The Perceptual Development Laboratory is a large room, 418 square feet, which houses a double walled IAC sound attenuating booth (8’ x 8’ inner dimensions), an EEG system (acquisition and stimulus computers and 32-channel SA amplifiers; described in more detail below), and two analysis computers (Dell Dimensions 4550 desktop computers, each with a 60 GB hard drive, 1 GB RAM, Pentium 4 processors).

The sound attenuating booth in the laboratory contains a comfortable chair, 2 speakers, and a 27’’ CRT monitor for stimulus presentation. A low-light capable video camera is mounted in the booth and linked to a video monitor outside the booth to allow for visualization of the study participants throughout the experiment. Audio monitoring of study participants is possible via intercom. Behavioral video data is coded offline using in-house hardware and video coding software.

The main laboratory is connected to a small room containing a sink for electrode cap cleaning, storage of EEG supplies, and the computer server. Adjacent to this sink room is a participant waiting room containing chairs, toys, a small TV/DVD and bookshelves.

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The EEG system is composed of the stimulus computer, a Dell Optiplex GX260 desktop computer with an 80 GB hard drive, 2 GB RAM, Pentium 4 processor, and a 128 MB video card, and the data acquisition/digitization computer, which was custom built to house a Keithley ISA A/D board as well as a Scientific Solutions ISA Baseboard, along with an 80 GB hard drive, 2 GB RAM, 128 MB video card (these computers, in addition to the two analysis computers, are networked to the server). The 32-channel amplifier system was custom-built for the laboratory (SA Instruments, James Long Company). Two channels are designed for electro-oculogram (eye-movement) measurements, with the remaining channels designed for EEG measurements. The amplifiers are battery-powered and electrically isolated. Data are typically recorded at a gain of 20,000, a sampling rate of 250 Hz, and at a wide bandpass (typically 0.1-100 Hz for infants and young children), but both the amplifiers and acquisition computer are capable of a range of settings. EEG is measured with Electrocaps (ElectroCap International) and the laboratory has caps in all standard sizes to fit young infants through adults.

The stimulus presentation, EEG data acquisition, and data analysis software employed in our laboratory was developed in the laboratory of Dr. Phillip Holcomb at Tufts University (ERPSystem). This software has routines for artifact rejection, filtering, averaging, calculating/measuring, and graphing data. Additional task programming is done using Presentation software, developed by David Woods at UC Davis. Statistical analysis is done with Microsoft Excel and SPSS. Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop are available for stimulus development and additional data visualization.