VIBROTACTILE DEVICES FOR CONTROLLED SOMATOSENSORY STIMULUS DURING FUNCTIONAL MAGNETIC RESONSANCE IMAGING

摘要

-27-A functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) compatiblemagnetomechanical vibrotactile device (MVD) uses wire coils having smalloscillatory currents to interact with the large static magnetic field inherentto MRI scanners. The resulting Lorentz forces which are exerted on theMVD can be oriented to generate large vibrations that may be easilyconverted to translational motions as large as several centimetres.Representative data demonstrate the flexibility of MVDs to generatedifferent well-controlled vibratory and tactile stimuli to activate specialproprioceptive and cutaneous somatosensory afferent pathways.