Freud CanBeLab – Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory
Freud CanBeLab
The Freud CanBeLab is a brain research laboratory equipped with physiological and psychological measurement methods for empirical studies of cognitive and/or affective information processing in the human brain and is operated by the Faculty of Psychology in cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine directly on the SFU campus. The aim is to explain and better understand unconscious processes at the interface between cognitive psychology and neurophysiology (e.g. in decision economics) with the help of objective measurement methods.
Two methods are primarily used:
- EEG: Using a 64-channel electroencephalograph (with active electrodes), brain activity can be measured in millisecond resolution in order to describe even the shortest neuronal phenomena (brain functions). EEG data is analysed according to the principle of event-related potentials (ERPs), which means that stimuli are presented in a controlled manner using presentation software (“Psychopy”) and then usually have to be assessed according to a specific instruction. Often, however, purely passive stimulus perception is also sufficient, the associated processing of which can be described in the brain.
- Startle reflex modulation (SMR): This method can be used to measure and quantify affective responses to controlled stimulus presentations without verbal questioning. The physiological measurement method required for this is electromyography (EMG). This is carried out using a mobile 10-channel system. The same device can also be used to record several other parameters such as heart rate, skin conductance, respiratory rate, movement and temperature.
Contact us
Head: Univ.-Prof. Dr Peter Walla PD, peter.walla@sfu.ac.at
Freud CanBeLab – Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience and Behaviour Laboratory
Sigmund Freud Private University Vienna
Freudplatz 3, Room 464 / 4th floor
1020 Vienna