area (PPA). Besides rest blocks, 2 blocks with images of faces and 2 blocks with images of houses/places are shown. To analyze this sample data set, select the TBV file "NK_FFA_PPA_TAL-1.tbv" in the "TBV_FacesHouses" folder using the Set TBV File item in the File menu. Then press the red Record button to start real-time analysis. If you want to speed up processing, press the R key. The program always launches in multi-slice view. To become familar with TBV, it is recommended to perform the following tasks:

You will also find a recorded animation on our web site demonstrating these and other possibilities of Turbo-BrainVoyager. Furthermore, the TBV installer puts a more detailed tutorial document "TBV_Exercise1_FacesAndHouses.pdf" in the "(My )Documents/TBVData/TBV_FacesHouses" folder.

"Attention BCI" Data



This data set consists of several runs. The subject is asked to attend either a local or a global rectangle displayed on the screen (see snapshot above). The first run is used to train a classifier to associate the brain activity patterns evoked during the two tasks with the respective condition. When the subject performs the attention task in subsequent runs, the trained classifier is used to predict the condition from the evoked brain patterns. To analyze the first run used to train the classifier, select the TBV file "ATTBCI_01_trainig.tbv" in the "TBV_SVMClassifier" folder using the Set TBV File item in the File menu. 



It is recommended to perform the following tasks:



To analyze the second run - used to test the trained classifier - select the TBV file "ATTBCI_02_testing_1.tbv" in the "TBV_SVMClassifier" folder using the Set TBV File item in the File menu. Note that in the context of classifier applications, it is most convenient to set the WatchFolder for all runs of one scanning session to the same output directory. In this case it is easy to find the classifier output data from previous runs when preparing classifier testing. For the sample data used, the target folder has been set to "ATTBCI_TBV_analysis" (within the "TBV_SVMClassifier" folder) in the TBV files of all runs.

After selecting the TBV file for the first test run, perform the following tasks:



There are two more runs that can be used for testing in the same way as described above. Note also that you can use the data from more than one run for training, i.e. you can use the data from the first two runs for training and then test the classifier on the two additional runs. The TBV installer puts a more detailed tutorial document "TBV_Exercise2_AttentionBCI.pdf" in the "(My )Documents/TBVData/TBV_SVMClassifier" folder



Note. You may be surprised to see non-zero motion parameters at the begin of a run in the Motion Correction Window when analyzing the test runs (see snapshot above). This does not reflect real motion of the subject at the begin of the scan (the subject actually does not move much) but happens because subsequent runs use the first (training) run as their target for motion correction. While the subject itself does not move much as indicated by the motion parameters, there are small incremental motion effects across runs (e.g. due to scanner gradient heating) and these effects will be corrected by across-run motion correction. 


Copyright © 2014 Rainer Goebel. All rights reserved.