How to Prepare for your MRI Experiment

Before you arrive to your MRI session, please ensure that you have gone over all of the questions below, as well as reviewed the safety screening form at the bottom of this page. On the day of the experiment, please arrive at the MRI Suite at least 5 minutes before your scheduled time. Ring the doorbell, and a researcher will greet you at the suite and brief you on the experiment in which you are about to participate.

MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, uses powerful magnetic fields to collect data. Therefore, metal items can be dangerous if they enter the magnet room. To ensure your safety, the researcher will screen you using a handheld metal detector to make sure there is no metal on your person. If you need to change clothing, a private bathroom is provided. Clean scrubs can also be provided, if required.

Once you have been screened, the researcher will walk you through another metal detector into the magnet room. The MRI machine can be very loud during operation. You will be provided with mandatory earplugs to protect your hearing. The researcher may go over any additional equipment you will use during the scan. Once you have been briefed on the equipment, you will then lay on the MRI bed with your head positioned in the head coil. The researcher will then move the bed into MRI machine. (The bore of the machine measures 60-70 cm in diameter.) The researcher will communicate with you via an intercom while you are in the bore and proceed with the experiment.

Once the experiment is complete, the researcher will remove you from the MRI machine and walk you back to the control room. You will then be debriefed on the experiment and given the opportunity to ask any questions.

Before your experiment, please go over all of the following questions:

Do you regularly wear a hairpiece, wig, or toupee?

Do you wear glasses?

Do you wear colored contacts?

Do you wear any body piercings or jewelry?

Do you have any Tattoos above the shoulder?

What clothing should you wear for your scan session?

Can you wear exercise, anti-odor, or anti-microbial clothing to your scan?

Do you use an implanted birth control device, such as an IUD?

Are you at all claustrophobic?

Have you recently done any work with metals (e.g. welding, grinding, etc.)?

Have you recently experienced dizziness, loss of balance or loss of consciousness?

Do you have dental fillings?

Do you have a permanent retainer?

Do you have braces?

Have you ever been injured by a metallic object or foreign body (e.g. shrapnel, bullet, BB, etc.)?

Do you have sinus problems, breathing problems or motion disorders?

Do you have any medical implant, including but not limited to: metal rods, screws, insulin pump, surgical staples, cochlear implant, drug infusion device, eyelid spring, vascular access port, or radiation seeds?

To ensure that there will be no complications that prevent you from participating in your MRI experiment, please review the MRI safety screening form below. Your experimenter will have you fill out this form upon your arrival.

MRI Safety Screening Form Download

Our MRI Suite is located in room C34, on the bottom floor of the Princeton Neuroscience Institute building. The map below has been provided for your convenience.