About the DEL
The Developmental Psychophysiology Laboratory (DEL) is a state-of-the-art shared resource available to investigators for basic experimental studies and clinical trials. The DEL serves as a nexus of interdepartmental collaboration and opportunities for faculty and students at all levels. These include studies with four research groups in the Child Study Center (CSC) as well as investigators from the departments of diagnostic radiology, surgery, pediatrics, and psychiatry from the Yale School of Medicine and from the Haskins Laboratories.
Overseen by Dr. Mayes, Crowley, and McPartland, the DEL is a developmental laboratory, designed for, and experienced with typical and atypical populations from infancy through later adulthood. The DEL is equipped to study brain electrical responses and peripheral psychophysiologial indices of cognition, emotion and arousal. At the core of this resource are two stationary high-density EEG systems, located in adjacent suites at the CSC. A third portable dense array system is available for off site studies. Brain source analysis and fMRI coregistration are accomplished by way of a photogrammetry system that builds 3-dimensional head models for improved cortical source mapping. Integrated with EEG assessment, the DEL has peripheral psychophysiologial measurement including heart rate, skin conductance, facial EMG and eye-blink startle by way of a Coulbourn Instruments LabLinc system. A second identical Coulbourn system is used for analogous assessment at Yale’s Anlyan Neuroimaging Center. Complementing its comprehensive biosignal assessment capacity, the DEL has an armamentarium of experimental paradigms (visual, auditory, contextual) for studying basic processes of learning, memory and emotion as well as more complex paradigms for the study of decision-making and social cognition.
Please feel free to explore the rest of our site to learn more details about our research and collaborations.