Lab-visit: Functional MRI
Clinically, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-scanners have been used since the early 1980’s to visualize different tissues in the body (brain, bone, arteries, heart) with high spatial resolution. An important application is the diagnosis of tumors.Since the 1990’s it has also become possible to visualize the human brain at work by using functional MRI (fMRI). This technique relies on the so-called blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) effect: Locally, brainactivity leads to changes in the concentrations of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood resulting in an MR-signal increase on T2* weighted scans. Functional MRI is currently used to address basic and clinical neuroscience questions and at the BCN NeuroImaging Center, fMRI is used to investigate healthy subjects as well as patients. During this lab visit, it will be shown how the hand and foot motor cortices can be visualized when a healthy subject is performing simple motor tasks. Furthermore, an introduction into (f)MR imaging will be given.
Topics are:
- fMRI safety issues- Introduction to fMRI scanning technique
- Multimodal registration: combining fMRI with EEG/EMG and force measurements
- Demonstration on subject (motor cortex imaging)
- Introduction to fMRI analysis technique
- Other examples of fMRI research topics
