Investigating language with MEG

Educational Course: Investigating language with MEG

Date: 19 August 2019

Time: 08:30–16:30

Location: Konemiehentie 2, Aalto University Otaniemi campus, Espoo, Finland

We have extended the registration, and late registration will be open until 19.8.

Click here to register: https://eage.aalto.fi/?f/en/SNL

How to get there:

Aalto University is easily reached by metro from the city center. Note that SNL attendants will receive a free city transport card for the main conference, but not yet for the educational course. Therefore, we recommend that you purchase tickets specifically for your travel during Monday. Tickets can be bought from kiosks and vending machines located at the metro stations. The computer science building is a short walk from the Aalto University metro station (see map).

Hands-on session (bring your laptop!):

The course includes a 45 minute hands-on session, where you can get your hands dirty with some real MEG data. For this part, it is important that you bring a laptop that is enabled to connect to WiFi. All analysis will be done inside of a webbrowser, so no further software needs to be installed.

The hands-on session will consist of three "levels", depending on your existing experience with programming. If you have never programmed before, we encourage you to work through the "Beginner" level already before the workshop. You can do so by visiting the following link:

https://mybinder.org/v2/gh/wmvanvliet/SNL_workshop_2019/master?filepath=SNL_workshop_2019.ipynb
 

Course description:

This whole-day course will provide a firm understanding of the neural activity that generates the measured MEG signal, as well as of source localization techniques that map the measured signal to the underlying brain structures. The course gives insight into the different types of measures that can be extracted from the multidimensional MEG signal, their benefits and limitations, and how they can be used to shed light on language processing. A strong emphasis is placed on novel methods for analyzing MEG data: measures of functional connectivity as well as machine learning methods. Language development is highlighted as a particular application of MEG in studying language.

Schedule

8.30-9.00 Morning coffee and registration

9.00-10.40 Introduction to MEG

• Physiological and physical principles of MEG

          Mia Liljeström, Aalto University, Finland

• Source localization and connectivity estimation

          Jan Kujala, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

10.40-11.00 Coffee break

11.00-11.45 Keynote: Investigating language with MEG

Jan-Mathijs Schoffelen, Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Behaviour, Radboud University, The Netherlands

11.45-13.00 Lunch on your own

13.00-14.15 MEG applications

• Using MEG to study language development

          Tiina Parviainen, University of Jyväskylä, Finland

• Making use of machine learning in analyzing your MEG data

          Lauri Parkkonen, Aalto University, Finland

14.15-14.45 Coffee break

14.45-15.30 MEG data analysis hands-on session

• An introduction to MNE-Python

          Marijn van Vliet, Aalto University, Finland

15.30-16.15 MEG development and applications

• New sensors, decoding speech, and multimodal imaging

          Rasmus Zetter, Aalto University, Finland

          Anni Nora, Aalto University, Finland

          Linda Henriksson, Aalto University, Finland

16.15-16.30 Closing remarks

Organizers:

Mia Liljeström, Aalto University

Linda Henriksson, Aalto University

Jan Kujala, University of Jyväskylä