title: Methodology for high-yield acquisition of functional near-infrared spectroscopy data from alert, upright infants.
abstract: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) research to date has tended to publish group-averaged rather than individual infant data due to normative basic research goals. Acquisition of individual infant time courses holds interest, however, both for cognitive science and particularly for clinical applications. Infants are more difficult to study than adults as they cannot be instructed to remain still. In addressing this, upright infants pose several associated complications for the researcher. We identified and optimized the factors that affect the quality of fNIRS data from individual 6- to 9-month-old infants exposed to a visual stimulation paradigm. The fNIRS headpiece was reconfigured to reduce inertia, increase comfort, and improve conformity to the head, while preserving fiber density to avoid missing the visual cortex activation. The visual-stimulation protocol was modified to keep the attention of infants throughout the measurement, thus helping to reduce motion artifacts. Adequate optical contact was verified by checking power levels before each measurement. By revising our experimental process and our data rejection criteria to prioritize good optical contact, we report for the first time usable hemodynamic data from 83% of infants and that two-thirds of infants produced a statistically significant fNIRS response.
authors: University of Rochester, Institute of Optics, Rochester, New York 14627, United States; Queensland University of Technology, School of Chemistry, Physics and Mechanical Engineering, Brisbane, Queensland 4001, Australia.
authors: James R
authors: JR
authors: Goodwin
authors: University of Rochester , Institute of Optics, Rochester, New York 14627, United States.
authors: Ashley E
authors: AE
authors: Cannaday
authors: University of Rochester , Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Rochester, New York 14627, United States.
authors: Holly G
authors: HG
authors: Palmeri
authors: University of Rochester, Institute of Optics, Rochester, New York 14627, United States; Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, Facultad de Ciencias Físico Matemáticas, Avenida Universidad s/n, Cd. Universitaria, San Nicolás de los Garza, Nuevo León 66455, México.
authors: Aldo
authors: A
authors: Di Costanzo
authors: University of Rochester , Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Rochester, New York 14627, United States.
authors: Lauren L
authors: LL
authors: Emberson
authors: University of Rochester , Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Rochester, New York 14627, United States.
authors: Richard N
authors: RN
authors: Aslin
authors: University of Rochester, Institute of Optics, Rochester, New York 14627, United States; University of Rochester, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rochester, New York 14627, United States.
authors: Andrew J
authors: AJ
authors: Berger
keywords: brain activation; clinical; functional near-infrared spectroscopy; heartbeat; hemodynamics; visual cortex