Simon J. Graham
Country of origin: Canada
Main Affiliation: Senior Scientist, Physical Sciences Platform, Sunnybrook Research Institute of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Secondary Affiliation: Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto Temerty Faculty of Medicine, Princess Margaret Cancer Research Tower, MaRS Centre, Toronto, Canada
Biography:
Dr. Graham is a medical physicist, biomedical engineer and neuroimaging scientist with interests in the development of MRI technology for clinical applications involving the brain. Much of his work has focused on the use of functional MRI to measure task-related brain activity in healthy adults as well as numerous patient populations including individuals suffering from stroke, dementia, traumatic brain injury and long COVID. Another particular focus involves use of fMRI to measure brain activity of naturalistic, real-world behaviour through development of custom virtual reality technology, for example to shed new light on writing and drawing behaviours, and performance when driving automotive vehicles. He has a lengthy track record of successfully leading collaborative research grants and projects, with over 200 papers published and over 16,000 citations (Google scholar).
Websites:
Simon Graham - Sunnybrook Research Institute
https://grahamlab.ca
Tablet Technology Compatible with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging:
Exploring the Brain Activity Associated with Writing and Drawing Behaviour
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a cornerstone of neuroscience research. Developed in the early 1990s, fMRI has substantially increased understanding of how various brain regions and networks engage in mental processing to support human behaviours – in health, as well as in disease and injury. As with all neuroimaging modalities, however, fMRI has methodological limitations that impact how brain activity is recorded and interpreted. One striking consequence is that the vast majority of fMRI studies have focused on the brain activity associated with relatively simple and specific behavioural tasks. Despite this, there is considerable scope remaining to expand fMRI capabilities to encompass complex, naturalistic behaviours, as part of the quest to understand normal and abnormal brain function.
One important case in point is the study of complex motor behaviours associated with writing and drawing – essential forms of human communication and expression. The conventional fMRI experimental approaches, as well as the behavioural stimulus delivery and response recording equipment, have led to a large knowledge gap in the neuroimaging of graphonomic abilities. Despite the sparse fMRI literature on this topic, important developments have been made that encompass medical physics and biomedical engineering, basic neuroscience, and clinical neuroscience with potential translation to medical applications.
This interesting and challenging research space will be reviewed in the current presentation. The narrative encompasses basic aspects of fMRI methodology; historical attempts to conduct writing and drawing studies using fMRI; more modern methods that take advantage of touch-sensitive surfaces used in computerized tablets in combination with augmented reality; as well as examples of tablet-based fMRI applications in diverse areas such as neuropsychological testing, neurosurgery, and neurolinguistics. The narrative will conclude with a look to the future in technological developments of fMRI-compatible tablets, and tablet-based neuroimaging research applications that will shed further light on complex, naturalistic behaviours.