The department of radiology hosts the state-of-the-art LIBC research dedicated 3 Tesla MRI scanner (Philips Achieva TX) situated at the ground floor of the Leiden University Medical Center near the main entrance. The scanner is equipped with all necessary facilities to perform MRI studies suited to answer a broad range of cognitive neuroscientific research questions. This includes high quality visual stimulus presentation BOLD screen 32, MRI compatible headphones for auditory stimulation, a 2- and 4-button response box to record manual responses, continuous sampling of heart rate and respiration, and all amenities for steady-state administration of pharmacological compounds.

Stimulus presentation and response logging is standardly carried out with E-prime (version 1 and 2), but other software can be supported as well. Around the scanner area two interview rooms are available for pre- and post-testing of participants, of which one includes a biomedical refrigerator and freezer for safe storage of bodily fluid samples. An advanced computer grid running Sun Grid Engine on Linux (Shark) is used for computationally expensive and distributed processing of MRI data.

The 7 Tesla Philips MRI scanner is hosted by the C.J. Gorter Center for High Field Magnetic Resonance in the LUMC. The center was opened in the autumn of 2007, and now houses a dedicated group of MR physicists headed by professor Andrew Webb. Its mission is to develop new techniques for high field clinical and fundamental scientific applications of MRI, including high-resolution FMRI. Visual stimuli from computerized experiments (E-prime version 1 and 2) can be rear-projected on an in-bore screen, button boxes are available to record participants’ manual responses, and heart rate and respiration can be monitored continuously. In the near future an MRI compatible EEG system will be added to the facilities as well.

The LIBC mock (dummy) scanner, hosted by the radiology department of the LUMC, is constructed from the outer shell of a 1.5 Tesla Philips Intera scanner. As such it provides a non-magnetic replication of the MR environment to familiarize participants with the research setting. A test session in the mock scanner is obligatory for all LIBC projects in children, but may also prove valuable to reduce scanner anxiety in a wide range of other participant groups, for example psychiatric and geriatric patients. The mock scanner is equipped with a head coil, an in-bore LCD screen for stimulus presentation, and sound samples of common MRI sequences, all to create a maximally realistic experience inside the mock scanner.

• The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW) hosts four electroencephalogram (EEG) laboratories and several mobile and immobile facilities for physiological measurements (e.g., heart rate, respiration, galvanic skin conductance, eye tracking).
  
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• The Faculty of Humanities hosts another EEG Lab. Researchers can test language processing in the most direct way: by measuring exactly when the brain responds to specific stimuli. 
  
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Ample lab facilities for behavioural studies are available in all participating faculties of the LIBC. Stimulus presentation and behavioural data logging is generally carried out with E-prime software (version 1 and 2). 

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The Phonetic lab consists of a teaching/meeting room with a high-quality sound reproduction system, a small library and two sound-proofed experiment booths. The booths were facilitated with direct-to disk-recording and can also be used for other behavioural experiments.

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The Baby lab at Leiden University conducts research on how babies learn to understand the world around them, how they acquire a language and how they come to understand social interactions. Babies learn to talk astonishingly fast and are able to form expectations about people and objects at a sophisticated level very early on. The researchers of the Baby lab try to understand how these skills develop.

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